What Is Your Definition Of Fashion?

With Saks Global filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to pay vendors and Ssense owing millions to its stocked brands amid its own financial troubles last year (to name just a couple recent retail crises), the fashion wholesale landscape may look pretty grim. But from retail veteran Nicholas Parnell's perspective, "wholesale is not dead." "Wholesale is important, but I think what wholesale is becoming, is changing," the founder of new London- and New York-based consultancy Agency Parnell tells Fashionista. Against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, ongoing tariff turmoil and shifting consumer habits, the fashion industry is in flux. U.S. department stores are now reckoning with their stalled "bulk buying" strategies from the past five-to-10 years, Parnell says, which is paving the way for an updated approach to luxury wholesale. "When things soften, it creates room for new growth," he adds. This April, Parnell opened his c...

The fashion industry may be grappling with the onslaught of AI and commercialized sameness, but over at Parsons School of Design , the next generation of fashion designers is having fun. Set at Manhattan's The Glasshouse on Sunday afternoon, the Parsons 2026 BFA Graduate Runway Show, entitled "Ensemble," put forth an optimistic vision for fashion's future defined by students' unwavering creativity and appetite for inclusivity. Backstage, student designers shared this positive outlook while discussing their hopes for the future of fashion: "I'd like to see more diverse bodies on the runway, especially when it comes to size inclusivity, and also just fun, fantasy, spectacle, lots of color and print and sparkle," senior BFA student Alexander Flores told Fashionista. Senior BFA student Olivia Colley concurs: "I would love to see a lot more fun with materiality and textiles. I think that's what we're heading towards and I'm really ex...