Packed in on the second floor of the Eagle, the New York leather bar that has served as a watering hole for the city’s gay community since the 1970s, the chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America stood patiently.
Steven Kolb, the head of the organisation, was waiting for the start of menswear designer Willy Chavarria’s latest collection. In a room that typically smelled of acrid draft beer, frankincense was burning. White lilies, orchids and hydrangeas lined the bar.
It was an iconic location and a break from the staid, white washed spaces that have served as the main tent for New York Fashion Week: Men’s since the CFDA first devoted time on the calendar for menswear in 2015. This season Raf Simons took the fashion literati to Chinatown. Ditto Hugo Boss at the South Street Seaport.