Fashion Designer Inspirations for New York Fashion Week Spring 2025

With the 2024 Olympic games in the rear view, the fashion industry can begin its own sprint: fashion month.

First up, the spring 2025 collections will descend on New York from Friday through Sept. 11, and as is tradition, the designers slated to showcase gave WWD a running head start with a look at their seasonal inspirations.

Elena Velez was certainly in a sporty mood. She submitted an image from her days as a high school cheerleader, accompanied (somewhat oddly) by a Skaldic battle poem in old Norse. 

And with a looming U.S. election, several designers have chosen to fly the flag for team USA with patriotic gestures. Willy Chavarria titled his collection “América,” paying homage to “the heroes who have built this great country,” he said. Meanwhile, Dutch demi-couturier Ronald van der Kemp, who is presenting Stateside for the first time, put the national Stars and Stripes motif to use by reviving his archival “flagjeans” from 2014. 

Elsewhere, Monse will filter the hallmarks of all-American prep, notably the boat-shoe, through a surrealist lens at the Genesis House on Sept. 7. A day later, Tommy Hilfiger too will salute nautical style by inviting guests to climb aboard the permanently docked MV John F. Kennedy ferry. “New York City is the birthplace of the American dream and the Staten Island Ferry represents the gateway to self-expression for so many across history,” Hilfiger said.

Equally New York-centric, Naeem Khan caught the Broadway bug, looking to the smash-hit musical “Wicked,” which premieres on the big screen in November. Perhaps Cynthia Erivo, who stars as Elphaba in the film, will select the devilish green cape Khan previewed a sketch of for an upcoming red carpet. 

Other designers crossed international borders to uncover their inspirations: Alejandra Alonso Rojas in Andalusia, Josie Natori in Japan and Pamella Roland in Paris. 

Todd Snyder vacationed closer to the Riviera coastline and in place of a souvenir, brought back the idea of formal dinner attire, which the menswear designer will champion for his NYFW return on Sept. 8 with a salon-style show at the Le Rock brasserie in Rockefeller Center. It seems Ib Kamara picked up a little something as well. The Off-White creative director stopped off at the ”Duty Free” on his way over from Europe for the brand’s first New York presentation on the same day.

All of their travels are certainly in keeping with Henry Zankov’s advice this season: “Live a little.” His picture of a blue sky dotted with tufts of white clouds is the epitome of carefree summer vibes. Also refueling their creative batteries with warm sunshine are Bach Mai and the designers from Diotima and Aknvas, while Cos’ Karin Gustafsson has cozy fall layers on her mind for the H&M-owned brand’s see now, buy now showcase on Sept. 10.

Tory Burch is gazing upward as well, though her reference point is a bit more sci-fi. Burch cited “the synchronicity of elements” as her inspiration with a NASA picture of what appears to be an extraterrestrial nebula of sorts. 

Bringing things back down to Earth — quite literally — environmental themes are shaping up to be key. Maria McManus will bring her sustainability ethos to the runway for the first time on Sept. 6, which she summarized with a quote from Björk on the necessity to collaborate with nature in the new age.

Jeweler Presley Oldham appears to be doing just that. One of the contenders for this year’s CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund along with Jane Wade and 5000, among others, Oldham was taken with the organic spirals of sweet pea vines. Elsewhere, PH5 has devoted itself to promoting awareness for endangered toads. “We can’t just save the pretty animals,” the brand’s quote reads.

On the more classically “pretty” front, florals will be in abundance this spring, blooming all over the inspiration images from Adeam, Dennis Basso, Silvia Tcherassi and Collina Strada, where designer Hillary Taymor is instructing everyone to “Tend to Your Garden.”

None will do so more literally than Libertine’s Johnson Hartig, whose models will stomp through the Elizabeth Street garden (which the city has planned to turn into affordable housing, though celebrities are trying to save the green space).

At Carolina Herrera, Wes Gordon’s bouquet is of the olfactory variety. Herrera’s entrance in fragrance in 1988, with notes of jasmine and tuberose, led the brand’s creative director to an archival sketch with the same yellow and polka dot motif as its packaging.

Vintage references covered the inspiration images of a few others too, like Jonathan Simkhai, who’s celebrating his mother on her wedding day, and Batsheva Hay, who’s nostalgic for the punkish insouciance of her “Virgin Suicides era” in the ‘90s. 

And while the convergence of art with fashion is nothing new, this season will still offer some intriguing tie-ins. For Anna Sui, Andy Warhol’s pre-pop drawings caught her fancy, while Michael Kors is getting handsy with “texture,” inspired by the sculptural weaving techniques of Sheila Hicks for his show on Sept 10.

Bridging the world of interiors and fashion, Ashlynn Park will curate a multidisciplinary exhibition at the Cristina Grajales gallery earlier that day. Park has even tapped a few of its artists as collaborators like molded glass specialist Christophe Côme whose table she zoomed-in on here. 

Sergio Hudson and Sandra Sandor, founder of Budapest-based label Nanushka, on the other hand, picked up the crafts all their own. The former explored his “soft” side in watercolor and the latter took scissors to paper. Hewing to more traditional fabric mediums, the Tanner Fletcher boys pinned to their board ticking stripes, gingham and toile de Jouy.

Inspiration for Melitta Baumeister, whose runway debut nabbed the closing spot of the week, was harder to pin down. Keeping mum on the details, Baumeister used the words of Michel Foucault instead: “I don’t feel that it is necessary to know exactly what I am,” it begins. Point taken.

Scroll through for these and more designer inspirations for NYFW Spring 2025.