Rachel Comey opted to let her spring 2026 models do their own hair and makeup backstage. In a note to Vogue in the weeks before the show, she explained, “as much as I love a large backstage production, producers and team members flying around with walkie talkies and clipboards, an intimate gathering with women putting their own lipstick on and chatting feels like a room I want to be in.”
Her words resonated as guests gathered in Great Jones Alley behind her newly expanded Broadway headquarters for tonight’s show. As a seatmate admired the eclectic, colorful, lived-in looks of the women in the crowd, a thought occurred: an intimate gathering with women wearing their own Rachel Comey clothes is a room—street, in this case—where you really do want to be.
Amidst the countless shows I’ve attended and reviewed over 20 years, a rare few have featured the kind of real-life fashion that Comey’s do. Removing even the artifice of backstage hair and makeup demonstrates the respect she has for her models and their points of view, a respect that naturally extends to her clients. Comey’s loath to discuss inspirations or seasonal messages. Instead, pressed for details about the new collection, she turns to fabrics: The engineered jacquard of an airy pink blouson paired with waxed cotton chinos, a matching jacket tied unassumingly around the waist; the compact knits of skinny pantsuits and tank dresses; and the “fine, fine” jersey of draped halter tops and skirts, those too in a soft, pretty pink.
If Comey is looking at the world with rose colored glasses, she has reason to. There’s been plenty of doom and gloom in the fashion industry this year, but she reports that her business is up significantly. “I try not to pay attention to whatever else is going on,” she said. “I focus on my customers, what they’re wearing, what they’re shopping for.”
Hence the practical outerwear that was in the mix with those subtly special pieces: a sturdy trench and another in fluid washed silk, a tweedy cardigan jacket, a double-face cocoon coat. Still, the lasting impression was of the ultra-fine materials—the slip dresses in jersey or engineered jacquard—that will wash over the body like a caress. That feels like respect too.
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