When Jac Cameron launched her brand Ruadh, in October 2024, the colour palette was exclusively muted blues and blacks.
It made sense for the moment: “quiet luxury” had only recently entered the lexicon, and shoppers were gravitating towards sleek silhouettes in subtle colours. Cameron’s New York-based brand’s denim, button-down shirts and V-neck sweaters fit right in.
But the pendulum is swinging back to colour and pattern, hard. And Ruadh is swinging with it. Cameron’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection included plenty of elevated staples, but also argyle prints, leather jackets and sweaters in red and green. The boldest piece was a chartreuse sweater with a large funnel neck collar that extends down the arms.
“Growing the brand … you understand your customer a bit better and what she wants, so you can bring her something a little bit more surprising that speaks to maximalism,” said Cameron. “It’s nice to be able to play in that high-colour, high-texture world.”
New York has long been a hotbed for minimalist fashion, from Calvin Klein’s reign in the 1990s to multi-block lines for The Row’s sample sales today. New York Fashion Week’s schedule is filled with brands showing their own take on clean lines and elevated essentials. They run the gamut from emerging names like Ruadh, Heirlome and Maria McManus to rising players like Ashlyn, Fforme, Kallmeyer and TWP and established brands like Theory and Proenza Schouler. And of course, there’s Khaite, which has become the minimalist queen of New York Fashion Week since The Row decamped to show in Paris.
Almost all of them are grappling with the same issue Cameron confronted: how to succeed as a minimalist brand when maximalism is on the ascendant. Last summer, Missoni and Pucci’s brightly-coloured prints were in demand. Shoppers are piling on accessories, from the large earrings at Saint Laurent last season to the winged jackets at Schiaparelli couture in January. Mattieu Blazy’s Chanel has so far been full of colour, feathered details and busy prints.
Add to that that minimalism has already proved not to be a consistent slam dunk, even for most prominent brands with a reputation for it: Theory’s sales have declined in its home market in the US, and Calvin Klein’s collection has received mixed reviews since returning to the runway a year ago.
New York’s minimalist labels have one thing going for them: because there are so many, designers have already had to deviate from the bare-bones, neutral-toned uniform. Even The Row included a feathered skirt in its Pre-Autumn collection. But if trends continue on the path they’re on, it will require an even more drastic mindset shift.
“It’s constantly top of mind,” said Maria McManus. “It pushes me outside my comfort zone, to determine what are the things that are intrinsic to my brand that can differentiate us from the rest of the market?”
Standing Out
For minimalist brands, quality and fit is paramount. But beyond that, each employs their own interpretations of what the term means. Khaite puts a downtown, rock-n-roll spin on the trend, while Kallmeyer leans more masculine, with ties and suiting. Still, there’s no denying that if you’re a woman seeking a sleek black trouser to pair with a crisp white button-down, there are endless options.
For McManus, the answer has been to hone in on her unique personal perspective. Originally from Ireland, she weaves her heritage into her collections, displaying Irish-style Aran cable knit sweaters, done in Italian fabrics.
“The minimalist customer is chic, first and foremost, but anything with it that fits within that gets that check mark,” she said.
Cameron, too, looks to her own heritage as a way to differentiate. She drew on her Scottish upbringing for those argyle prints, and shoots all of her campaigns in Scotland, and also highlights the brand’s B Corp status to bring in a sustainability-minded customer. Fast Retailing-owned Theory, which is best known for its workwear, is looking to incorporate more colourful pieces and unique fabrics that can be worn both inside and out of the office. Its Autumn 2026 collection included a teal silk dress, and an assortment of pieces in colours reminiscent of autumn leaves — mustard yellow, burgundy and burnt orange.
“It’s always striking that balance between the familiar and the unusual,” said Dushane Noble, Theory’s head of womenswear.
It was in part the saturation of minimalist fashion that led designer Daniella Kallmeyer to look to the Art Deco movement as inspiration for her latest collection, presented in front of her largest audience yet. Though the majority of the collection was done in black, white, brown or grey, there were also jacquard fabrics, pieces covered in beaded patterns and gold fabric throughout.
Maximalism Their Way
Rather than undertaking a full-scale reinvention, New York’s minimalist cohort are taking the return of maximalism as a chance to experiment while remaining true to their brand ethos.
On the Khaite runway this season, there were plenty of brand signatures — black leather, dark wash denim and sheer dresses. But founder and creative director Catherine Holstein also incorporated design details like rosettes, oversized bow ties and crucifixes hanging from chains as well as blouses featuring a monkey illustration, skirts with an oversized ruffle along the hem and floral prints.
“I’ve just been in a very romantic mood … I felt a longing for that with what I was creating too,” Holstein said backstage after her show at the Park Avenue Armory.
Veronica Leoni’s third collection for Calvin Klein brought in more colour, including a billowing finale dress that featured a shimmering orange fabric. McManus’ details were more subtle, from pearls lining the neckline of a dress to solid silver spheres as closures on sweaters. Ashlyn incorporated more texture, with skirts made of a shag-rug-like fabric, as well as pattern, with dotted sweaters and plaid dresses.
At Fforme, Frances Howie added to minimalist staples like a column dress by securing it with sculptural gold roses over the shoulders, or attaching a gold leaf to the waistband of a skirt. The gold pieces were created through a process called electroplating, which replaces the natural fiber of an item — in this case, a flower or leaf — with metal, creating a metallic version of the object.
“Finding an innovative technique and having the storytelling behind it, that’s what gives it a point of view and uniqueness,” said Howie. “It’s not just minimalism for the sake of minimalism.”
TWP’s assortment offers a bit of a lesson of how to give minimalist pieces a maximalist touch. The brand has transformed wardrobe staples into hero products, like its Next Ex shirt, a cropped version of a classic button-down. But it also sells tops with bejeweled collars and sequin skirts; on the runway this season, there were striped velvet sets, a fringed leather skirt and a floor-length shearling vest.
“Everything is supposed to be comfortable, everything’s supposed to be easy, but everything is also supposed to have style,” said founder and creative director Trish Wescoat Pound.
While every wardrobe needs its workhorse pieces, it benefits from the more special, eye-catching items, too.
“Most of the women I know fall in the middle of the two,” she added.
