Fashion designer Rachel Zoe didn’t actually attend New York Fashion Week. Instead, she remained cautious and viewed the runway shows remotely from her home in Malibu, Calif.
Even from afar, one trend was inescapable. “It was all-out glamour,” she said, “as if the pandemic was over.”
On the runways this spring—which are actually clothes designed for fall/winter 2022—she noticed ballgowns and tulle and sequins. Michael Kors had massive, bright faux furs. She made special mention of the collections from Joseph Altuzarra, Proenza Schouler, and Wes Gordon of Carolina Herrera, which she called “breathtaking.”
“People are just happy to be getting out of the darkness,” she said, looking ahead to shows in London, Milan, and Paris. “I think we’re going to see a lot more of these big, bold primary colors.”
Zoe is also editor of the Zoe Report, which has more than 14 million subscribers, and runs Curateur, a luxury fashion and beauty subscription delivered four times a year. She became best-known as a celebrity wardrobe stylist in the mid-2000s working with Hollywood actresses like Lindsay Lohan and Kate Hudson. In 2008, she starred in the Rachel Zoe Project on Bravo and released her first collection in 2011.
An early investor in Poshmark and recent investor in Cleancult, a subscription service of green cleaning products, she said sustainability is another key theme to watch.
“The one thing the industry learned from the pandemic is that you have to arm yourself with the ability to pivot quickly, and you have to be open to change,” she said. “Brands that don’t do that will not survive.”
She pointed to how many high-end luxury brands have brought in young talent to give a fresh take on how people should dress.
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“I think Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim are doing an incredible job executing the new Oscar de la Renta while not alienating the older core customer,” she said. And she gave a nod to the designer’s move into resale with its new Encore store.
Zoe has been an avid collector of vintage since she was 16. “Environmentally speaking, resale is paramount,” she said, “but it also gives the next generation a way to create their own unique style and make something old new again.”
That something new again extended to a general feeling of euphoria surrounding the shows. Many of her friends, she said, caught Covid around the holidays and were now feeling invincible. “I wasn’t in New York,” she said, “but the parties were full on.”
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Moschino lights up the runway in bold shades
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