On Monday evening, WWD kicked off its 2025 CEO Summit with a cocktail party, cohosted by Salesforce, in celebration of the publication’s 115-year milestone. Designers, retail executives, models and other fashion insiders stopped by the rooftop venue at Nine Orchard in the Lower East Side to mark the occasion and reflect on WWD’s legacy as the industry’s “Fashion Bible.”
“When I train models, they ask me all the time, ‘Where do I go to understand the business of fashion?'” said Coco Rocha. “And do you know what I say? I say: Women’s Wear Daily.”
Related Articles
The model posed for photos with Daphne Velghe and Christian Siriano on the rooftop terrace of The Greenhouse, the Manhattan cityscape lit up in the background. Inside, the lively room was filled with guests including Michael Kors, Lance LePere, Tory Burch, Narciso Rodriguez, David Lauren, Todd Snyder, Marc Metrick, Roopal Patel, Henry Zankov, Christopher John Rogers, Raul Lopez, LaQuan Smith, Gilles Mendel, Alexis Bittar, CT Hedden, Andrew Taylor and more. Silvia Prada DJ’d as guests enjoyed wine and signature cocktails including “In WWD Fashion,” a play on a classic Old Fashioned. Recent print issues of WWD were displayed around the room.
You May Also Like
Asked to recall their favorite WWD memory, many designers cited their career-defining cover stories. For June Ambrose, it was the recent June 5 cover announcing the launch of her Naturalizer shoe collection; for Wes Gordon, it was his very first cover, “announcing my collection at Carolina Herrera when I became creative director,” he said.
“It was one of my covers, but it was during the pandemic, when no one was showing,” Siriano said. “I did a show in my backyard, and it was my favorite moment ever, because it meant a lot.”
The newsmakers in the crowd also mulled the biggest fashion headlines of the past year, and a unanimous theme emerged: creative change. “ Biggest fashion news story of the year is how many designers can move to a new house in one season,” said Siriano, as guests called out specific moments, from Matthieu Blazy’s first show for Chanel to last week’s news that Grace Wales Bonner was appointed creative director of menswear for Hermès.
“ Y’all, there have been so many,” said beauty influencer Cyrus Veyssi. “I am most excited right now to see Grace’s debut at Hermès for men’s. It’s gonna be so chic.”
“ As a Caribbean girl, that was very exciting news and so well deserved,” Ambrose added.
Another one of those news-making creative directors was in the crowd: Diotima designer Rachel Scott, who will make her debut for Proenza Schouler in February, and was busy catching up with Tanner Fletcher designers Tanner Richie and Fletcher Kasell during the cocktail.
Throughout the night, guests offered up the words they most strongly associate with WWD: “power,” “integrity,” “history.”
“ The first word that comes to mind for WWD is two words,” said Christian Cowan. “Which is the ‘real deal,’ because I feel like you get the real scoop of what’s actually happening in fashion — not just sensational gossip.”