New York City Ballet’s Gen Z Fashion Focus

NYCB’s recent Reformation collab highlighted the increasingly grey area between performancewear and fashion in the wake of balletcore mania. But this latest collection leans heavily into playful sartorial experimentation: think branded leotards, dance-style mini dresses, rehearsal-room boleros, bow-adorned baby tees, pointelle camisoles and girly slips.

However, the star of the show is the shoulder bag with an oversized bow, riffing on Sandy Liang’s affinity for bows that spurred a viral boom for the accessory. Already sold out, it’s sure to become a must-have item this summer.

Sandy Liang has been smart about how it engages with its online popularity and immediately identifiable aesthetic (see The Brief), embracing saccharine girlhood visuals and exploring more affordably priced entry-level products to appeal to its largely young fanbase of women (including via Target and Baggu collaborations).

Meanwhile, Heaven has proven itself to be something of a Gen Z whisperer, keeping its finger on the pop-culture pulse and collaborating with Gen Z idols like Sofia Coppola on collections that regularly sell out.

Additionally, both Sandy Liang and Marc Jacobs are New York-based, continuing this focus on locality and community we’ve seen across all kinds of merch, fashion and pop-culture crossovers (read The Merch Boom and Sports & Active: Key Trends).

Smart brands will take cues from luxury’s ongoing pop-culture pivot – which has great transferable ideas and insights for myriads of markets – and focus more on cross-industry team-ups. The NYCB is a notable example of a brand effectively exploring these opportunities at different levels to reach different consumers, from hyper-luxe costuming by Carolina Herrera to collabs with mid-market cult favourites.