New York Fashion Week 2018: What happened? Who went and what were the standout trends?

The takeaways to note now

Designers are beginning to make their shows more diverse (Rex Features)

New York Fashion Week has drawn to a close, prompting a retrospective look back on every last drop of sartorial splendour from the last seven days.

Famous faces from far and wide congregated to watch the fashion - and drama - unfold, with Whoopi Goldberg, Saoirse Ronan and A$AP Rocky among those in attendance.

On the catwalks themselves, Raf Simons continued to politicise Calvin Klein’s aesthetic by channelling a vision of tacit dystopia while Ralph Lauren provided an uplifting boost of all-American optimism via age-blind casting and a Bruce Springsteen-led soundtrack.

Models of all ages to the Ralph Lauren catwalk (Getty Images)

From the trends to note to the tussles to talk about, here’s everything we learned from New York Fashion Week.

And it was all yellow

From Big Bird raincoats at Marc Jacobs to canary-coloured tailoring at BOSS, this season’s New York catwalks were awash with sunshiny hues.

While Rodarte went full Disney princess in its yellow manifestations, which came complete with tulle skirts and floral embellishments, Tibi and R-13 opted for a more subdued pastel shade, which infiltrated several looks on both runways.

Oscar de la Renta also tapped into the sunny-side-up trend (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, bumblebee yellow was a prevailing feature across Prabal Gurung’s spring/summer 2019 collection, giving the catwalk a pleasingly cheerful underbelly.

The future looks bright and buttery.

Cardi B and Nicki Minaj had a scuffle

Rumours of a rivalry between the popular female rappers have circulated for years, but contentions came to a head on Friday 7 September, when video footage emerged of a physical altercation between the two successful artists.

According to TMZ, Cardi B had confronted Nicki Minaj at a Harper’s Bazaar event over “lies Nicki was spreading” surrounding her abilities as a mother.

The encounter became physical and the “Bodak Yellow” rapper allegedly threw one of her shoes at Minaj.

Florals took a flamboyant turn

Florals for spring may not be groundbreaking, but if New York’s runways are anything to go by, next season is set for a horticultural overhaul offering an energetic reimagining of flowery patterns.

At Badgley Mischka, for example, florals took on a three-dimensional life of their own, with silk petals physically bulging off mini dresses while Alice in Wonderland-themed thornery adorned tailored suits.

Badgley Mischka's spring/summer 2019 show was the ultimate feast of florals (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Claudia Li’s blooms combined the oversized with the oriental in homage of the designer’s Asian heritage.

“My mom is this crazy flower lady, and as a child, all the flowers seemed really big to me, so we enlarged them,” Li told American Vogue of her new collection.

Diversity transcended tokenism

While leaps and bounds are being made in other areas in terms of diversity and representation, the fashion industry is playing catch up.

Despite the odd plus-size casting, catwalks have traditionally been a parade of physical and racial homogeneity, giving rise to criticisms that fashion week promotes unrealistic body ideals and cultivates a culture of exclusivity when it comes to ethnicity.

However, this season showed that change may finally be afoot.

While Christian Siriano, Chromat and Prabal Gurung have been major proponents of body positivity for several seasons, casting transgender women, plus-size women and women with disabilities in their shows, this September saw a mainstream adoption of the movement.

Claudia Li’s show featured an all-Asian cast for the first time while Rihanna has received widespread acclaim for her firm advocation of diversity.

The singer-turned-fashion designer enlisted an eclectic line-up to showcase her new lingerie collection for Savage x Fenty, featuring women of all shapes, sizes and ethnicities.

The model Slick Woods was among those taking part, who walked the runway holding her visibly pregnant belly wearing nipple covers and underwear - something you rarely see in lingerie marketing, let alone at New York Fashion Week.

As for street style, it’s a jungle out there

The key trends might be set on the catwalk but New York Fashion Week’s off-catwalk style is no less worthy of attention.

This season’s street stylers were as elaborate as ever, but one trend reigned supreme among those photographed: leopard print.

It’s the dynamic design that never fades in relevance or style and New York Fashion Week’s attendees channelled the print with aplomb.

Whether it was an oversized duster coat, a simple silk shirt or the infamous midi skirt by Réalisation Par that’s been littering your Instagram feeds all summer, if there’s one overriding message from New York Fashion Week street style, it’s let it be leopard.