On a snowy February night on the Upper East Side, a swell of pink surrounded the historic James B. Duke House. A bow-clad woman asked a security guard, “is this the line for expedited passes?” He nodded and she looked down the block in disbelief.
Inside the French classical mansion where LoveShackFancy held its presentation, there was quite the scene: a group of a dozen models, dressed in the brand’s fall 2025 collection lounged underneath a staircase in a living tableau; some drinking champagne, others spritzing perfume. One, in a matching lace set with bell-bottom pants, examined herself in a compact. Beside her, another model wearing a floral sequin gown—which the brand said required 325 hours of sequinning and beading—was being twirled by a male escort (in the tuxedoed, cotillion sense.) “Bittersweet Symphony” by The Verve—a song from the 1990s teen movie Cruel Intentions—played overhead.
It did seem like a fictional scene out of the Cruel Intentions or 2000s-era Gossip Girl, both of which chronicled the lavish lives of moneyed New York high schoolers. This, I’m guessing, was intentional: LoveShackFancy has a strong teenage customer base.
Looking closely at the clothes, however, the inspiration seemed to be more 1970s Laurel Canyon cosplay than 2000s Park Avenue. Many models were covered in ’70s-style pink faux fur. Flowing long sleeve dresses, in raspberry and sky blue, also exuded a bohemian air. (Lana del Rey wore a similar design by the brand to Karen Elson’s wedding in September.) Minidresses meanwhile were paired with knee-high boots.
Designer Rebecca Hessel Cohen said she had a wide range of muses this season: Kate Moss in her London party days, Keira Knightly in the film adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Penny Lane in Almost Famous, socialite Doris Duke who in her 1930s heyday the tabloids called “the richest girl in the world.” What do they all have in common? “She’s kind of rebellious, she’s a bit edgier, and she’s a cool girl,” said Cohen.
Much of the collection was pink, the signature color of LoveShackFancy—something that Cohen won’t stray from even in a cold weather season. (It’s both a creative and business decision: 12 of her stores are in temperate climate states like California, Texas, and South Carolina.) She did, however, embrace some mauve and chocolate browns, the latter of which has been a trending color on the runway. The designs with the color did have a relative maturity to them; a dress with a black lace top and mocha silk skirt, styled with a brown faux fur jacket, looked like something a twenty- or thirty-something would wear to a black-tie winter wedding or a young patron’s gala. A bubble-gum pink ruffled gown adorned with crystals and a giant bow? That’s for the young… or at least the young at heart.
