Since she won VFILE The 2016 New York Fashion Week runway show for her Autumn and Winter 2026 collection, the collection of Downtown New York Kim Shui Always a famous vandalist in the women’s clothing space. However, for the fall and winter 2025 season, Shui specializes in behaviours that undermine our established beliefs and learning, encouraging us to reconsider traditional power structures and ideas of identity and intimacy.
Shui invites a large number of (unbelievably well-dressed) attendees – Joey Hai$$ and St. Jayne Included – to a charming upper east side ballroom, in the middle of the room, a square seat surrounded by a striking hanging crystal chandeliers. The designer’s 43-looking fall/winter collection is designed to explore “a visual and tactile journey to explore the theme of agent, control and resistance through the relationship between sensitivity and restraint of texture and form”, the program records.
Shui drew heavy design inspiration from the use of belts and handcuffs by Italian artist Monica Bonvicini, who chose Pleather as what she called a “medium of transformation.” Throughout the series, laser-cut discs appear in tassels, shawls, choppings and other distresses, inviting us to perceive the material through new lenses and “destroy its traditional connection to dominance and resilience.” Shui’s metaphor of the information behind the entire range, the use of exaggerated contours and tactile materials continues to drive preconceived notions of power and sensibility.
Shui connects her Chinese heritage with Western culture, juxtaposing faux fur cowboy hats and bolo ties with Qipao tie and traditional Chinese embroidery. The snake (symbols rebirth and renewal) also coats the snake in high octane products, surfaces on a smart structured dress, coiling lace and artificial fur together, similar to the shape of two snakes, And a handful of snakeskin printed pants and pants printed pants and pants. Maximum amount.
In a classic shui way, her fine-tuned vision continues to the details, and the collection’s accessories such as the butt-stock’s pan bag further drives provocative and thought-provoking speeches.
As the show records, each of the series’ 43 appearances encourages “rethinking the symbols that define us” because it fascinates people with “autonomousness and agency.”
Explore Kim Shui’s Fall Winter Series in the runway image above and go see it with the photographer Sarah Schecker below.