Photos: Courtesy of 6397/ Heirlome/ Aisling Camps Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story On Sunday, Aisling Camps kicked off the penultimate day of New York Fashion Week with a show at Bortolami Gallery in Tribeca, marking her runway debut. Now, on Monday, Heirlome and 6397 will follow suit, showing in runway format for the first time after seasons of preview appointments and lookbooks.
In recent years, brands and industry figures have debated the merits of a runway show, and whether it’s worth the steep investment for independent brands already jumping through hoops to make fashion financials work. But as the parameters of a show are changing and the cadence becomes less stringent, brands who once stayed shy of the show are now dabbling in the format.
New York-founded ready-to-wear brands Aisling Camps, Heirlome, and 6397 are all at different points in their brand trajectories, and have taken varying approaches to presenting collections in the past. Knitwear designer Camps had never shown at NYFW until last season, when she hosted a much-celebrated presentation . On the other hand, Heirlome, which launched in 2022 focusing on tailored ready-to-wear, a portion of which is always in collaboration with a Mexican artisan, has always shown in a by-appointment, casual presentation format; same goes for downtown New York favorite 6397, which was founded in 2013 by Stella Ishii and evolved in 2023 when designer Lizzie Owens came on board alongside. Now, all three have decided the time is right to put on a production.
“A fashion show has, at times, felt like something you’re supposed to do, something you have to do, something that feels so unnecessary, so expensive, so this or that,” Ishii says. “But I feel like now it has a different meaning, with the stream of information and content all around us. We’ve been working so hard on evolving this brand for the last four years, and everyone felt like it was time to really show the evolution.”
The financials are, of course, an obstacle, but as with everyone else, the designers found ways to make it work. Camps, who showed in presentation format last season but wound up doing a mini-runway, showed at Bortolami Gallery (art galleries are a popular venue this season, as they’ll typically host brands for free, as Bortolami did). Last season, Camps went back and forth about a show. Ever careful about budgets, she decided to ease into it for her first moment truly on-calendar. “Then, we got great girls casted and they need a walk,” she laughs. This season, she felt that, for a similar amount of money and effort, she might as well go all-in.
6397 is showing at Ishii’s The News showroom, where the brand has hosted its presentations ever since she launched the brand from her 2000-founded showroom. “We have budgets, so can we do this on a little bit of a glorified lookbook shoot budget?” Ishii says. “We didn’t want to get crazy — we don’t have the cash flow to do that right now.”
All said and done, it is partly about the optics. Heirlome’s founding designer, Stephanie Suberville, recalls last season, when she was one of few CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF) participants not doing a runway show, because she’s always been cautious with the brand’s financials. “We were like, it costs too much money, what’s the point? But I definitely felt last year that I would love to do one,” she says. “As a designer, you always have that in the back of your mind.”
This season, Suberville turned to Ashlyn’s…