Telfar’s 20th Anniversary Runway Show Was a Lesson in Fashion Democracy

The New York City-based fashion brand Telfar held its 20th anniversary runway show in an alleyway on Saturday evening. The models included local legends like Luar designer Raul Lopez, musicians Ian Isaiah and Teezo Touchdown, filmmaker and former Hood by Air CEO Leilah Weinraub, and the singer Hawa, plus a slew of everyday folks—young people smoking vapes while they walked; parents holding their children; multigenerational families—who’d been cast just a few days prior via Telfar TV, the label’s public access television channel. (Viewers who tuned in were able to vote on who walked the June 20th show.) But before the 200-something models made it into Cortlandt Alley, they marched from Telfar’s flagship store on Broadway down Canal Street, so the crowds of people passing on the avenue could check out the looks, too.

Designer Telfar Clemens has taken a democratic approach to fashion since he started the eponymous label in 2005 and in the years since it has remained “100 percent independent, with no investors and little entanglement with the fashion industry” according to a post-show statement from the brand. Clemens has also always done things his way—and Saturday evening was no different.

“Everything Telfar couldn’t rely on when we first started this line: investors, buyers, factors, distributors, press, celebs, co-signs, D, E, or I—we still don’t rely on today,” the show notes read. “Everything we did rely on: family, friends, vision, bullshit alarms, and commitment—holds us down to this day. If Telfar is the biggest Black-owned brand in the fashion world; if Telfar is the longest-running non-gendered line in history...it is only through interdependence.”

The “all are welcome” vibe extended to the crowd, which included the usual fashion editors, influencers, and celebs (Pose star Indya Moore, wearing a full boho look, toted her puppy around in a black carrier), plus a number of lucky bystanders who were accommodated in the standing room only section.

Some teens who’d made it in stood in a circle and lit up a joint while they waited for nearly two and a half hours for the runway show to begin. (Solange Knowles, whose partner Gio Escobar’s band Standing on the Corner played live music during the show, took her seat just before the first model walked, providing antsy journalists an answer as to what was taking so long.)

The collection was filled with Telfar classics, especially when it came to logomania and nods to NYC. T-shirts were covered in riffs on the “Thank you!” plastic bag or the Newport cigarette logo (the smiley face, another pillar of New York art, showed up on maxiskirts). Everything was genderless, from the first few looks done completely in white to the twists on relaxed suits—more like linen pajamas, or a cozy matching set. Homages to the house Telfar has built were everywhere, including key collaborations he’d created with Melissa (jelly sandals), Timberland (slip-in versions of the classic boot), and the International Olympic Committee (Liberia’s team outfits in 2021). A procession of denim looks had every conceivable style: capris, overalls, short-shorts, and baggy silhouettes included. When friends and family saw their loved ones walking the runway, they’d whoop and clap. It all contributed to the feeling of community and togetherness that rippled through the Juneteenth weekend show, which resembled more of a block party than a stuffy fashion presentation.

“If you don’t like the looks, we don’t like you,” Jorge Gitoo Wright, who modeled in the show and had gotten hold of a microphone, said to the crowd. “And if you snuck in and got a seat—I fuck with you.”