NYFW Fall 2025 Best Moments

Charting the best of the best: welcome to NYFW Fall 2025 Best Moments

NYFW Fall 2025 is over, and with it came a bevy of flashy designer runway shows, new names to know and an overwhelming amount of street style. New York Fashion Week fall 2025 was one of the strangest seasons in recent memory. Because that’s because of the lack of big brands doing exciting things. One thing is clear, however: NYFW belongs to those who dare to do things differently, as well as the emerging talents who are dominating. There was absolutely no shortage of new names to know, in fact–this may have been one of the best seasons for emerging designers. Aside from that, here are the NYFW fall 2025 best moments.

Best show overall: Anna Sui Fall 2025

Anna Sui dubbed her collection “madcap heiress” and took inspiration from women like Peggy Guggenheim, Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton, as well as Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. In a minimal world where designers are playing it safer each day, Sui’s devotion to maximalist excess and refined aesthetic from head-to-toe (Fluevog shoes, argyle socks, statement brooches and necklaces, leopard print hats, chunky chain bags and more) is much needed. She took us on a whirlwind tour of beautiful tactile fabrics (the kind that crave touch), rich colors and genius accessories and styling that felt truly personal and thought-provoking. Yes, we DO want to belt our cardigans and wear a faux fur collar covered in brooches piled over a double-strand coral necklace. We want to match our hat to our coat and we need to swan around in a printed maxi dress with chunky sneakers. A rare mix of editorial and wearable that is also supremely covetable and so distinctly Anna Sui.

Best colors: Sandy Liang Fall 2025

Sandy Liang perfectly captured the computer-core new technology feeling of the early 2000s mixed with the childhood innocence of a faux fur covered pink diary (the kind that locks). The soft and awkward, sweet saccharine colors were reminiscent of early Miu Miu and early Prada. Tangerine and acid green. Metallic royal blue and absinthe. Cornflower blue and baby pink. It was also nice to see the icon that started it all: the return of her signature fleece jacket. Paired with knee-length skirts covered in quirky prints and accessorized with chunky pearls, this collection felt like girl-coded dressing up done right.

Best comeback: Christopher John Rogers Fall 2025

New York has missed Christopher John Rogers and all his bright and happy colors and unapologetic silhouettes. As one of the first shows to open the fall 2025 NYFW season, the collection stood out from the beginning as having its very own, incredibly strong direction and aesthetic. No one else is doing what Christopher John Rogers does, and we thank him for it.

Best casting: Tyler McGillivary Fall 2025

Tyler McGillivary made her runway debut and simultaneously proved why we need more women designers in power. The theme of the collection was “date night” and every single look managed to feel both nostalgic and comforting–from the female gaze through and through. McGillivary cast a range of influencer it-girl models who were diverse and each had their own fun walks. Guests were offered mini martinis pre-show and the energy was definitely the most fun of any show that happened this season.

Best new emerging designer: Pipenco Fall 2025

Pipenco presented its show in a spooky little speakeasy on the Lower East Side and brought their own versions of Dracula and Romanian folklore to life through iconic tall top hats, extreme silhouettes and campy music that mixed traditional Balkans tunes with heavy metal undercurrents. The shapes were so out-of-this-world, the audience gasped at some points. It was full fantasy, it was fun, and it was daring and risk-taking. So memorable. This is what we want to see during fashion week. The experience was the equivalent to being in a strange dream and it was perfect.

Best in craft: Thom Browne

There’s a reason why Thom Browne goes back and forth between presenting in New York and Paris–he even formally showed haute couture recently. His work goes above and beyond anything else one might see in the New York fashion landscape. The handiwork, tailoring, embroidery, excessive embellishment and sheer devotion to excellence in tailoring is mesmerizing and honestly, jaw-dropping compared to the vast majority of work presented in New York. Fall 2025 delivered on all that–the show was a testament to the designer’s art of tailoring and the idea of freedom; each look so layered you could just get lost in it all, admiring the details and examining the craftsmanship. One of the things in particular that’s so exciting about Browne’s work–especially this collection–is that it sort of defies our screen time-obsessed culture. You can’t really get the full effect of the collection from looking at it online or even watching a video–there are so many incredible little details and some of the backs are completely different than the fronts (like the look above; the entire back is a burst of layered pink and white tulle, which you can’t even see on Vogue Runway). Undoubtedly we will see some of this on the Met Gala red carpet in May.

Photos// courtesy of brands/Vogue Runway

Stay tuned for our round-up on more top emerging designers from NYFW Fall 2025 coming soon.