What Was In & Out at New York Fashion Week
In & Out is W‘s guide to what’s hot and what’s not each week. Subscribe here and stay up to date by getting the newsletter delivered early to your inbox each week.
“One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead”—Oscar Wilde
The Best of New York Fashion Week
Rest
Sometime around 7 p.m. on Wednesday night, the final model strutted down the runway at Marc Jacobs, and with that another New York Fashion Week was over. As per usual, even those who seemed to be at everything are still piecing together exactly what happened, though we can help you catch up. You’ll get to see all of Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie show when it streams on Amazon Prime on September 20, [but you can expect](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/rihanna-savage-x-fenty-nyfw-show-amazon) not only more diversity in one show than in the entire history of Victoria’s Secret but also performances by everyone from Halsey to Fat Joe, and appearances by Normani, Gigi Hadid, and the semiretired Cara Delevinge. Elsewhere, Tom Ford held his show in an abandoned subway station, Gigi and Bella Hadid [were the apples of Michael Kors’s](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/michael-kors-backstage-spring-summer-2020) sophisticated woman’s eye, Jason Wu [returned to the runway](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/jason-wu-spring-summer-2020-backstage), the supermodel favorite Brandon Maxwell [introduced menswear](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/brandon-maxwell-spring-2020-backstage-irina-shayk) on some male models (including [Christy Turnlington’s nephew, James](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/james-turlington-christy-turlington-model-nephew)), and [Jeremy Scott was totally outrageous](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/glitter-euphoria-makeup-best-beauty-instagrams-nyfw), as usual. See the best front-row guests [here](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/new-york-fashion-week-spring-2020-front-row-celebrities), go inside all the hottest parties [here](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/new-york-fashion-week-best-party-photos-spring-2020), and take a look at all the best street style from outside the shows [here](https://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/new-york-fashion-week-street-style-spring-2020). Then prepare yourself for the day of rest before London Fashion Week kicks off on Friday.
Caroline Calloway Hysteria
The Yale Plates
The world is absolutely filthy with influencers at the moment, and no doubt a good portion of them are involved in at least a little bit of socially acceptable scamming (read: undisclosed sponcon, inflated subscriber numbers, mysterious sources of income, copious amounts of Facetune, etc.). What makes Caroline Calloway so special that she’s become this year’s scammer icon (at least in New York media circles)? Well, Calloway’s ambitions were always higher than just looking good on the beach and turning her follower count into currency for comped hotel rooms. Ever since she was an NYU student, Calloway’s guiding ambition was to publish a memoir, despite the fact that she hadn’t lived much life, wasn’t particularly notable, and only possessed, lets say, developing writing abilities. Amazingly, though, Calloway did actually nab a reported $500,000 deal for her memoirs just a few years after graduation. How’d she do that? Well, by building up an Instagram following based on her pictures and lengthy captions. Calloway never actually turned in a book, though, and still owes money to the publisher. This would have been an interesting cautionary tale had Calloway not reemerged earlier this year by [planning a series of creativity workshops for $165 a pop](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/caroline-calloway-creativity-workshop) that quickly fell apart as the Internet decided the whole thing was a fraud. It probably doesn’t help Calloway’s case that her fellow young Internet writers, who only dream of one day landing a book deal, took special notice. Her online presence since has been rocky and, like a trainwreck, hard to look away from. Last week, Calloway sent the Internet into high alert when she announced that an old friend of hers named Natalie was planning to publish an essay on their friendship on *The Cut.* Calloway hyped it up for day [until it finally published on late Tuesday](https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/the-story-of-caroline-calloway-and-her-ghostwriter-natalie.html). Natalie Beach, the Natalie in question, wrote of her travels being Calloway’s ghostwriter for both her book proposal and Instagram captions, and noted that Calloway built her online following through advertisements and bought (or is it bot?) followers (something Calloway has since denied). There’s also a whole lot in there about their friendship, like the tale of old plates from Yale that Natalie had given her that Calloway said were later stolen from her apartment (Calloway has admitted that she did indeed lie about that). It’s a story of the travails of fame, as well as one of misplaced ambitions and toxic friendship. Naturally, the Internet is now hoping for a movie adaptation. What’s Sofia Coppola working on?
Jennifer Lopez’s Oscar Buzz
Ansel Elgort
One of the big movies opening this weekend is based on a beloved Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. The other originated as a juicy magazine article about strippers. As it turns out, it’s the latter that’s getting the most critical praise. Yes, after its premier at the Toronto International Film Festival, director Lorene Scafaria’s *Hustlers* has been so warmly received that there’s already buzz that Jennifer Lopez might get her very first Oscar nomination for it. Based on a true tale about women who danced at Manhattan’s infamous Scores gentlemen’s club and then started stealing from their clients, the crime caper features an all-star cast that includes Constance Wu, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, Keke Palmer, Cardi B, and Julia Stiles. “Exceptional performances, an unbelievable story, and a soundtrack for the ages make for a viewing experience worth revisiting again and again,” writes *Paste’*s Joelle Monique.
Unfortunately, not many are singing the praises of *The Goldfinch*, an adaptation of Donna Tartt’s modern masterpiece. Despite a supporting cast that includes Nicole Kidman and Sarah Paulson, it’s being written up as a stitled but pretty misfire. “Overstuffed, overlong, and utterly uninvolving, this is a movie that feels as morbidly trapped as the poor little bird of its title,” [writes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/the-goldfinch-won-the-pulitzer-prize-but-the-film-version-is-a-bomb/2019/09/10/7587d59e-ca9c-11e9-be05-f76ac4ec618c_story.html?noredirect=on) *The Washington Post’*s Ann Hornaday. It’s also the latest setback in star Ansel Elgort’s bid to become the next great leading man after last year’s misfire *Billionaire Boys Club.* Oh, well, at least he has *West Side Story* coming up.
On television, it’s one of those weekends where Netflix seems to be doing all the heavy lifting once again. On Thursday, it debuts *The I-Land,* a miniseries created by the playwright Neil LaBute and starring Kate Bosworth and Alex Pettyfer. The show finds a group of strangers who wake up on an island with no memory of how they got there. Think *Lost,* but just 10 episodes long. There’s more buzz about the service’s *Unbelievable,* based on a Pulitzer-winning article about a teenager whose rape wasn’t taken seriously by authorities. Toni Collette and Merritt Wever star. Also this weekend, Netflix lets the comedian Chelsea Handler check her own privilege in the documentary *Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea.* She’s come a long way since the days when she was saying “hey” to vodka.
Halima Aden
@Halima
In 2017, Halima Aden became the first model during NYFW to wear a hijab on the runway. This year, [she emerged as a breakout star](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/halima-aden-fashion-week-firsts-interview).
