{"id":349006,"date":"2026-09-17T05:04:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T05:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T05:04:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T05:04:41","slug":"meet-conner-ives-the-designer-behind-the-most-glamorous-new-york-fashion-week-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/349006\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Conner Ives, the Designer Behind the Most Glamorous New York Fashion Week Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

He pauses. Then smiles. He sees how people might assume that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a cis, white male from upstate New York,\u201d Ives says, \u201cBedford [a wealthy town], more specifically. It\u2019s very easy for people to fill in the blanks there.\u201d But Ives\u2019s father is a minister, and his mom \u201cis a self-made pediatric orthodontist who put herself through 12 years of medical school,\u201d he says, \u201cthat work ethic has been embedded in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he think people think he\u2019s a nepo baby because he has nepo baby friends?<\/p>\n

He laughs. \u201cWell, yes,\u201d he says, \u201cBut we\u2019ve been having this conversation for years without moving the dial in any kind of way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he care if people think he\u2019s a social climber? It\u2019s one very American trait, after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t,\u201d he says. \u201cI came up in an era where that relationship,\u201d between a wealthy patron and a young, skilled designer, \u201cwas maybe more common than it is now. But it is a symbiotic relationship.\u201d John Galliano had a supporter in Portuguese aristocrat Sao Schlumberger. Karl Lagerfeld\u2019s muse was a baroness by marriage, Amanda Harlech. And Lee Alexander McQueen was chummy with socialite Isabella Blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will always seek out inspirational, powerful women,\u201d Ives says. \u201cThat is a beautiful archetype for a woman. I don\u2019t think my woman is quiet or that she is meek. When I think of Sara or Lauren, I think of elegant, chic, powerful women who have moved heaven and earth for me. I love watching them get dressed, and talk to them about fashion. If you have a friend who likes what you are doing and has the power and means to support it, why would I turn that down?\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps Ives\u2019s willingness to get closer to power is what ticks off his cohort. Designers of his ilk and generation like to say no to the establishment. It gives them a sense of purpose. \u201cIt just feels so strange to do fashion in 2026 in this edgelord kind of way,\u201d Ives says.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Lauren Santo Domingo at the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party wearing Conner Ives.<\/p>\n

Neilson Barnard\/Getty Images\"Image<\/p>\n

Sara Moonves at W Magazine’s 2026 Best Performances party, wearing Conner Ives.<\/p>\n

Phillip Faraone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Clout aside, Conner Ives, the brand, is very much a real thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot keep his clothing in stock,\u201d Santo Domingo says at Moda Operandi, which has carried Ives\u2019s collection since the spring-summer 2026 season. The retailer saw the demand for Conner Ives accelerate starting with his fall-winter 2026 collection earlier this year, having done nearly $500,000 in sales off their fall trunk show in March, which a representative for the retailer says \u201cis an extraordinary result for an emerging independent designer.\u201d It helped, of course, that Santo Domingo, an online influencer in her own right, wore a look by Ives to Vanity Fair\u2019s Oscar Party<\/a> around the same time. Only one week after Ives\u2019s fall collection went live in Moda\u2019s channels earlier this month, it\u2019s already at 75% sell-through. It\u2019s the retailer\u2019s strongest fall collection launch of the season so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He pauses. Then smiles. He sees how people might assume that. \u201cI\u2019m a cis, white male from upstate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1242,3021,130464,9,11,10],"class_list":["post-349006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-week","tag-fit-check","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}