9 Contemporary Fashion and Accessory Brands to Know From September’s Coterie and MAGIC Trade Shows
The MAGIC and Coterie trade shows returned to New York’s Jacob K. Javits Center from Sunday to Tuesday. Across both shows, emerging labels and new exhibitors debuted new collections across ready-to-wear, footwear and accessories for 2025.
The September show featured 980-plus brands with many new additions from across the globe, such as U.S. swimwear label La Porte; Kyiv, Ukraine’s cult-followed loungwear label Sleeper and the Indonesian Fashion Fair program, which featured six designers across rtw and accessories including Fuguku and Buttonscarves. On the Coterie trade show floor, brands were curated into sections of footwear; accessories; wellness + beauty and emerging designers; “EDIT”; contemporary collections; denim and destination, which was filled with a strong assortment of emerging and storied resortwear labels.
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Here, WWD highlights nine contemporary women’s rtw and accessories brands from the New York Coterie and MAGIC shows.
Coterie
La Porte
Founder and designer: Jo Davenport
Background: Davenport launched her sustainable swimwear label in 2018.
“The brand pays homage to its French roots with its name La Porte, meaning door. We re-conceptualizes swimwear as fluid ready-to-wear collections, creating each silhouette as a point of connection amongst people, places and cultural movements. Unapologetic and effortless, we are destination wear for the curious spirit,” she told WWD. Davenport said the brand has become most known for its textured swim in La Porte’s in-house milled jacquard fabrication, which took nine months to develop, as well as its signature baroque pearl detailing across its swim and resort-minded fashions.
In the last two years, the brand has launched in more than 40 stores across nearly a dozen countries and has been worn by the likes of Alix Earle, Lilly Collins, Remi Bader and more. September marked La Porte’s first time attending Coterie, and was represented by Haven Showroom.
Key pieces: For bikinis, the classic Kendall pearl top and Kourtney pearl bottom, the new Celine hardware top and Chloe bottom. For one-pieces, the classic Stephanie strapless and Mandy scoop hardware one-piece. In coverups and rtw, the matching swim skirt and cardigan; cotton cashmere knits and pearl stretch crepe maxi.
Retail price: $98 to $288
Fairchild Baldwin
Founder: Jill Fairchild
Background: Fairchild Baldwin began more than 10 years ago. Fairchild started with a condensed handbag collection, winning the emerging designer award from the Accessory Council; she has launched earrings, which have proven to be popular, and now she has added an assortment of metal necklaces. “We are constantly looking to introduce new styles to our collections to give our customers versatility in their wardrobe. Recently, I have been very drawn to metal and mixed media while playing with modern vs. classic silhouettes. This led us to launch a resin and metal capsule collection. It felt like the right direction for fall and something new for Fairchild Baldwin as we are traditionally known for our beaded necklaces,“ she said. “We are so excited about our entire fall/winter 2025 collection. We decided to shoot it in Madrid, Spain, to give the collection a cosmopolitan European feel embracing the colors, textures and culture of Spain.”
Key styles: Fairchild chain link, “Classic” gold metal chain “which caters to women who don’t want a chunky look. This multi 10-strand delicate chain is a tiered design that sits perfectly,” she said.
Retail price: Necklaces range from $195-$550; earrings range from $95-$150 and the handbag collection ranges from $220-$1,000.
Pistola
Founder: Grace Na
Background: Na founded Pistola, the Los Angeles-based womenswear and denim label, in 2013 after spending more than 20 years in the industry and identifying a whitespace in the denim market. The brand is rooted in high-quality fashions with luxury fabrications and constructions at a contemporary price-point.
Since its inception, Pistola has expanded into categories beyond denim, including premium ready-to-wear with “street-smart and utilitarian sensibility,” Na said. ”Two things have remained consistent since the brand’s inception — quality and ease. Pistola continues to produce clothing for a busy, modern and versatile woman who demands her clothing work as hard as she does. Evolution is in our DNA, but our mission to bring women superior products at sensible prices will never change.”
At Coterie this season, the brand displayed its expanded rtw collection to fulfill their customers desire for head-to-toe full looks with outerwear, sweater and tops to match denim essentials.
Key pieces: For spring 2025, structural denim is key for Pistola following the momentum of their wide-leg and barrel-leg jeans. In addition, transitional pieces such as lightweight sweaters have become a bestseller for the brand; pops of color in bestselling styles and all-white ensembles are new for spring while skinny jeans are “taking a back seat for the season,” she said.
Retail price: $128 to $198.
Fuguku
Founder: Savira Lavinia
Background: Part of the Indonesia fashion fair, Fuguku’s philosophy and designs draw inspiration from the puffer fish, with a spike-like design. Most of the collection is created from recycled polyesters, both from recycled PET bottles and recycled plastic from landfills, creating a material that is strong and malleable. The brand uses local craftsmen who create the spike detail, all part of their sustainability chain. “Our founder wanted to transform waste into timeless pieces,“ explained chief marketing officer and cofounder Nonita Respati. While it began with handbags, the brand quickly launched ready-to-wear using the same unique material to secure a spot at Jakarta Fashion Week. “The backbone is still the bags,” Resparti said, but ready-to-wear is growing strong.
Key styles: Fugu mini and maxi bags, sun backpack, patch tunic, draped neck blouse, spaced straight pants
Retail price: $48-145 for handbags; ready-to-wear $155-$510
No Pise La Grama
Founder: Daniela Panaro
Background: The Venezuelan fashion brand was founded by Panaro in 2009. The founder and creative director told WWD the brand’s primary goal is to “empower women through fashion and social commitment, drawing inspiration from the rich cultural heritage and midcentury modernism that have shaped Venezuela.”
Panaro infuses clean lines, functionalism and a focus on natural materials into each collection, which often features flowers and orchids (the national flower of Venezuela), as well as fringe, pouf sleeve and ruffle details across her playful, feminine styles.
“I wanted to explore and connect with the community this platform provides,” Panaro told WWD of her decision to show at Coterie for the first time this season. “I found it interesting to have the opportunity to meet with international buyers, key members of the industry, press, colleagues and collaborators.”
Key styles: For pre-spring 2025, Panaro noted key pieces are the Marcela suit jacket and Colina pants in a blue Macaw print; the Palmar dress in a Tulipan white print; the Guyaba crop top, La Perla shorts, Sotavento top and Sotavento miniskirt — all in Conchitas prints, and the light blue Guyaba minidress. The dress was “inspired by the key elements of the traditional Caribbean style,” she said of the reimagined traditional guyabera shirt style.
Retail price: The brand sits in the advanced contemporary market with prices ranging from $345 to $742.
Sleeper
Founders: Kate Zubarieva and Asya Varetsa
Background: Sleeper was founded in 2014 in Kyiv by best friends and former fashion editors Zubarieva and Varetsa as a “niche easy-to-wear brand that reimages loungewear,” the brand told WWD.
Sleeper initially gained a cult-like following for its feather-trimmed sleepwear-meets-daywear sets and has since expanded into a full rtw label. For spring, the label expanded to day dresses, as well as holiday and pre-spring’s gingham styles or cotton poplin and linen layers. Each season, the brand elevates its mix of dresses and sets that blur the line between “day and night, relaxation and routine, weekends and holidays.”
September marks the brand’s first time showing at Coterie with Industry Allies. It attended the show in order to sit among other contemporary and advanced contemporary labels to continue to expand its global reach.
Key pieces: For holiday and pre-spring, loungewear sets with fringed details (a new detail alongside their signature feather-accented styles); rosette detailed dresses; breathable, linen gauze dresses; holiday-minded Lurex sets.
Price range: $40 to around $520 for accessories and rtw.
Buttonscarves
Founder and CEO: Linda Anggrea
Background: Buttonscarves launched in 2016 with scarves, but now includes a full assortment of rtw, handbags, eyewear, footwear and beauty. They have 50 stores in Indonesia and six in Malaysia and ship worldwide. “Now we are a full range of fashion brand, from head to toe,” the CEO said. “We launch new design every month. And every single design has its own story.” The logo of the brand is throughout many pieces, making a brand statement, “if now people are talking about a quiet brand, well we are loud and we love it. And our customer loves it.”
Key styles: Scarves (their most popular category), Brittany bag.
Retail price:$30 to $300
MAGIC
Fruit Face
Founder and owner: Alec Huth
Background: Fruit Face is a San Francisco-based sustainable clothing brand founded in 2022. The brand focuses on babydoll T-shirts featuring adorable fruity and Western graphics that are designed for the “girls, gays and everyone,” Huth told WWD.
“We’re not trying to hit a specific market, but our shirts are designed to be a little less cropped — a little longer so they fit everyone nicely. We have sizes small to 4X and are trying to be as inclusive as possible. All of our shirts are hand-sewn in SF,” she said of her brand’s 100 percent organic, fair trade and U.S. manufactured cotton shirts that are sustainably printed (said to be a water-based, non-toxic and environmentally friendly process).
“We are in about 10 stores in San Francisco and are slowly trying to expand to the East Coast right now,” Huth said of her first time attending MAGIC, where Fruit Face was awarded the show’s “2024 Brand Award Winner: Fan Favorite.”
Key styles: Fruit Face’s most popular styles include the Strawberry Cowgirl baby T, Big Apple baby (which initially launched with Lisa Says Gah) T. New styles include the Fruit Boat baby T and the Yippee Ki-Gay baby T.
Retail price: $68
Airotciv by Victoria
Founder: Victoria DiSilvestro
Background: DiSilvestro began making jewelry during her freshman year of college at Lonwood University ”because I couldn’t find anything that I liked, so I said, I’m going to make this. And the company just took off. All the girls at school wanted them, people in my hometown, and then I made an Instagram, started selling them online.” She opened a boutique were she sells other brands and four years ago, introduced ready to wear, and recently added sunglasses to the mix. “The show’s been amazing. I feel like my brand is very Paris and city girl chic. So I was like, ‘this is my place,’” she said of her first time at the New York trade show.
Key styles: Dune necklace, AV trouser, Bondi pearl earrings, Melrose ball bracelets.
Retail price: Jewelry: $30-$180; ready to wear $60-$180 and eyewear $40-$62
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