Telfar's 20th Anniversary Show was a Love Letter to Community

Few brands can influence huge crowds to sacrifice their Saturday evening to sit outside on a hot summer day for an off-calendar fashion show. Even fewer can manage to do so, get away with starting over two hours late and have nobody leave early. That alone shows how strong Telfar’s impact is.

On a humid Saturday evening, Telfar celebrated its 20th anniversary with a lively runway show that felt more reminiscent of a block party than a standard fashion presentation. A crowd of editors, influencers, the brand’s loyal fans, celebrities like Solange Knowles and founder Telfar Clemens’ close friends and family gathered in the alleyway behind the brand’s New York store, eagerly awaiting the show — its first in five years. A DJ played live music, while guests mingled among themselves, anticipating what experience Clemens had in store.

As beloved Telfar is, it can’t go unaddressed how unacceptable it is to begin an event two hours late. Staff did pass out fans and mini water bottles to help battle the heat, but still, it’d be nice to be more respectful of showgoers’ time.

Tardiness aside, the show was a perfect display of the community-centered universe Telfar has carefully built over the decades. This was especially reflected in the model casting: In addition to the winning contestants from Telfar’s “New Models” competition show, the designer also cast his friends, family, collaborators — many of them with their kids in tow — and industry creatives like Luar’s Raul Lopez to walk the catwalk (or, alleywalk?).

View the original article to see embedded media.

“This show is not only for the people we can’t live without — it is by them,” the show notes read. “They are watching the show — and they are walking the show. What you are watching will look a lot like a fashion show. The difference is not on the surface. If we have learned one thing, it’s that a different surface hides a lack of change. The difference is: The clothes you are seeing were made at our atelier. No one owns a piece of this except for the people who buy a piece from us.”

Though Telfar came into fashion via its garments, its claim to fame is unquestionably through its bags. Its signature rectangular shopping bags have been heralded as the “Bushwick Birkin” and have become the face of its brand identity. Celebrities including Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Gabrielle Union, Bella Hadid, Selena Gomez and Megan Thee Stallion have all worn the hot commodity. So, of course, the show wouldn’t have been complete if it didn’t introduce a new lineup of must-have carry-alls.

That’s not to say the clothes didn’t hold their own: The capsule of form-fitting dresses with visible stitching, cutout hot pants, matching sets with bold prints, tailored denim jumpsuits and logo-embossed jeans showed Clemens’ hand for innovative design.

“Everything Telfar couldn’t rely on when we 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 continued. “Everything we did rely on — family, friends, vision, bullshit-alarms and commitment — holds us down to this day.”

See the standout looks from Telfar’s 20th anniversary show below.