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New York Fashion Week Bans Fur for the First Time Ever as Stars Pack the Front Row
A new CFDA policy makes this the first fur-free New York Fashion Week in its history, as the marquee event wraps its run Sunday night with A-listers like Dua Lipa, Viola Davis and Elle Fanning turning the front row into its own show.
New York Fashion Week is closing out its September run as the first edition in its history where no animal fur is allowed on any official runway or sanctioned event, under a new policy from the Council of Fashion Designers of America that took effect this season.
The ban covers fur farmed or trapped for pelts — including mink, fox, rabbit, chinchilla, coyote and raccoon dog — with a narrow exemption preserved only for fur sourced through Indigenous subsistence hunting traditions, according to the CFDA's own announcement. The organization said it will offer designers educational resources and a shared textile library to help ease the transition to fur-free materials.
New York Follows London's Lead
The move makes New York the second major global fashion week to formally end fur on its runways, following the British Fashion Council's 2023 ban at London Fashion Week, per Business of Fashion's reporting on the policy. The CFDA first announced the change in late 2025, giving houses roughly a year to adjust sourcing before this week's shows.
THE FIRST FUR-FREE SEASON IN NYFW HISTORY
This year's calendar, running September 8 through 15, has featured major houses including DVF, Michael Kors, Khaite, Tory Burch, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Thom Browne unveiling Spring/Summer 2027 collections under the new rules. The week wraps Sunday night with the Grand Finale runway show at 8:30 p.m., featuring Eteri Couture, Gianina Azar and Souls Over Sales closing out the season.
Front-row star power hasn't dimmed under the new policy: Dua Lipa, Viola Davis and Elle Fanning have been among the boldface names spotted at shows throughout the week, part of an increasingly common pattern of celebrities using Fashion Week appearances to generate their own headlines alongside the designers'.
Animal welfare groups have cheered the shift as a milestone; some designers who previously worked with fur have said publicly they support the transition, while the CFDA has not disclosed whether any labels sought exemptions beyond the Indigenous-sourcing carve-out. With the policy now in effect for a full season, attention will turn to whether other major fashion capitals — Milan and Paris chief among them — follow New York and London's example.