Supporters at a midterm election night watch party for winning Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico. Photo: Getty Images Save Story Save this story Save Story Save this story The Democrats’ landslide victory in the midterm elections brings the global luxury and fashion sectors to a new juncture as the Democratic Party has flipped control of both the Senate and the House, midway through President Trump’s second term. While the “blue tsunami” has left the current administration downtrodden, the market responded with enthusiasm on Wednesday morning, with the Dow up more than 1,500 points — a 2.8% spike.
To mark the watershed moment, Hildy Kuryk, the interim CEO for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) joined Nicole Phelps, global director for Vogue Runway and Vogue Business , on stage at the Vogue Business Global Summit: New York on Wednesday in a pop-up session to unpack the result’s potential impact on the global fashion and beauty industries.
The discussion addressed a string of obstacles brought in during the Republican party’s reign, including the 2025 tariffs that wreaked havoc on fashion’s supply chains, followed by the conflict in the Middle East. The latter has pushed up inflation, increased living costs, as well as gas and oil prices, all while heightening macroeconomic instability.
In the months leading up to the elections, consumer sentiment was shaky. In early October, 36% of registered voters cited inflation as the most important issue to them, according to a poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov. This was followed by jobs and the economy, at 11%. Sixty-nine percent of voters said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of inflation, and 44% believed that political conflict had spread too far into everyday life.
And yet, people have been shopping. In fact, many luxury conglomerates and brands — Hugo Boss , Kering , Zegna , and Hermès included — cited the US as bright spot in their latest quarterly earnings. “In particular, the Americas continued its double-digit trend, despite an increasingly demanding comparison base,” executive chair Ermenegildo “Gildo” Zegna said in a statement, noting the company’s 14% growth in the region. Hermès’s growth was led by the Americas, up 8.8% in the third quarter, and Kering’s only growth region was North America.
As sights turn to the 2028 presidential election, here’s what Kuryk said about making sense of the midterms.
Vogue : The CFDA Awards were just two nights ago. Congratulations.
Hildy Kuryk: Then I stayed up way too late last night watching the midterms.
Vogue : We woke up to news of a “blue tsunami”. What do the results tell us about where the US currently stands?
Well, the good news is the market was up this morning. I think that investors are reassured that there could be some calm coming. But I want to be careful. This was a blue wave, but it was not a progressive wave or a moderate wave. It was a Democratic wave — in all of its forms. We saw that Democrats know how to win in the cities. Republicans spent a lot of money redistricting — it didn't work. But Democrats learned how to win in rural areas, which I think is so important. This is a repudiation of the president and of the administration. Voters clearly wanted something different. We have to be careful because America is a 50-50 country, so these wild swings are not necessarily predictive of where the country is.
So many. We have the first black female governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms…