Designer: Michael Kors

MOD! The one word that comes to mind following Michael Kors’ show in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art. Kors took inspiration from a recent trip to LACMA and to Paris for the Calder Exhibit. His signature tailoring and effortlessly chic clothes received an injection of color. Coral tones were paired with dark shades of camel and mustard yellows with black. A Black and white striped asymmetrical leather skirt was paired with matching bodysuit for the show but could easily become a wardrobe staple to be worn with everything from a chunk black turtleneck to a white tee. A Kelly green skirt suit with slightly shrunken proportions was a crowd favorite as was a sequin midi dress in the same color. With the collection receiving rave reviews across the board… Kors has proven once again that nobody understands New York women as he does. Michael Kors was the FGI Night of Stars Superstar honoree in 2022.

Designer: Aiste Hong

“Shifting Sands Collection”

Shifting Sands is inspired by the shifting dunes of Lithuania’s coast, a landscape that has moved and transformed over centuries, burying traces of what came before, and the sense of time, movement and impermanence it holds. The collection draws directly from the colors and textures of the landscape: sand-toned chiffons, maritime blues, moss greens and amber-like embellishment. Tufted paper and fringed moss jacquard draw from the tactile, irregular quality of coastal vegetation, while zipper feathers reference the birds of the Baltic. Materials are manipulated, surfaces transformed and familiar forms reconsidered, reflecting a landscape continually reshaped by the elements.

Beyond the landscape itself, Shifting Sands reflects on change and the passage of time. It explores how we evolve while holding on to a sense of who we are, and the beauty and fragility that exist within that process. Nature is an endless source of material, color and form, but also something increasingly fragile. The collection approaches it with a greater consciousness of what surrounds us, what inspires us, and what we choose to preserve.

Aiste Hong is the winner of Womenswear FGI Rising Star Award 2026

Designer: Haoran Li

“Stiched Not Blended”

Inspiration statement: “Two systems, one seam.The world keeps asking us to choose — a side, a language, a flag. We believe two cultures can sit side by side without becoming one, each whole, each true to itself. Not fusion. Not compromise. Something closer to trust.Basketball is New York’s own language — its court, its culture, its export. Its largest audience speaks Mandarin. Two systems, built on opposite sides of the world, meeting anyway — not because they had to agree on everything, but because a generation has been living between them all along.We don’t need the world to agree on what these things mean together. We just need the stitch to hold.” Private Policy was FGI Rising Star finalist 2020