Christopher John Rogers, Calvin Klein, Sandy Liang
New York Fashion Week Fall 2025
You’re gonna get many a newsletter from me in the next few weeks. Hopefully that’s a good thing and not a bad thing that makes you want to unsubscribe. It’ll hurt my feelings.
Also, I’m sick of people saying NYFW is dead and I’m also sick of people saying it should be gate kept. Shut UP.
Anyway, let’s get into it.
Christopher John Rogers Fall 2025
It’s been two years since Christopher John Rogers showed on the official New York fashion week schedule, and after this season it seems as if that opening slot always had his name on it, because I couldn’t think of a better way to start off the week.
Entitled Exhale, Collection 015 truly did feel like the release of a breath we’ve all been holding. As Rogers wrote in the show notes, “In a time when identity and personhood are globally challenged, the pursuit of one’s own happiness and autonomy can feel like a daunting but essential endeavor.” Yet, through his work he reminds us that those challenging times are when it's most important to act in defiance and be unapologetically yourself.
With each season there’s an obvious growth of the CJR girl. She’s maturing, but that twinkle in her eye is ever present. The CJR girl is not static; she represents a dynamic and multifaceted subject who negotiates societal expectations while asserting her own agency. The clothing was quite refined this season, but it could never be boring. She’s just not wasting her breath anymore– there’s no reason to reach the word count if she’s already said what she had to say. The show notes also mentioned that this collection was a thank you to everyone who's supported the brand since the beginning, which is perhaps why it felt so familiar, like seeing a dear friend you haven’t for quite some time.
Rogers also drew inspiration from artists like Angela de la Cruz, Hélio Oiticica, and Robert Morris, whose work feels quite synergistic to his. Whether it be through their use of color or through their rejection of form, there’s a noncompliance and subversion that we see. This interplay between form and dysfunction is reminiscent of Rogers’s ability to take classical silhouettes and subtly distort them to create something unexpected yet deeply intentional. I also think of Oiticica’s Parangolé capes and how they are meant to be danced in, to be worn while moving, to dissolve the boundary between artwork and wearer. Rogers channels this same philosophy: his designs are not static– they demand movement, interaction, participation.
Like ribbons of candy pouring out of a bag, models made their way down the runway in garments that were deliciously rich in color, as if infused with the most delectable of flavors. His eye for color continues to be unmatched, making the more stripes the merrier, and I’ll truly never know how he’s never put one color combination down the runway that’s upset my synesthesia. Like a Rothko painting, they’re colors you can feel. Knits were fantastic, as they always are, especially where one knit dress with knit sweater and fringe scarf is considered. A belted baby doll dress was easy, breezy, and beautiful, while bright, mohair coats added just the right amount of frazzle. Perfectly structured dresses were not lacking (they never are), and the pockets on the finale coat knocked me right out. Rogers’ attention to material and construction further reinforces the collection’s dual commitment to beauty and functionality.
There’s an honesty that exists within Rogers’ work that makes it so endlessly compelling. It grows and evolves within the world he’s built, instead of within the one that tries to tell us what we should be wearing each day through listicles, trend reports, and algorithms. While Rogers has stated on multiple occasions that he’s aware his clothes might not be for everyone, I actually think his is a brand that has the capability to coax someone out of their shell, to prove that taking up space and being a little louder isn’t the worst that can happen. If anything it might change you for the better.
Calvin Klein Fall 2025
Whether your introduction be minimally chic collections of the 90s, in #mycalvins campaigns, or Jeremy Allen White on a billboard in New York City, everyone knows Calvin Klein– both the brand and the designer are American icons. However, depending on how deep into fashion business you are, everyone might not know Veronica Leoni, who just made her debut as creative director of Calvin Klein Collection. Prior to her appointment Leoni was the design director of The Row, and her resume also includes Jil Sander and Celine under Phoebe Philo. Her own label, Quira was put on hold while she helms the all American brand. So, has Fall 2025 justified the brand’s long hiatus, and more importantly, does it propel Calvin Klein into a new era?
Well, I’m not a huge fan of judging someone solely on their debut collection, but so far, I’d say it was fine. Calvin Klein Collection holds a very interesting position where it is expected to be a very specific thing and is also expected to increase the brands overall sales, while not always considering that those might not be the same two customers. Just think of the last time we saw a collection from the label. It was under Raf Simons back in 2017, who had a very short stint under the brand, that, personally, I was a fan of, but the general public was not. The brand wanted Simons because he’s Raf Simons, and they thought it would invite a new audience, they thought it’d be fun! Except that it was too fun, apparently– too intimidating. That, paired with behind the scenes disagreements and miscommunications led to a shutdown of the label, until now! We’re back and trying to be relevant again. But, what does that look like in 2025?
According to Leoni, it’s classic American sportswear that, for the most part, is quite timeless. There was a lot of great outerwear and some very promising design choices that deserve more expansion. However, I do think we should focus more on the present and moving forward than the 90s archives. Fashion is cyclical, of course, but this sometimes felt more like a reference of a reference than an actual reference. The clothes are streamlined, timeless, and well-made, but their minimalism lacks friction– there’s no tension, no push-and-pull between past and future. Instead, we get a meticulously crafted approximation of 90s Calvin Klein, reinterpreted through a 2025 luxury lens. It’s Calvin Klein as signifier, rather than Calvin Klein as something new.
It was a little sexless, which feels quite antithetical to Calvin Klein. It’s sexless not in a radical, asexual way (which could be interesting) but in a corporate, HR-approved way. There’s an effortlessness that should always exist at Calvin Klein, and while not necessarily the same customer, I think a good example of such effortlessness is Nicolas Di Felice at Courrèges. Calvin Klein has always been about projection. It’s an image, a sensation, a mythology. Leoni’s take felt a little bit too buttoned up, Pinterest moodboard. I also couldn’t help but feel the ghost of Phoebe Philo floating around; what dirt does that infinity dress have on all of y’all?!
Part of the idea here was also to build a full wardrobe, and while I love a good dynamic wardrobe, there was a bit of throughline lacking here. I also heard that the clothes looked better in person than they do in photos, but I’m more curious about the price point. Regardless, Leoni mentioned that she wanted to take a woman, who is often the object of desire, and instead make her someone who desires. Sure! I’m just not sure she’s convinced me her desires are worth my interest. At least not yet.
Sandy Liang Fall 2025
Sandy Liang resonated with me this season more than it has in a long time. Subjectively, it was all my favorite things about the brand coming together at once, while objectively it was just conceptually sound and consistent.
Mark Fisher’s theory of hauntology argues that modern culture is fixated on past aesthetics not because they were better, but because they represent futures we were promised but never lived. Fall 2025 looked to the past and explored girlhood, as Liang is wont to do, but this season there was more focus on living the childhood of your dreams. The childhood with all the toys and clothes that you always wanted, but perhaps was out of reach. As the show notes read, “Nostalgia and presence are worn together in a pastiche of all things beloved.” There’s an acknowledgment of how our lives and lived experiences have shaped the people we are today. Whether it be trips to Toys “R” Us, the pearl necklace you stole from your mother, a nostalgic fleece your dad insisted upon to help fight the cold, or wanting to bring your doll (clothes in this case) with you everywhere you go, Liang sees no shame in bringing that into the present.
There were “precious objects abound but their value is only personal,” reinforcing that sentimental fashion does not require external validation. As Joanne Entwistle argues in The Fashion Body, “fashion is a crucial means of situating the self within social structures,” and Liang’s work recognizes that girlhood is not just a phase but an ongoing negotiation of identity– one that does not neatly conclude at adulthood. The collection brought strength to girlhood by taking it seriously instead of as just an internet meme, and there was a quirky practicality to the pieces that felt like the perfect sweet spot for Liang. I love when she leans into the absurd, like the bow bags from a couple of seasons ago, but I also love her understanding of the kind of things her customer actually needs and wants. She embraces this state of flux that we see in children playing dress up and trying to figure out what sticks, and acknowledges that that is something that truly never stops.
The color palette this season was very sweet, almost like staring into a Polly Pocket house or opening up your first makeup palette, full of varying shades of glittery lip glosses. Here she dismisses the idea that these sugary hues and their source material should be seen as frivolous rather than taken seriously as aesthetic and cultural touchstones. Participation ribbons were a fun accessory, as were pearl adorned shoes. Floral printed long johns made anything and everything weather appropriate, and there was an overall attention to detail this season that was much appreciated.
Fall 2025 exemplifies how fashion can act as a bridge between past and present, using nostalgia not as a gimmick but as a means of self-reclamation. Rather than treating girlhood as a fleeting aesthetic, this season proved that it is a powerful, evolving language– one that continues to shape how we see ourselves long after childhood ends.
Okay, other half of NYFW reviews coming tomorrow, with extra misc. thoughts about shows I didn’t have time to review.
TTYL!!!
xx