Hello, Open Thread. Happy Valentine’s Day! Hope everyone has bought their flowers and chocolate. New York Fashion Week has begun. It’s a sort of slimmed-down version. A lot of newer brands skip February and show only in September now, a necessary financial decision. Luar, for example, which is designed by Raul Lopez, is sitting this one out — though given that Lopez made the dress Lady Gaga wore to perform with Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl, it is fair to say he had a pretty big showcase for his designs. Apparently she asked him to make her a dress, but he didn’t know what it was for. He found out when he was watching the game like everyone else. Score! In any case, Lopez also made a front-row appearance at Rachel Scott’s debut show for Proenza Schouler, along with his fellow designers Maria Cornejo, Christopher John Rogers and Veronica Leoni of Calvin Klein. Designers supporting designers is a relatively new phenomenon in fashion — for years, the approach was more dog-eat-dog — and goes with designers acknowledging the work of those who have gone before in the brands they inherit, rather than insisting that history starts with them and their clothes. In other words, the stereotype of the designer diva may be coming to an end. I’m here for it. Speaking of Ms. Cornejo, she was wearing an Ice Out pin at the Proenza show. Tommy Dorfman wore one at the Collina Strada show, as did the designer Hillary Taymour. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has been helping the A.C.L.U. hand them out over the week — they were also available on the fashion shuttle that transports editors from one show site to the next. Otherwise the political posturing has been pretty low-key. NUMBER OF THE WEEK
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In another piece of notable news, a fashion brand has come out of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in a … positive way?
After his name popped up in the recent spate of emails released by the Justice Department, Axel Dumas, the chief executive of Hermès, revealed that while Mr. Epstein had tried to meet with him a number of times, Dumas always turned him down.
“I think I was a target,” Dumas said, as reported by Reuters. “I was a young C.E.O., and we were in the middle of the LVMH affair. He was a financial predator.”
Dumas went on: “I can’t tell you exactly what we knew about him or not, because I can’t remember 13 years ago, but he already had a loathsome reputation.”
Along with the company’s recently released 2025 results, which included revenues of 16 billion euros (about $19 billion), up 9 percent over 2024, this is yet another example of why Hermès retains its sterling reputation.
Finally, Ferragamo has officially denied that its creative director, Maximilian Davis, is leaving the house. Mr. Davis’s name surfaced in rumors that he might be the choice to replace Pieter Mulier at Alaia, but apparently not. (Mr. Mulier is headed to Versace.)
Keep on guessing, guys.
Think about that. Then catch up on the shows you may have missed here, meet the designer changing New York fashion, get the inside story of the rise and fall of fashion’s favorite makeup artist, and check out this video interview with Anna Wintour and her American Vogue successor, Chloe Malle.
And have a good, safe weekend. Stay warm.
The New New York WomanRachel Scott, the new designer of Proenza Schouler, wants to dress the city for the future — and for the world. By Vanessa Friedman | ||
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BEYOND FASHION WEEK |
Every week on Open Thread, Vanessa will answer a reader’s fashion-related question, which you can send to her anytime via email or X. Questions are edited and condensed.
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| Adam Devine, Robert De Niro and Zack Pearlman in “The Intern.” Warner Bros. |
First of all, you are going to look different from your younger peers no matter what. Maybe not if you are Kris Jenner and get refreshed by Dr. Steven Levine and come out looking like your daughters, but for most of us, this is a simple reality of age. No style of clothing is going to fool anyone.
So the real questions here are: Why are you concerned about standing out, and is it worth trying to dress to fit in at all?
The employment market is scary. And there is a world in which looking old or, more important, looking like you are stuck in older ways, becomes a handicap. It suggests you can’t keep up with technological advances. A.I.! In that context, dressing like a fogy could plant subliminal cues that might work against you in an office reorganization, or layoffs.
Conversely, if you wear clothes that make you feel uncomfortable or awkward, you’ll probably telegraph a similar message, and that won’t be good, either. If wearing, say, jeans and sneakers to a work event makes you feel like you are faking it, those around you might also get the sense that you are faking it. That undermines the image you probably want to convey, which is that you really know what you are doing.
An attribute that generally comes (duh) with age.
In fact, the best solution may be to lean into your age and the experience that brings. It is, after all, the thing you have that your colleagues presumably don’t. That means dressing the part, which just means dressing as you want.
If spiky pumps make you feel elegant and confident and help you walk into a room, then wear them, even if everyone else is in Chuck IIs. They will be a subtle reminder to those around you that you bring a different, valuable perspective to the table. Not to mention attention to details.
Besides, you don’t have to completely transform to “dress up.” If you normally wear a jacket with a button-up, consider swapping the button-up for a T-shirt, but choose one, as well as the jacket, in a plush material like silk or velvet. You can wear jeans, but rather than faded denim, opt for tailored dark denim — or maybe some generous tweeds. (Channel Katharine Hepburn.) Wear a knit like your colleagues, but one with some beading or metallic yarn for shine. You might be surprised at the reaction.
I am reminded of a scene in the 2015 film “The Intern,” in which Robert De Niro plays a 70-year-old “senior intern” at an etail start-up staffed largely by 20-somethings wearing T-shirts under unbuttoned shirts and jeans, or crew necks. (This was before the time of the quarter-zip.)
De Niro’s character shows up every day in his customary suit and tie, just as he did in his previous career. When told by the chief executive that he doesn’t have to because “we’re more cazh here,” he simply says, “I’m more comfortable in a suit.” For him, it … well, works.
