Today in disappointing New York Fashion Week news, DKNY has announced it will be sitting out the spectacle. The homegrown New York brand’s Fall 2017 presentation was originally slated for February 15 at 2 p.m. However, given recent shake-ups at its corporate headquarters, the brand is laying low and hosting private appointments in its showroom in lieu of a runway show.
The fashion set is pretty bummed. DKNY’s streetwise presentations are typically one of the highlights of the season thanks to their Instagram-friendly settings and atypical model castings. (Last season the brand held a dramatic, jumpsuit-heavy show on the High Line; back in 2014, native New Yorkers like “Downtown’s Sweetheart” Vashtie Kola modeled the brand’s Spring 2015 line.)
We can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Donna Karan International has been through a lot this year. LVMH sold the brand to G-III Apparel Group (which also owns Ivanka Trump’s fashion line) early this summer, a move that did not sit well with creative directors Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow or CEO Caroline Brown, all of whom have since parted ways with the brand.
“Given the company sale and subsequent change in strategies, we have decided to step down and focus on our own business Public School,” said Osborne and Chow in a joint statement. Neither they nor Brown have been replaced.
Between DKNY’s retreat to its showroom and Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, Rachel Comey and Rebecca Minkoff’s flight to L.A., this New York Fashion Week will be markedly different from seasons past. But that could be a great thing, if nascent designers step up to fill the void.
[ via WWD ]
