Backstage moments after his fall 2025 presentation, Henry Zankov was reeling off the people who were on his mind when he was designing it. (He had to get through it quickly: There was an awfully long line of well wishers behind me.) “After Kim Gordon last season,” he said, “I was thinking again about those people who go through life without caring too much about what other people think of them. That led me to Nico, Candy Darling and Edie Sedgwick—1960s New York. Everyone has referenced them, and that time, but you know me—it’s never about literal representation.”
Zankov was absolutely correct in this assertion about his design methodology: He is resolutely not a moodboard designer, one of those where the inspirations are (quite literally) writ large through referential clothes. In this collection, another one of his winning and lyrical exercises in color, texture and craft—a very Zankov triptych if ever there was one—there were nods to those Warhol Factory icons but done with the lightest of touches.
His quarter-sized paillettes on a sweater or a skirt peeking out from beneath fuzzy coats were reminiscent of the sequins Sedgwick might have picked up from Paraphernalia, the boutique du jour back then, to frug the night away at the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The oh so simple but oh so brilliant combination of a vividly hued sweater (maybe in a cool reverse Argyle pattern) and boyish lanky pants was as Nico as her heavy flaxen bangs and that Teutonic voice of hers intoning about Chelsea Girls. Yet Zankov has been intent on making his label embrace more than sweater dressing, and the clean, lean lines of those trousers added a terrific contrast to all of his richly textured knits, the perfect midpoint between minimalist look and maximalist impulses.
But if this wasn’t about the depiction of a moodboard, it was most definitely about the evocation of mood. Zankov’s spirited use of color—from dusky pink to an acid-y chartreuse to buttery yellow to gold and teal—and his brilliance at innovative knitting techniques (engineered fringe, mixing merino wool with velvet, an Italian metallic tape used for pieces which looked like hyper-glossy chenille) resulted in work which felt special and personal. He, like Diotima’s Rachel Scott, is showing how New York can lead with a heartfelt representation of artisanal skills, something that Zankov has championed since launching his label a mere five years ago.
That’s why his collection landed so strongly; because it drew from a well of emotion. Reading through the show notes before his presentation kicked off, he’d also listed another couple of people who were on his mind: His good friend Chloe, and his boyfriend Andrew. With that touching tribute to them both, he took his work to the emotional landscape of real life. And you could see it, and you could feel it.