The New Fall Dressing Rules, According to Christian Siriano

On the concourse level of the Empire State Building on Saturday night, the anticipation was high for Christian Siriano, one of the most recognisable designers on the New York Fashion Week calendar. “What is real anymore?” the show notes read, proposing a timely question as we slowly emerge from a pandemic that has rewritten dressing codes and overhauled the fashion industry as we know it. “Some days feel like we are living in the Victorian era, while others feel like we’re living in the Matrix,” Siriano continued. His proposition? The Victorian Matrix.

Models paraded in extravagant silhouettes – some wearable, some avant-garde – drenched in a classic autumnal palette of black and deep blue. There was lots of patent leather fashioned into an asymmetric dress, a power suit, a bow-front strapless midi, and even long “Bridgerton”-inspired gloves. Elsewhere, classic Victorian fashion elements materialised in corset-style dresses, dramatic headpieces, pannier skirts, and a voluminous sky-blue cape. At times provocative (think like a sheer pink corset or a Matrix-style cutout slit dress), other times conservative, but always modern, the collection aptly mirrored “the tension of the age we live in.” In the end, model Coco Rocha walked down in a hooded, patterned ballgown, which felt like a fitting finale look.

The audience, which included celebrities like Danielle Brooks, Drew Barrymore, Aquaria, and Symone, likely felt transported into a suspended past-future state. And it all made for a memorable show. As Siriano ended in the notes, “I hope this collection shows that fashion remains powerful and dreamlike, and can become the reality if we let it happen, despite the circumstances.”