It’s Not Fashion Week Until the CFDA Hosts This Party

Sixty-five stories above the streets of Midtown, Bar SixtyFive at the Rainbow Room was buzzing Wednesday evening as more than 200 members of the fashion industry gathered to kick off New York Fashion Week. Renowned designers Thom Browne, Michael Kors, and Anna Sui joined Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), to host a cocktail party officially ushering in the Spring/Summer 2026 season.

“New York Fashion Week is important because it’s a celebration for the city and a moment to have people look at us,” Kolb told Vogue, taking a brief break from greeting guests. “New York is one of the four global fashion capitals and we’re the first to present collections, so we really set the pace for the next few cities. And since American fashion is so inspired by the streets and culture, we are so proud to be streaming the shows for the second time—live and free—for the public to enjoy. We are doing things differently and want to make the shows accessible to New Yorkers.”

Browne, the CFDA’s chairman, hatched the idea of screening every runway on the CFDA’s official Fashion Week calendar. Three large screens at Rockefeller Center will broadcast the shows from September 11 through 16. His intention: to raise awareness and spotlight uniquely American fashion voices.

“New York is a special and diverse city—and that’s what the designers here represent. It’s the diversity in the creativity and the strength in creativity,” Browne told Vogue soon after he mingled with Kors and Sui. “There’s so much energy with the well-established designers and also with the new designers. They all really represent true creativity at the highest level. Of course it’s not always easy for all of us, but when it comes down to it, the creativity—where it all should start—is here and stronger than ever.”