On September 12, 2025, New York Fashion Week Powered by Art Hearts Fashion returned to the Angel Orensanz Foundation. The second night brought heritage, mythology, and attitude to the forefront.
Inside the Gothic Revival venue, the anticipation thickened. What unfolded on the runway promised not only beauty, but also power and defiance.
Aras Nancy
Angolan designer Sara Mosquito, the creative force behind Aras Nancy, presented her collection Diamonds of Angola— a glittering homage to the country’s most contested natural resource. In Angola, diamonds are never neutral. They signify wealth. They also carry a history of struggle, extraction, and resilience. On the runway at Angel Orensanz, they became metaphors for women’s strength and brilliance.
The collection gleamed with intention. Gold lamé draped like liquid across the body. Bodices were crusted with crystal beading. Red gowns trailed capes that moved like fire, while white dresses studded with gems caught every light. For Mosquito, glamour wasn’t escapism; it was reclamation. The diamonds of her homeland — so often taken away — were reclaimed as a language of power. The effect was celebratory, defiant, and unapologetically visible.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 12: A model walks the runway at the Aras Nancy show during New York Fashion Week Powered By Art Hearts Fashion at The Angel Orensanz Foundation on September 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mark Gunter/Getty Images for Art Hearts Fashion)
Photo Courtesy: Mark Gunter & Eugene Gologursky (Day 2) © Getty Images + Art Hearts Fashion
Edher Gin
Edher Gin titled his collection La Mujer Dormida (“the Sleeping Woman”) after the dormant volcano outside Mexico City — a site where myth and landscape blur. On the runway, the volcano became fabric.
Garments in crimson, gold, ivory, and black swelled like duvets, their folds cocooning models in sculptural silhouettes. Feather trims and metallic surfaces broke through the softness, flashing like eruptions across the folds. Sharp tailoring and men’s suiting cut into the dream, while black looks carried the weight of night.
Gin’s Mexican heritage lingered throughout, visible in his transformation of myth into couture. By drawing from La Mujer Dormida, he merged a national legend with the global language of avant-garde fashion. The result was a show that turned myth into clothing — a dreamscape sewn into reality.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 12: A model walks the runway at the Edher Gin show during New York Fashion Week Powered By Art Hearts Fashion at The Angel Orensanz Foundation on September 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mark Gunter/Getty Images for Art Hearts Fashion)
Photo Courtesy: Mark Gunter & Eugene Gologursky (Day 2) © Getty Images + Art Hearts Fashion
Richard Hallmarq
Richard Hallmarq presented a collection with bite. Zebra, leopard, and snake prints tore across dresses and separates. Black dominated the runway in mesh, leather, and cutouts that exposed skin with precision.
A Sacramento native and Project Runway alum, Hallmarq built his style on punk’s rawness and confrontational stance. Over time, he sharpened it with polish. That influence was unmistakable here. The animal prints, the mesh, the strut: it was punk reimagined for the runway.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 12: Model Bella Kohana walks the runway at the Richard Hallmarq show during New York Fashion Week Powered By Art Hearts Fashion at The Angel Orensanz Foundation on September 12, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Mark Gunter/Getty Images for Art Hearts Fashion)
Photo Courtesy: Mark Gunter & Eugene Gologursky (Day 2) © Getty Images + Art Hearts Fashion
For more from NYFW Art Hearts Fashion, see our recap of Day 1 here.
