Backstage at NYFW: Emerging Designers to Watch

There’s been much discourse about New York Fashion Week’s so-called death, both within and beyond the fashion echo chamber. While some of the city’s rising brands use it as a launchpad to the Mecca of Paris, others continue to demonstrate its magic—suspended somewhere between lightheartedness and intensity. Perhaps it’s a result of the city’s firm identity—the New Yorker bravado—but those who show here are truly New York. And if a city is the sum of its parts, then New York is nothing if not its underground.

During fashion week, TEETH went backstage at some of the top shows from up-and-coming labels—tapping into each designer’s vision for SS26 to uncover how they’re propelling the scene forward.

 

BEN DOCTOR

Mid-century air travel has long captured the creative imagination, and for Ben Doctor, it’s rooted in memory. “My mother was a flight attendant in the ’80s, and I think of her stories often,” he says. “This season was inspired by her, and how a flight attendant’s glamour was once a hallmark of upward mobility,” he says.

 

As New York style is deeply ingrained in an urban sense of utilitarianism, the collection mixes vintage-inspired silhouettes with “gritty tactility”—from unconventional tailoring to sneaker-stiletto hybrids courtesy of Sneex.

 

Informed by these realities, Doctor creates a quintessential wardrobe infused with subversive elements that capture New York’s propensity for the unexpected. “Every year we get more curious and take from not only the visual aesthetics of the city, but also from its core narratives: the stories that keep us here, daring to be hopeful.”

 

TYLER McGILLIVARY

Drawing from the universal mysticism of the siren, the Brooklynite made waves in the “Mermaiden” showcase for quite a few reasons—the runway was held on a literal ship, and Aquamarine star Sara Paxton closed the show. A longtime local, McGillivary is a creative force in the city—a role that takes resilience. “As New York becomes more expensive and harder to live in as an artist, it becomes more important to root ourselves here,” she says.

 

Unfettered in imagination, surreal textiles, mermaid silhouettes, and bold graphics (a Tyler signature) permeate the collection as it trails the line between fantasy and reality.

 

“The brand has always been about worldbuilding and storytelling, but this show felt like the pinnacle of what we’ve been working towards—the start of a new era for the brand where we finally ‘got it, ’” says McGillivary.

 

ISEDER

Staged in a Tribeca gallery, co-founders Sharon Mishiev and Taylor-Paige Garvin looked to New York’s history of expression and eccentricity as the grounding force for the collection. “It was a mix of the glamour from a century ago, the youthful energy we unashamedly try to relive from the last decade, and the eclectic energy of today.” With deconstructed details and textural nods to iconic Manhattan landmarks, the pieces are an ode to city life—paced to its brisk rhythm.

 

In Mishiev and Garvin’s eyes, New York Fashion Week has shifted from centering major brands to spotlighting emerging designers as the ones to watch.

 

While this evolution has made way for criticism, the unwavering pulse of its creative counterculture proves it’s alive and well. “There’s so much diversity in design at the moment. No one’s really chasing trends or aiming for mass appeal; we’re more focused on building and growing within our own communities,” they continue.