NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13: Models pose during the Alice + Olivia by Stacey Bendet spring 2026 presentation during September 2025 New York Fashion Week at the Surrogate’s Court on September 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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New York Fashion Week’s Spring/Summer 2026 season demonstrated significant industry expansion and strategic evolution with 101 total events representing a 17% increase over February’s fashion week.
The growth from 86 to 101 shows, encompassing 65 runway presentations and 36 by-appointment showings, signals strengthened designer confidence and increased market investment in the New York fashion calendar.
International market expansion emerged as a defining characteristic of participating brands, exemplified by Son Jung Wan‘s global reach, which includes 54 stores across Asia and 110 points of sale worldwide.
Song Jung Wan’s runway show
Son Jung Wan
The brand’s diversification into multiple collections, including women’s, juniors, men’s, and golf athleisure, demonstrates successful portfolio expansion strategies that retail marketers should monitor.
The Seoul-based designer’s position as the “top-selling female-owned designer collection” from her region indicates a growing consumer appetite for diverse geographic fashion perspectives and suggests untapped market opportunities in underrepresented design communities.
The industry’s response to technological disruption also appeared prominently throughout the week. Pantone Color Institute experts noted that designers “fearlessly step into personal expression, a dramatic bulwark against AI and creeping homogenization.”
This positioning of human creativity as a competitive advantage suggests brands are proactively differentiating against automated design processes and mass market sameness. For retail marketers, this signals consumer willingness to pay premiums for authentically human-created products and personalized design narratives.
Venue selection and presentation format innovation demonstrated brands’ increasing emphasis on experiential marketing over traditional runway shows.
Prabal Gurung’s choice of St. Bartholomew’s Church and alice + olivia’s elaborate set design at the Hall of Records indicate significant investment in immersive brand storytelling as well.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13: Prabal Gurung attends the Prabal Gurung fashion show during Spring/Summer 2026 New York Fashion Week at St. Bartholomew’s Church on September 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by TheStewartofNY/WireImage)
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These location strategies suggest fashion weeks are evolving beyond industry trade events toward consumer-facing cultural experiences, with implications for retail marketing approaches that integrate physical spaces with brand narratives.
Sophisticated approaches to cultural moment marketing were evident, particularly through alice + olivia’s strategic positioning around America’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
“In 2026, as we honor the 250th anniversary of the United States, we celebrate the American woman,” said Stacey Bendet, Founder, Creative Director, and CEO of alice + olivia. “A woman who has shaped our culture, inspired our art, defined our fashion, and moved through history with strength and style. This collection is a love letter to her.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 13: A model poses during the Alice + Olivia by Stacey Bendet spring 2026 presentation during September 2025 New York Fashion Week at the Surrogate’s Court on September 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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This forward-thinking cultural calendar alignment demonstrates how successful brands anticipate and build collections around significant cultural milestones, providing retail marketers with frameworks for long-term trend forecasting and seasonal planning strategies.
Brand authenticity emerged as a critical competitive differentiator, with multiple designers emphasizing personal narratives over external market pressures.
Son Jung Wan’s explicit rejection of “chasing external expectations” in favor of following “her own rhythm” reflects a broader industry movement toward brand authenticity as a market positioning strategy, and indicates consumers increasingly value brand consistency and personal vision over trend-following, indicating opportunities for retail partners who support distinctive brand narratives.
The season’s emphasis on unconventional pairings and novel self-expression points toward industry maturation beyond traditional seasonal constraints, with brands offering consumers permission for creative styling approaches.
According to fashion and beauty writer Lauren Caruso, this season’s most exciting trends centered less around color or material and more on silhouette. “Designers paid especially close attention to hips, accentuating them with voluminous hoop skirts at Tibi and Altuzarra, or adding heft at Jane Wade,” she said.
For retail marketers, these NYFW trends and themes suggest opportunities in cross-merchandising strategies that encourage experimental product combinations and personal expression through fashion choices, moving beyond prescribed seasonal looks toward year-round creative engagement.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kaleighmoore/2025/09/16/new-york-fashion-week-springsummer-2026-trends/
