10 Empowering Moments That Set a New Standard for Fashion Week

Revisit groundbreaking designers and models that ushered in a new era for New York Fashion Week and beyond in our gallery below.

At Rihanna‘s first Savage X Fenty New York Fashion Week show for fall/winter 2018, the star made it clear that every woman is an important part of her world as models of all different body shapes and ethnicities—and even some pregnant models—proudly sported her lingerie designs.

“Women are the strongest people on earth,” the singer told E! News at the time. “Our bodies alone are made to do so many different things and they’re designed in so many different unique ways. If you have the blessing to be able to bring life into this world it should be celebrated as well. I’m never going to tell a woman she can’t have job with me because I can’t have a pregnant lady [modeling] lingerie or makeup. I’ll always celebrate women in all of their journeys.”

In fact, model Slick Woods went into labor just moments after she stepped off Rih-Rih’s runway.

Thanks to the pioneering vision of creative director and founder Becca McCharen-Tran, Chromat continues to push all the right envelopes at fashion week. Case in point? Their spring/summer 2019 show, where women who did not fit the modeling industry’s archaic sizing standards rocked “sample size” T-shirts down the runway. 

Tess Holliday modeled an up-cycled version of the trend the following year. The body positivity activist called the opportunity “one of the most memorable and emotional moments of my entire career,” writing on Instagram at the time, “To know that I’ve spent my entire career advocating for more diversity in the fashion industry, and to be able to share the runway with so many others with the same mission was a feeling I will never forget.”

It’s not every day a designer’s grandmother walks the runway, but it was a very good day when designer Brandon Maxwell‘s “Mammaw” did for his spring/summer 2019 show at New York Fashion Week. The style savant accompanied his beloved grandmother, then 81-year-old Louise Johnson, down the catwalk as she donned a vibrant red pantsuit of his own design.

This isn’t the first time Maxwell has honored Johnson—she also starred in his fall 2018 campaign. “I just thought right now, I’m in a place in my life where I’m thinking a lot about who I am and where I’m from and what made me who I am, and very core to that story obviously is my grandmother,” he previously told Glamour. “She really pushed me to do what I do today. And I think that there’s no better way to honor that than giving her that space.” 

Underwear brand Marco Marco made history at New York Fashion Week in 2018 by casting an entirely transgender and non-binary lineup of models. Among those who participated in the groundbreaking moment included Pose stars Dominique Jackson and Angelica Ross, Transparent star Trace Lysette and YouTube personality Gigi Gorgeous. 

“Although I have always had trans and non binary people in my shows, it became apparent to me that their presence was often overshadowed by cis gay men or cis gay men in drag,” designer Marco Morante told Mic. “I wanted to create a space to celebrate trans bodies. This was an opportunity for their presence to be undeniable and reinforce that trans is beautiful.”

While some designers continue to struggle with having their consumers reflected on their runways, Chromat’s Becca McCharen-Tran puts such excuses to shame as she seamlessly showcases models of different sizes, ethnicities, ages, genders and abilities on her runway year after year.

For breast cancer survivor Ericka Hart, who has proudly sported her mastectomy scars on runways for Chomat, the opportunity does not go unnoticed. “Put breast cancer survivors in spaces that have nothing to do with breast cancer,” she wrote on social media.

Similarly, model Mama Cax, who passed away in Dec. 2019, shined a light on cancer survivors and amputees by walking for Chromat. 

Melanie Gaydos, who was born with a rare genetic condition called ectodermal dysplasia, first made waves at New York Fashion Week in 2015. 

She understands how her physical attributes may have helped her stand out in a sea of prototypical cover girls, but it’s not what drives her passion.

“When I’m at fashion week, I can tell what people think of me because of the way they interact with me,” she told Harper’s Bazaar in 2017. “I was never, ever bothered by the way that I look. It has nothing to do with me.”

Of progressive changes in the modeling world, Gaydos remarked, “Every year it seems to broaden and become a little more open-minded. I truly do think that fashion is reimagining its ideals, but it’s only because people such as myself are actually making it happen.”

Halima Aden has made an indelible mark on the fashion industry. After becoming the first contestant to wear a hijab at the Miss Minnesota USA pageant in 2016, she made her New York Fashion Week runway debut for Kanye West‘s Yeezy and made history by becoming the first hijab-wearing model to sign to a major modeling agency. 

Since then, she’s opened door after door for other rising stars like her. In 2020 she told Harper’s Bazaar, “I never saw that kind of representation, a hijab-wearing model, before I came along. And to see all the changes in the short three years that I have been in the industry, like seeing a hijab-wearing model, has been amazing. This year, especially, I feel like every agency has a hijab-wearing model. We’re seeing so much representation, and it’s growing. It has surpassed me.”

Baby bumps are increasingly among the beautiful shapes seen at fashion week. Longtime model Lily Aldridge strutted in Brandon Maxwell’s spring/summer 2019 show while five months pregnant with her and husband Caleb Followill‘s second child.

“I’ve walked few runways in my life and this is a moment that I’ll look back on forever with great emotion,” Aldridge wrote on social media. “It was so much fun being backstage will all the girls, everyone was so uplifting and rubbing my belly celebrating this beautiful journey with me. nothing but empowerment at Brandon Maxwell.” 

While plus-size models have not yet become a standard on every catwalk, more and more designers are committed to making the fashion industry a more progressive, inclusive space. Such brands include Christian Siriano, Prabal Gurung, Tommy Hilfiger, Cushnie et Ochs and Chromat. 

Project Runway alum Christian Siriano is at the forefront of such changes, and there’s no better proof than his fall/winter 2018 show at New York Fashion Week. The 10-year anniversary show celebrated a vast range of body sizes and shapes in red carpet worthy gowns. Models included Ashley Graham, Candice Huffine, as well as actresses Danielle Brooks and Selma Blair. 

New York Fashion Week is all about making a statement and in the 2018 season—it was a political one. Christian Siriano and Jeremy Scott raised their voices and incorporated their own messages into their shows.

For Siriano, that meant expressing support for New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon. In addition to sending a model down the runway wearing a black T-shirt that read, “Vote for Cynthia,” he also rocked one himself (it read “I’m Voting for Cynthia”) as he made his finale walk.

Meanwhile, Scott focused on protesting Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. “Tell your senator no on Kavanaugh,” his T-shirt read, along with a telephone number. “Women’s rights, reproductive rights, LGBT rights, affirmative action—you know, it’s all at stake with this one man,” the designer told the AP, via Marie Claire.

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