A fashion tour of New York

New York is a global fashion capital known for its style and creative energy. As a hub for trade fairs, fashion weeks and design schools, it is a leading city in the fashion industry. With iconic brands getting their start here, it’s one of the best destinations to learn about the history of fashion and discover the latest trends. If you’re looking to shop in the city or visit the best fashion museums, here is a tour of New York for the fashion crowd. 

Shop at Artists and Fleas

With locations in Brooklyn and Manhattan, Artists & Fleas is a marketplace of creators, designers and collectors. The market showcases local fashion designers and emerging artists. You can browse through racks of clothing and find vintage shoes, handmade garments, and screen-printed tees. It’s one of the best markets to support local artisans and discover beautiful handmade pieces.

At Gypsy Nation Vintage you can shop a rotating stock of rare designer vintage. At the market, there is also a resident DJ, Kevin Anthony, who is the owner of Pop Train Records. There are booths where you can buy custom-made shirts, vintage jeans and antique jewelry. You can eat a snack from a food artisan or listen to a live DJ set while you browse around. Check out One432, a brand that promotes ethical fashion with its handmade hoodies, sweatshirts and slippers. The company has a giveback model where half the profits go to the artisans who make the apparel in Pakistan.

Visit the Costume Institute at the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, commonly known as the MET, showcases a wide collection of fashion pieces at the Costume Institute. The space features more than 33,000 garments and accessories that date from the 15th century to the present day. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or just interested in fashion history, a visit to the Costume Institute is a must. The textiles are delicate, so the collection can’t be seen on a permanent basis, but every year the Costume Institute organizes one or two special exhibitions. 

One of the exhibits there was called Punk: Chaos to Couture. The show explored punk’s influence on fashion design. Punks created fashion that included sharp cuts, frayed knit, and torn fabrics. They wore skinny jeans, ripped tees and studded leather jackets. The fashion was innovative, creating looks from salvaged garments. It was known for a do-it-yourself style, like wearing a white tee graffitied with a black marker pen, or ripped jeans splattered with bleach.  

At the entrance to the exhibit there was a video of punks pogoing. The first gallery chronicled the origins of the punk movement, highlighting CBGBs, the music club on the Bowery which was a venue for bands like the Ramones, Dead Boys, and the Young and the Useless. The museum even re-created punk rock’s most storied location, the toilet at CBGB.

Punk fashion included jackets with badges and armbands, drainpipe jeans and mohair sweaters. The style was also influenced by the apparel sold at fetish shops, like black studded belts and porn images on t-shirts. Punk threads included bondage trousers, torn-up shirts and fishnet bought at charity shops. Richard Hell was the first punk to wear a ripped tee. He was known for wearing a slashed shirt that read, Please Kill Me. 

The sound system at the exhibit played music by the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls. One room was designed to look like Seditionaries, the shop on King’s Road in London where Viviene Westwood and Malcolm McLaren further crafted the look of punk. The shop was a hangout for the early punks like Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious.  

At the museum show, mannequins wore original punk outfits, including the ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Anarchy in the UK’ tees. On a large screen was a video of Sid Vicious playing bass, the lock chain hanging around his neck. Other screens in the exhibit showed video mash-ups of the Sex Pistols and the Clash in concert.   

The gallery showed how high fashion appropriated and sanitized punk style. Punks wore dresses made from trash bags. The designer Gareth Pugh turned trash bags into gowns for the couture catwalk. Punks wore torn clothes held together with safety pins. Versace made a dress held together with gilded safety pins. The outfits on view included a vest made from broken plates by Maison Margiela and a skirt made from plastic shopping bags by Moschino.    

There was also an exhibit on the late designer Alexander McQueen. The show called Savage Beauty broke attendance records with people lined around the block on the last day to get in. McQueen was known for designing a black swan gown and parading a model in a lace gimp mask. The clothes on show included a skirt made from plywood and a dress made of hand-painted glass. A red butterfly headdress was on display in a room titled ‘Cabinet of Curiosities.’ McQueen was influenced by the Victorian Gothic era of the 19th century, his dark imagination inspired by the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

Many of his collections were inspired by the natural world, his models wearing antlers and reptilian prints. In the exhibit, the showpieces included a dress of razor clams. The footwear on display included armadillo boots with 10-inch heels, shaped like lobster claws.’      

McQueen was inspired by the beauty he saw in the grotesque. Museum-goers entered a catacomb, the walls covered in bone. A mannequin in the alcove wore a feathered skirt. Another wore a headpiece of impala horns. McQueen was known for his sense of humor and fascination with the macabre. At one of his shows in a candle-lit church, a skeleton had a front-row seat.    

Often his shows were accused of misogyny. A model for McQueen could wear a leather gimp mask or be an amputee. She could be wrapped in plastic, endure a fake electrocution, or stalk a catwalk designed as an insane asylum. She could wear a dress made from a black leather harness while modeling the latest fetish wear.      

The exhibit displayed some of the iconic pieces from McQueen’s catwalk shows. There was a mannequin in the dress worn by Canadian model Shalom Harlow. For the finale of one of his shows the model stood on a revolving platform. She rotated slowly as her white dress was spray-painted by two robotic arms with black and yellow ink.      

The exhibit also used 3D holographic technology. On display was the Kate Moss hologram from a show at Paris Fashion Week in 2006. Her apparition was based on a Victorian parlour trick called Pepper’s Ghost that used projectors and mirrors to create an optical illusion. In a blacked-out room at McQueen’s show, a white vapor appeared. Mournful music played while the glowing orb expanded into a silhouette. Then it morphed into a ghostly projection of Kate Moss in a white organza dress designed by McQueen, the fabric rippling and swirling as her body slowly rotated. The ethereal beauty of her ghost floating in the darkness was his epitaph.  

Another special exhibit was called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. It explored the link between fashion and the superhero, looking at the influence superhero costume design had on fashion. Like the superhero costume, contemporary fashion also creates the identity of the person wearing it. The exhibit showcased the actual costumes from the superhero films.   

On display was the Wonder Woman costume from the ’70s TV show—the red and gold bustier and star-print shorts worn by Lynda Carter. The exhibit featured the Superman costume worn by Christopher Reeve in the original film. The sky-blue tunic was made from a German nylon that stretched without losing its shape. Superman is known for his red cape, blue-and-red bodysuit and red leather boots. His costume was inspired by the outfits worn by acrobats in the traveling circus, his physique modeled after the strongmen performing under the big top.           

Also on display was Christian Bale’s batsuit from The Dark Knight. The suit includes a graphite cowl, forearm blades and Kevlar body armour. In the trilogy, Batman’s original costume was a paramilitary survival suit intended for use by the US military. For The Dark Knight, it was upgraded with separated plating for more flexibility. The headpiece is based on the design of motorcycle helmets and the suit is made from fiberglass, nylon and metallic mesh.     

The exhibit included the catsuit worn by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. As Catwoman she wore the black latex bodysuit with white stitching. The skintight outfit made her look like a dominatrix in a dungeon rigged out with quasi-medieval torture instruments. Another outfit on view was the red-and-blue unitard worn by Tobey Maguire as the title role in Spider-Man 3. There was also Iron Man’s red and gold armor worn by Robert Downey, Jr. 

The show highlighted the influence of superhero imagery on fashion design. On display was Bernhard Willhelm’s blue dress adorned with the ‘S’ Chevron of Superman. The streamlined bodysuit of Jean Paul Gaultier seemed inspired by the Flash. Walter van Beirendonck’s inflatable jacket drew from the Incredible Hulk’s transformation. Web embroidery on some of the garments showed the influence of Spider-Man. 

There was also a display of high-performance sportswear, the bodysuits used by athletes that are similar to superhero costumes. There were uniforms like Nike’s Swift Suit for sprinters, made of a high tech fabric that reduces aerodynamic drag. Another bodysuit on display was Speedo’s Fastskin. Developed in the company’s Aqualab centre, it is made from lycra coated in Teflon. The swimsuit was developed by computer modeling and the fabric was tested in a wind tunnel. The suit mimics the ridges and valleys of shark skin for reducing drag.     

Shop at Dover Street Market

Eight stories of high-end labels like Prada and Louis Vuitton mixed in with streetwear like Supreme and Stüssy make Dover Street Market one of the best shopping experiences in New York. Part fashion boutique, part art gallery, it was designed by Rei Kawakubo, founder of the label Comme des Garcons. She created a retail space that blends fashion and art, an emporium where stores are transformed into ‘experimental laboratories.’ Designers configure the layout of their sections into art installations that feature concrete sculptures, blue blocks, and paint-splashed walls.

Dover Street Market got its start on Dover Street in London as an innovative space for established and emerging designers. Now it has outposts in some of the most fashionable cities in the world like Tokyo, New York and Los Angeles. You can browse all the collections of Comme des Garcons as well as some of the more eclectic fashion labels. Featured designers include Liberal Youth Ministry, the streetwear popular with reggaeton artists like Bad Bunny. The brand is influenced by punk and grunge music, and its apparel includes distressed hoodies and destroyed-effect jeans.     

On the seventh floor you’ll find Supreme, the skateboard brand known for its box-logo design. James Jebbia started the skate shop on Lafayette Street in 1994. It was a hangout for local skaters, a cool shop to buy skate gear. TV sets in the window showed skating footage and hip hop videos. The place was sparse with a high ceiling, white walls and a skateable hardwood floor. There were skate decks on the wall and hoodies and t-shirts on the racks.  

Now there are Supreme stores in Paris, London and Tokyo selling an array of apparel, including pocket tees, caps and hoodies. The brand has collabed with many top labels, including Louis Vuitton, Lacoste, and Nike.  

An online look-book is released for a seasonal collection and the brand does a limited-run of gear in weekly drops during a season. Supreme releases are ritual events for streetwear kids. The brand is coveted by collectors who wear the gear and buyers who flip the apparel for huge markups.   

On the fourth floor, check out the provocative style of Bernhard Wilhelm. The designer creates wearable art influenced by German folklore and Japanese traditional dress. His eclectic fashion line includes Himalayan sandals and sock boots. On the same floor is another transgressive label, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy. Jeffrey is influenced by the club scene. His runway shows are theatrical and surreal, genderless and experimental, and themed on the fashion of club kids. He is known for ‘bringing the club back to the catwalk’.

On the second floor you’ll find apparel by Brain Dead, the streetwear brand founded by Ed Davis and Kyle Ng. The label takes inspiration from the counterculture, using a mash-up of punk rock and skateboarding, underground comics and cult horror films. It’s done collaborative merch with punk bands like Turnstile and Bikini Kill. Brain Dead is a collective of designers and artists who produce off-beat apparel with graphic-print and psychedelic designs. The brand sells everything from incense and handmade jewelry to carpenter pants and rock climbing shoes. 

Check out New York Fashion Week

For fashion people, the best time to visit the city is during New York Fashion Week, the biannual trade show where industry professionals view the seasonal collections of designers. Models, influencers and fashion editors converge in New York to discover the latest in American fashion with major labels showcasing their designs to retail buyers and the press.      

The event happens twice a year in February and September. The fashion week schedule is hectic, with citywide events taking place throughout the day—designer runway shows, product launches and after-show parties. The venues in the city are varied. A designer can show a collection in a loft space or an abandoned subway station, in a greenhouse or on a tennis court. Many of the shows are streamed live through Fashion Week Online. 

Many designers offer a see-now, buy-now model, where clothes from the catwalk can be purchased right after the show, both online and in stores. Fashion week is more open to the public now and shows are not so exclusive. Most shows are still invitation-only, but you can get a ticket to one that’s open to the public by visiting Fashion Week Online. 

Often there is more of a spectacle going on outside the runway show. People from the fashion community dress up for the event. Influencers mill around the venue and pose for street-style photographers. Tourists jostle in the crowd, craning for a look at a top model.

The Starbucks near the venue is where you can find a lot of fashion people—style bloggers working on their laptops, uploading photos and posting content about the week, fashion interns drinking espresso and talking about the models they dress backstage before a show. You can hang around the shows to get a feel for the atmosphere. Stand outside the venue to spot a celebrity. Capture New York street style on your camera phone.      

The catwalk show transports you into a world of illusion and fantasy. A designer can transform the runway into a choreographed show with music, lights and video—a catwalk creation presented as performance art. 

Tommy Hilfiger is known for his runway spectacles, blending fashion with music and pop culture. For one show, he had a set designed with a cruise liner from the 1940s as the centerpiece. Vintage luggage tags showed guests how to find their seats on the Hilfiger line. He took his audience on a trans-Atlantic voyage aboard the T.H. Atlantic. The ocean liner had smoke stacks emitting real smoke and a shuffleboard game painted on the wooden deck. Vintage steamer trunks covered in travel stickers were set on the deck. The show took place against the backdrop of a night sky speckled with stars. The deck was the catwalk. The clothes worn by the models included sailor pants, navy jackets and dresses with sailor tattoo prints.  

Hilfiger is known for his all-American fashion events. In one show, models walked down an AstroTurf runway in a mock football stadium while spectators sat on the bleachers and a Jumbotron showed live shots and fashion replays. The set contained field posts, floodlights, and a scoreboard. Blue and red football helmets lined the backdrop of the stadium. Models paraded down the gridiron catwalk wearing classic American sportswear like pleated skirts, letterman jackets, and football jerseys.      

For another show, his production team built a fairground on a pier in the harbor district. Tommy Pier hosted a fashion carnival with amusement park rides, including a 40-foot ferris wheel, a carousel and carnival games. The elongated pier was the catwalk where models presented the collection.

The fair was open to consumers who milled around the vinyl record store, boxing ring, hot dog stand and tattoo parlor. They ate cotton candy and pretzels and browsed the pop-up shops for Tommy Hilfiger gear.  

Beside the catwalk shows there are other events taking place during the week, including panel discussions with designers and beauty experts, fashion film screenings and curated installations. Catch the premier of a fashion documentary, or see the debut collection of an aspiring designer from one of the city’s fashion schools. Bring a jacket and umbrella. Wear comfortable shoes as you’ll be doing a lot of walking.      

Visit the museum at FIT

Founded in 1969, the Museum at FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) is popular in New York for all things fashion related. The museum has displayed many award-winning exhibitions showcasing fashion across the centuries. 

The museum has a permanent collection of 50,000 garments and accessories from the 18th century to the present day. Discover the works of Chanel, Balenciaga and Christian Dior. There are thousands of textiles, some dating back to the 5th-century, including the work of artists and designers such as William Morris, Salvador Dali, and Raoul Dufy. For visitors, the biggest draw of the museum is the special exhibition. 

One special exhibition called Gothic: Dark Glamour was dedicated to dark fashion. The show was held in the basement gallery and included 75 ensembles of gothic fashion. The clothes were displayed in a mise-en-scène that included a crumbling mansion, a cemetery gate and a laboratory. The show chronicled the history of goth and its influence on fashion designers. Historical pieces from the Victorian era were on show, including the black mourning dresses worn by widows. The Romantic literature of Poe and Shelley was also highlighted. Gothic literature conjures up images of Medieval monasteries and ruined castles, vampires and superstitions—and the genre has had a lasting influence on dark fashion.  

The exhibit showcased clothes that had gothic styling. There was a brown leather corset by Alexander McQueen, an evening dress and cape by Christian Dior. There were mannequin zombies in the Laboratory section, their faces pressed up against a latex theatre drop. A hunchback dress by Rei Kawakubo was on show. There was also a black leather jumper by Ann Demeulemeester. She is known as the Dark Queen of Belgian Fashion. There was the death mask of a poet in a display case and a bottle of laudanum and Victorian mourning jewelry in a curio cabinet.         

The antechamber highlighted the gothic muses—the victim, the widow and the vamp. On show in the vamp section was a red dress designed for the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There was a red gown with a sequined bodice by Alexander McQueen and a chiffon gown by Rodarte that was influenced by Japanese horror movies. Also on display was the work of Rick Owens, a gothic designer known as the Lord of Darkness. 

Another gallery was named after the Batcave, a goth club-night in London that was a venue for bands like Bauhaus, the Virgin Prunes, and Sex Gang Children. To enter the club, you walked through a coffin into a room decorated with spiderwebs and black bin liners. At the FIT exhibit, the Batcave section displayed the fashion of different goth tribes—the shaved heads and black trenchcoats of cybergoths, the pigtails and bell skirts of Goth Lolitas. 

Walk around the Garment District   

Head to the Garment District for the next stop on the fashion tour. This was the epicenter of American textile manufacturing for 200 years, a place where you’d always see rolling racks of clothes being put into trucks. The district contains warehouses and showrooms, fabric shops and production facilities. This is where every aspect of the fashion process takes place, from designing and making the garments to selling them wholesale. Even though the area has been taken over by gourmet coffee shops and boutique hotels, some designers still have their studios here. Major fashion labels have their showrooms in the neighbourhood. The District also has some outdoor art installations, including the statue of The Garment Worker by Judith Weller.

The neighbourhood is a great place for fabric shopping. You can check out Mood Fabrics, the store that supplies fabric to contestants on Project Runway and students from the Fashion Institute of Technology. The District also has many trimming shops where you can buy zippers, buttons and ribbons.           

Check out the Fashion Walk of Fame along Seventh Avenue. It celebrates American fashion by honoring designers who’ve had a major impact on the way the world dresses. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, plaques have been embedded into the sidewalks. The plaques include a short description of each designer, their signature and one of their original sketches. Follow the path and learn about some of your favorite designers like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Donna Karen.  

Check out some New York fashion brands

As the fashion capital of the United States, New York is home to some of the best designer brands in the world. As a creative capital, its influence on streetwear and youth culture is unrivaled. Shop some of these New York labels when you’re in the city.  

Alexander Wang

Alexander Wang dropped out of Parsons School of Design and started his label at 20 years old. Now his clothes are worn by top models and his name is referenced in hip hop songs. The brand is known for the model off-duty look, the street style models are photographed in that looks cool and effortless. The casual look includes jeans and leather jackets, hoodies and boots. His unique cardigans are popular with Korean pop singers. Alexander Wang has collaborated with H&M and adidas and designed fashion t-shirts for Starbucks coffee. Its flagship store is on Grand Street in SoHo. 

Wang is known for his cool parties during fashion week. To show a new collection, he threw a warehouse rave in Brooklyn spun by DJ Steve Aoki. For his tenth anniversary, he did a party themed on King of Diamonds, the famous Miami strip club. Pole dancers wore the label’s sports bras and spandex shorts. Hooter girls in orange booty shorts and white tank tops carried trays of sliders and buffalo wings. The entertainment included music sets by Lil Wayne and Ludacris.

Wang also threw a party at a gas station with a free convenience store where guests drank Slurpees and ate candy and potato chips. Outside, they listened to music performed by Courtney Love on a stage by the Lube Centre.  

Michael Kors

Micheal Kors studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology before becoming a successful fashion designer. Known for his modern American style, his clothes are simple and elegant. He was a judge on Project Runway for ten seasons. He was known for his blunt and snarky comments on the reality TV show where aspiring designers compete against each other to make beautiful clothes. His luxury sportswear depicts the jet-set lifestyle with ads showing tanned models lounging on yachts or sitting in private jets or exotic cars. The flagship store is located in the Rockefeller Center on 5th Avenue. Michael Kors debuts his collection during New York Fashion Week. 

For a spring-summer collection, the beach was the backdrop as Kors held a show at Pier 17 on the Seaport. He transported his guests away from a cold, rainy day in New York to a balmy, sunny day at a beach resort in St. Tropez or Cannes. The venue was made to look like an art gallery. On the walls were large paintings of summer beach scenes. The designer took his audience on a trip to a beach club where models swished down the runway in the latest beachwear.    

The collection was based on the inspiration Kors gets from travel, drawing influence from his favourite travel destinations. The models wore neon sunglasses, summer dresses, and surf tees. The colour palette was tropical with lime, turquoise and watermelon. The collection was suffused with bright colors and tropical prints. It included sweaters with surfer images, sun hats, and shorts.    

For the next season, Kors mounted a runway show inspired by Studio 54, the iconic disco from the 1970s. The show took place at Cipriani in the Financial District, the ballroom decorated with disco balls and chandeliers. The Studio 54 logo was printed on Kors merchandise, such as black t-shirts, jackets and handbags. Kors wanted to recreate the atmosphere of Studio 54 based on his memories of going there during the disco era.

During the show, Kors took the attendees back to the glamour of the club with nostalgia for Andy Warhol and Halston, shirtless busboys, and Bianca Jagger riding on a white horse led by a naked man covered in gold glitter. There on any given night you could see mermaids swinging on trapezes or you could party around hay and farm animals or a leopard or a panther. You might see dwarfs having a family dinner at a small table in a booth, eating Cornish hens with silverware.

The collection inspired by Studio 54 included feather boas, shaggy coats and shirts with wide collars. Patti Hanson, a supermodel from the ’70s, walked the runway in a black shimmer suit. For the surprise finale, Barry Manilow came on stage in an orange jacket covered in rainbow jewels and sang Copacabana against a backdrop of shimmering tinsel.   

Noah

Noah was founded by Brendon Babenzien, the former creative director of Supreme. Its logo is a red cross similar to the cross of the Knights Templar. The clothing is influenced by surfing and sailing, skating and punk. The collections are a blend of nautical and collegiate styles with boating sweaters and rugby shirts, hoodies and baggy trousers. The streetwear look blended with East Coast prep.  

The brand is keyed into environmental issues and produces sustainable clothing. The apparel is made with quality fabrics in countries with ethical labor practices, like Canada, Italy and Japan. Like Supreme it also uses a rolling release schedule with weekly drops during a season. Noah’s flagship store is located on Mulberry Street in Lower Manhattan.  

Opening Ceremony

Opening Ceremony was founded by Humberto Leon and Carol Lim in 2002. The brand’s clothes are edgy and experimental, a blend of high fashion and streetwear. The label has done shoe collabs with Vans and Birkenstock and made t-shirts featuring images by the photographer Herb Rits.

Opening Ceremony is known for having exotic fashion shows. For the debut of a collection it collaborated with Sasha Velour, winner of season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The drag spectacle they put on was a celebration of diversity and inclusion. Only LGBT models were used for the show which took place in the basement of Le Poisson Rouge, a cabaret club in the West Village. The drag queens who performed included Lypsinka, Miss Fame and Jiggly Caliente. The queens paraded the stage, modeling corsets, red dresses and white gowns. They lip-synced to a Demi Lovato song. For the finale there was a surprise performance by Christina Aguilera.

Instead of a runway show for one collection, the label opted for a night at the ballet. Twenty dancers, outfitted in OC designs, performed at the New York City Ballet at the Lincoln Center. Showgoers watched some traditional ballet followed by a main act staged by resident choreographer Justin Peck. Swapping ballet slippers for sneakers, members of the company were decked out in streetwear and danced to a soundtrack of electronic music. They wore crop tops and cut-off shorts. Tights were replaced by skinny jeans.

The pieces were designed by Peck and Humberto Leon. Some of the designs were inspired by 19th century photos of immigrants on Ellis Island, especially the denim overalls and trench coats worn by the dancers. The show drew from the history of immigrants to celebrate the diverse backgrounds of Americans.     

Death to Tennis

William Watson and Vincent Oshin created Death to Tennis in 2012. The duo designs eclectic tees, hoodies and jackets, offering a modern take on classic styles. The brand is against convention and formality in sportswear, which is something a game like tennis represents. On their website they publish short clips filmed by emerging directors that showcase their collections.

For a fall-winter collection, actor Mahershala Ali was the face of the brand. In a short film for the ‘Gangsters and Explorers’ collection, he walks through Chinatown dressed in its latest style. In the voiceover, he reads verses from The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. The film highlights ‘the idealism of the thinker or explorer’ as he dwells on the concept of time.