New York Fashion Week Highlights: Carolina Herrera, Coach, and Cult Gaia Impress Amid Runway Protests

After struggling for attention in recent years, New York Fashion Week—which wraps up on Tuesday—is garnering global headlines, albeit for reasons both good and bad. On Sunday, an animal rights protester stormed the Cos runway and was violently removed by Steven Kolb, the president and chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, sparking intense debate online over boundaries. Elsewhere, the week saw the return of the label Diane von Furstenberg after a decade away, while Coach celebrated its 85th birthday with an on-runway party. Here are some of the highlights.

Carolina Herrera
Creative director Wes Gordon looked to the 1980s glamour synonymous with founder Carolina Herrera as the house celebrated its 45th anniversary. Against a backdrop of thousands of yellow tulips, Gordon's collection was built on the glamour of New York socialites, featuring polka dots, punchy yellow, and fitted silhouettes. Softer pieces appeared in peruvinkle blue, pistachio green, and dusty pinks with sequins and organza ruffles, while Herrera’s signature white shirt was paired with sleek pencil skirts and high-waisted cigarette pants.

Dauphinette
Little known outside New York, Olivia Cheng’s intriguing label Dauphinette explored transformation, memory, and the acceptance of imperfection for spring/summer 2027. Titled Lady Mondegreen, the 24-look collection presented at Genesis House occupied a space between romance and decay. Featuring vintage fabrics, hand-beading, and minaudieres made from real bread, the collection's most memorable pieces included painted UGGs, forest-dipped Puma Speedcats, and a bra covered in Victorian-inspired glass beads.

Christian Cowan
Christian Cowan looked to the darker side of Hollywood glamour, taking inspiration from Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust and Marilyn Monroe’s complicated relationship with fame. Cowan incorporated archival textiles from the 1920s and 1950s, maintaining a deliberate theatricality with corsetry, plunging silk gowns, and sculptural taffeta flowers.

Tory Burch
Tory Burch approached her collection as an exercise in optimism against the dark times we are all experiencing. That idea appeared as deliberately creased fabrics, frayed knitwear, and personal references like a piped-edge blazer inspired by a jacket worn by her father. Button-up knits, pointed pumps with barbed-wire hardware, and flapper-inspired dresses brought the show to an exuberant close.

Cos
This Cos show will best be remembered for the incident involving Steven Kolb, who grabbed an animal rights protester on the runway. On Monday, Kolb apologised, took full responsibility, and announced a voluntary leave of absence. The incident overshadowed a lovely show by creative director Karin Gustafsson, who drew on Christian Dior’s New Look, translating proportions into narrow, sculpted waists and wide necklines.

Cult Gaia
Cult Gaia returned to New York Fashion Week with Behesht, the Persian word for heaven. For designer Jasmin Larian Hekmat, the collection was a response to grief following the death of her grandmother, using fashion to explore resilience and renewal through a visual progression from charcoal into sky blue and blooming pinks.

Diane von Furstenberg
For Henry Zankov’s first runway collection as artistic director of Diane von Furstenberg, movement was the starting point beneath the High Line. Zankov explored the broader idea of wrapping with draped T-shirts, ballerina tops, and scarf-like panels enveloping the body, showcasing fluid dresses in tomato red, peacock blue, jade, and fuchsia.

Coach
For Coach’s 85th anniversary, creative director Stuart Vevers looked backwards without becoming nostalgic. The spring/summer 2027 collection considered the beauty of things that have been worn, loved, and lived in, exuding a romantic 1990s mood pitched against utilitarian details and soft pastels.