Culture & Style
This Year’s Best New York Fashion Week Parties Were All About Jewelry
By Jane Asher & Roxanne Robinson, Published: September 17, 2025
From the Frick to the Williamsburg Waterfront, diamond jewelry is taking over NYFW.
Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, and Laura Dern at Jessica McCormack’s event at The Frick (Sancho Scott, BFA.com)
While Fashion Week is of course about the clothing, jewelry has moments to shine throughout the week as well. From celebrities sitting front row decked out in their best diamonds to glamorous parties thrown by jewelry houses and designers, there are plenty of diamond spotlight moments to celebrate.
Meet the Authors
Roxanne Robinson is an award-winning journalist with over 25 years of experience between New York and Paris. She is the New York Contributing Editor for Fashion Network and regularly contributes to the New York Times, the CFDA, Forbes, and more. She covers the luxury and fashion industries, spending 18 years as WWD’s Accessories and Jewelry Editor
Jane Asher is the Senior Social Media Manager at Only Natural Diamonds with a passion for pop culture. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English from Washington University in St. Louis. As a journalist, her work has been featured in publications such as InStyle, STYLECASTER, Martha Stewart Weddings and more.
Inside New York Fashion Week
New York Fashion Week occurs twice a year, once in February, traditionally to showcase Fall/Winter collections, and once in September to showcase Spring/Summer. In recent years, some brands have chosen to present their shoppable Fall collections during the week in September to generate excitement about pieces that are available to purchase as soon as the public sees them.
New York Fashion Week kicks off fashion month, with London, Paris, and Milan Fashion Weeks following, where international brands show their collections in their respective cities. While the big four cities above are typically referenced when discussing Fashion Week, cities around the world participate in the glamor as well. Copenhagen Fashion Week, for example, has seen immense growth in the last few years.
Haute Couture Fashion Week also occurs twice a year, in January and July, where designer brands preview their latest couture collections. This extends to jewelry as well, with the world’s most renowned Maisons sharing their Haute Joallerie collections during this time to coincide with fashion.
Jewelry Events at New York Fashion Week
For many jewelry houses and designers, Fashion Week is the perfect time to debut a new collection or celebrate existing pieces, as fashion’s elite descend upon New York City. What’s one more event to add to the calendar? With celebrities in town and influencers flooding the front rows, New York Fashion Week is the perfect time to celebrate the cherry on top of any good lewk: The jewelry.
New York Fashion Week: Jessica McCormack at the Frick Collection
Jessica McCormack hosted a New York Fashion Week kick-off party at the Frick Collection, hosting clients, celebrities, and jewelry lovers in the stunning art museum. With her first US store opening at 743 Madison Avenue earlier this year, the event marked a “vibrant continuation of the brand’s milestone debut in the US,” said a press release. Zoë Kravitz gave a speech congratulating Jessica on the success of the store, and Jessica toasted to the brand’s much-anticipated arrival in New York City.
Personalized touches at the event influenced a vintage unfair game with diamond prizes and party favors like Jessica McCormack-branded playing. Inspired by the bronze frogs in the Frick Collection’s fountains, Jessica created bejeweled ceramic frogs for the event, placed throughout the venue as a fun tribute to the iconic venue.
New York Fashion Week: CADAR Grand Opening in Meatpacking
CADAR celebrated the opening of their new store in NYC’s Meatpacking District with a cocktail event hosted by Michal Kadar, founder of CADAR Fine Jewelry, showcasing the brand’s best diamond offerings. The event captured the “spirit of CADAR,” along with New York-inspired details like vintage taxi cabs parked out front of the store with giveaways like CADAR totes and chocolates. The new space was custom-designed by Kadar and hosted notable names including Athena Calderone, Olivia Palermo, Johannes Hubel, Michael Tommasiello, Luca Mornet and Carol Mendes.
New York Fashion Week: Nordstrom x MUSE
Jewelry lovers gathered at NYC’s Nordstrom Flagship in Columbus Circle for a cocktail reception to celebrate the launch of the new MUSE shop at Nordstrom’s newly unveiled jewelry hall. This is MUSE’s first retail partnership. Notable attendees included actress Allison Williams, model Flaviana Matata, and designer Wes Gordon.
New York Fashion Week: Chopard Ice Cube Celebration
Chopard held a cocktail event celebrating their Ice Cube High Jewelry collection, hosted by Chopard Co-President Caroline Scheufele. The event was held in the Centurion Lounge at One Vanderbilt in New York City, an exclusive venue known for its chic atmosphere and panoramic views of Manhattan. The views were a clear inspiration for the new Haute Joallerie collection, “the city’s striking angles, mirrored skylines and sharp style perfectly echo the architectural inspiration of the Ice Cube collection,” according to a press release.
This New York Fashion Week highlight welcomed Emily Ratajkowski, Ashley Graham, Ariana Greenblatt, Odell Beckham Jr., Jodie Turner-Smith, Normani, and more. Guests enjoyed a culinary experience curated by Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud and entertainment from DJ Mia Moretti.
New York Fashion Week: Bernard James “Process Of Living”
An immersive experience at the intersection of design, culture, music, and fashion awaited guests on the waterfront at One Domino Square in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Jewelry was presented not as adornment alone, but as part of daily rituals, woven into scent, sound, touch, taste, and sight. Bernard James’ Crushed Link Collection celebrates transformation and the beauty found in creation itself, becoming one of the things that live with you.
Bernard James showcased his fine jewelry in an NYFW debut, presenting the Crushed Link collection in an immersive experience on the Williamsburg waterfront at One Domino Square. “Jewelry was presented not as adornment alone, but as part of daily rituals, woven into scent, sound, touch, taste, and sight,” reads a press release from the exciting event. The Crushed Link collection first launched in late 2023 and is crafted of solid 18k gold and platinum. The original forms were literally crushed by car, hammer, and hand to get their unique look.
Before entering the space with the jewelry on display, guests walked through a room featuring an art installation from designer and sculptor Gregory Benson. DJs Key and Stonie Blue set the mood, and a bar from Sake ONO kept the cocktails flowing. Flos lighting created a moody ambiance, and a curated playlist of songs kept the vibes high thanks to Bang & Olufsen’s audio.
Notable guests included Karl Anthony Towns, Denée Denton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Bethann Hardison, Christopher John Rogers, Sherri McMullen, Bruce Pask, Julie Gilhart, Quil Lemons, Telsha Anderson-Boone, and more.
New York Fashion Week: Alex Moss Flagship Opening
“The first few years, I was known as a custom jeweler for my celebrity and VIP clients, but now that I have a collection to buy, I need a place to show that,” Alex Moss told Roxanne Robinson who attended the store opening in Soho, NYC. The store, located just above Canal Street, transforms a historical cast-iron building, the area is known for, into a modern jewelry emporium that feels like a club.
After entering a stainless-steel vestibule, flanked by security, guests are bathed in the brand’s signature green entryway, where cases display Moss’s famous grenade design, worn by A$AP Rocky, and screens displaying iconic styles such as the cartoon styles made with Verdy or a diamond lollipop made for Playboy Carti. Black-toned mirrors flank the walls that lead into the store’s center with a circular display case.
The New York Fashion Week event debuted the brand’s new collection NEO, adding to the array of glistening natural diamonds on everything from Cuban chains, the brand’s signature AM logo design, and even a chunky pavé ring with colorful gemstone ‘google-y’ eyes.
New York Fashion Week: Sotheby’s and Phaidon Celebrate The Jewelry Book
Sotheby’s hosted a cocktail reception to celebrate the launch of their latest exhibition, “The Jewelry Book: An A to Z Exhibition,” a curation of 50 exceptional pieces by some of the world’s most talented jewelry designers and established houses featured in The Jewelry Book, a new publication written by jewelry journalist Melanie Grant and Phaidon. Grant was at the event to sign books for guests who wanted to purchase copies and immortalize the stunning jewelry on their coffee tables and bookcases at home.
The cocktail reception saw many notable jewelry names, including Ron Anderson and David Rees of Ten Thousand Things, Sotheby’s Jewelry Vice Chairman Frank Everett, and more.
