{"id":231789,"date":"2026-04-02T13:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231789\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:03:26","slug":"why-dallas-should-be-on-your-radar-as-one-of-americas-best-fashion-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231789\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Dallas Should be On Your Radar as one of America’s Best Fashion Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saks filed for bankruptcy. Barneys is a memory. And yet, in Dallas, luxury retail is holding its own.<\/p>\n

That contradiction hit me in full at an intimate dinner in March hosted by Thom Browne<\/a> inside Forty Five Ten, the Dallas-based luxury retailer celebrating the opening of its new Fort Worth location. Browne doesn\u2019t do many in-store events, which made the whole thing feel appropriately special: tuxedoed staff circulating mini martinis, custom matchbooks, and cultured butter molded into the shape of Hector, Browne\u2019s beloved dachshund and brand mascot.<\/p>\n

The guests, consisting of clients and collaborators, were dressed in full Thom Browne uniforms. One woman wore the brand\u2019s signature stripes not in fabric but in embellished watches and jewelry stacked up her arm: the Texas woman epitomized in a single look.<\/p>\n

\"ArmCourtesy of Jessica Neises<\/p>\n

A guest sports Thom Browne at the private dinner inside Forty Five Ten.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in Dallas and seeing everyone come out to celebrate Forty Five Ten and my new collection was so inspiring,\u201d says Browne, who has long been captivated by the style of the Texas woman. \u201cTheir team has always supported creativity and craftsmanship at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forty Five Ten has been around for two decades, sitting just blocks from the original flagship Neiman Marcus (still standing since 1914) and a short walk from Dealey Plaza, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, a fact that hits differently now given the world\u2019s current fixation with Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette<\/a> on FX. The store was acquired by Headington Companies in 2014, the same group behind the Joule Hotel and some of Dallas\u2019s best restaurants, and that hospitality-first DNA is very much present in how the store operates. You don\u2019t feel sold to; you feel taken care of.<\/p>\n

\"FashionCourtesy of Jessica Neises<\/p>\n

Duran Lantink at Forty Five Ten.<\/p>\n

\"JewelryCourtesy of Jessica Neises<\/p>\n

Bibi Van Der Velden at Forty Five Ten.<\/p>\n

\u201cShopping is a sport here,\u201d Forty Five Ten president and COO Anne Wallach told me. The store carries fashion brands you can\u2019t find elsewhere in the city like Bode, Dries Van Noten, and Maison Margiela, while also putting emerging designers like Duran Lantink front and center. In the jewelry section, quirky scarab earrings sit on display, and apparently they fly out the door. \u201cIt\u2019s introducing things to people that they fall in love with on their own,\u201d Wallach says of their approach. If a brand is sold at five other Dallas retailers, they\u2019ll pass on it\u2014even if it would sell. This isn\u2019t a customer who wants something safe; she wants to be first, and she trusts the store\u2019s curation and point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cDallas women are cool,\u201d echoed Jonathan Merla, VP of marketing at Headington. \u201cThe rest of the world is just finding out what Dallas has known for a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merla himself embodied the store\u2019s philosophy perfectly\u2014dressed head-to-toe in Comme des Gar\u00e7ons all weekend, he ushered us around town to Las Palmas for the city\u2019s best Tex-Mex (where the owner greeted us in a full suit and alligator cowboy boots) and to The Tango Room for dinner and caviar martinis and informed us of his latest venture with Headington, ShyBoy, the city\u2019s first hi-fi vinyl bar. Furthering the point\u2014the city is pulsing with a creative heartbeat and the hospitality to match.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a practical side to Dallas\u2019s fashion rise: no state income tax, more space, lower overhead. Women here have the disposable income to take risks. They\u2019re dressing for themselves. \u201cIf you\u2019re steadfast in serving your client and not serving the wider fashion cycle, that\u2019s how you stay alive,\u201d Merla told me.<\/p>\n

The Fort Worth location (about 45 minutes from Dallas) that opened on March 21 isn\u2019t a gamble. It\u2019s a response to customers already there. Maybe luxury retail isn\u2019t dying, it\u2019s just getting more intentional by focusing on the places where it works, and Texas is getting it exactly right.<\/p>\n

Lead Image: Forty Five Ten Fort Worth. Courtesy of Forty Five Ten.<\/p>\n

\"Headshot<\/p>\n

Jessica (aka Jess) is a Senior Fashion Editor at Cosmopolitan, working across both fashion market and styling for print stories, as well as digital fashion and commerce coverage. Prior to joining Cosmo, she worked in fashion at Vanity Fair. Jess lives in New York City and loves spotlighting emerging designers you might not have heard of yet\u2014while also being an unabashedly devoted Love Island fan (dating back to Season 1 of Love Island UK, that\u2019s how serious). See more of her work here, and follow her on Instagram if you love her<\/a>.<\/p>\n