RENEE CAFARO ATELIER AT NYFW
Photo courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
There are certain moments in this industry that remind me why I still get excited about fashion. Attending Renee Cafaro Atelier’s Spring/Summer 2027 presentation during New York Fashion Week was one of those moments.
Now, I’ve attended my share of fashion shows over the years. I’ve covered designers, watched trends come and go, and had countless conversations about inclusion and representation in fashion. So I don’t walk into a show simply looking for pretty clothes. I’m paying attention to the entire picture: Who is on the runway? How are they being presented? Does the clothing actually complement the bodies wearing it? And, maybe most importantly, does inclusion feel intentional—or does it feel like somebody was checking a box?
Sitting front row at Lincoln Center watching Renee Cafaro Atelier, I saw something that I wish we didn’t still have to call refreshing.
I saw plus-size bodies being presented at a high level during NYFW.
Not tucked into a separate “plus-size” event. Not treated like the novelty portion of the show. Not given the one token look so everyone could say the runway was inclusive.
They were simply part of the fashion.
And THAT matters.
When Plus Is Allowed to Simply Be Fashion
One of the things I have talked about repeatedly through Queen Size Magazine is that representation has to go beyond simply putting a plus-size person in the room.
Photo courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
We need to be in the room and receive the same level of fashion.
That distinction was very apparent to me at this show.
The plus-size models weren’t being dressed to hide their bodies. The clothing wasn’t watered down because of their size. They were wearing couture, embellishment, movement, texture and pieces that commanded attention.
More importantly, the presentation wasn’t apologetic about their bodies.
They belonged there.
For someone who has spent 15 years advocating for plus-size representation through Queen Size Magazine, there was something particularly satisfying about watching that happen at New York Fashion Week.
We have spent years saying that plus-size consumers deserve more than clothes that simply fit. We deserve creativity. We deserve luxury. We deserve editorial fashion. We deserve bridal.
We deserve the fantasy of fashion too.
And sitting in that front row, I was watching it.
Renee Cafaro Atelier presented two collections at the Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center: The Alchemy, the Spring/Summer 2027 collection, followed by the surprise reveal of Something Borrowed, the atelier’s first complete couture bridal collection. The presentation marked Renee’s fifth September showing during New York Fashion Week.
The Alchemy: Fashion With a Story
The Alchemy was about transformation, but there was much more happening beneath the surface.
The collection incorporated gemstones, elements, embellishments and craft traditions with cultural histories attached to them. Renee collaborated with artists, artisans, historians and members of her modeling community, drawing inspiration from traditions that included Tongan tattoo artistry reimagined through embroidery and historic Ukrainian beadwork.
That storytelling gave the clothes another layer.
There is fashion that photographs beautifully, and then there is fashion that makes you want to know why something was created. I appreciate the latter because it means the designer isn’t just putting clothes down a runway. There is intention behind the work.
Sustainability was also woven throughout the collection. Archive pieces, vintage materials and existing resources were revisited and transformed instead of automatically being discarded for something new.
Considering how much the fashion industry talks about what’s “next,” there was something interesting about seeing a collection ask what can be done with what we already have.
Photo courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
And Then Came the Brides...
Just when you thought you understood where the show was going, the runway shifted.
Enter Something Borrowed.
The surprise bridal collection immediately caught my attention because bridal is another space where plus-size women have historically had to fight to be included in the full experience. Every bride deserves that moment. Not the “this is what we have in your size” experience.
The bridal experience.
Something Borrowed takes the familiar wedding tradition and reimagines it through circular luxury. Reclaimed textiles, vintage jewelry, unused materials, archival designs and pieces deconstructed from previous collections were given new life as couture bridal looks.
But what stood out to me even more was the philosophy behind it: creating pieces around the wearer rather than expecting the wearer to conform to some predetermined idea of what a bride is supposed to look like.
Read that again.
Because THAT is where inclusive fashion needs to continue going.
Photos courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
This Is What Representation Can Look Like
Photo courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
I walked away from this show thinking about where plus-size fashion has been, where it is now and where it still needs to go.
We still have work to do. I’m never going to pretend otherwise.
But I also believe we have to acknowledge the moments when we see it being done right.
Renee Cafaro Atelier describes itself as a mission-based couture house created to serve people traditionally excluded or underserved by mainstream fashion, creating custom haute couture across genders and bodies.
After sitting there and watching the runway, that mission didn’t feel like something written simply for a press release.
You could actually see it.
And perhaps that was my biggest takeaway from the entire experience.
I didn’t sit there thinking, Oh look, a plus-size model.
I was looking at the clothes.
I was looking at the craftsmanship.
I was watching the movement.
I was experiencing a fashion show.
That is the goal.
Representation doesn’t always need a flashing sign above it announcing that representation is happening. Sometimes progress looks like a plus-size woman walking a NYFW runway in couture and nobody needing to explain why she’s there.
She is there because she belongs there.
Getting moved to the front row at the last minute certainly made the experience a little sweeter. But what I had the privilege of seeing from that seat mattered much more.
After 15 years of Queen Size Magazine pushing for plus-size bodies to be seen, respected and included in fashion, it was refreshing to sit at New York Fashion Week and see plus represented at that level.
Not as an afterthought.
Not as a special category.
Just fashion.
And I would love to see a whole lot more of it.
Photo courtesy of Renee Cafaro Atelier / Oxford Fashion Studio
