10 Emerging Designers Head to The City of Light Compliments of the CDFA/Vogue Fashion Fund
What do sequined lobster panties, dramatic tutus with polka-dot lace and capes adorned with pink lily appliques have in common?
They’re all going to Paris for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and Vogue magazine’s Fashion Fund Americans in Paris 2026, which will take over a showroom Oct. 3 and 4 at 240 rue de Rivoli during Paris Fashion Week.
Now in its 20th year, Americans in Paris gives emerging U.S.-based designers the chance to show their collections to international buyers and editors while much of the fashion industry is already in town.
This year’s class includes: Aisling Camps, Amir Taghi, Terrence Zhou of Bad Binch TongTong, Emily Dawn Long, Jamie Haller, Julia Ferentinos of Juju Vera, Zane Li of Lii, George Inaki of Milamore, Claire Sullivan of Miss Claire Sullivan, and Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen. Among these individuals are womenswear designers, gender-inclusive labels and two jewelry brands. Beyond being based in the United States, remarkably little ties their aesthetics together.
When the finalists were announced, Nicole Phelps, global director of Vogue Runway and Vogue Business, pointed to the group’s “diversity, resourcefulness, and deep creativity.”
Taghi, based in Houston, describes his label in one word: “tailored,” and he counts Iranian pop artist Googoosh among his current inspirations. Camps, originally from Trinidad and Tobago and now based in New York, remembers stacks of her mother’s Vogue issues reaching nearly as high as a person. Zhou has built Bad Binch TongTong around theatrical, sculptural clothes and has never worked for another designer. Jamie Haller arrives at the competition after decades in fashion, and she now runs her namesake label from Los Angeles.
Together, they paint a messier—and more eclectic—picture of American fashion than its signature sportswear and denim we’ve come to associate with it.
The Fashion Fund itself is designed to do more than select a winner. Throughout the season, finalists receive business mentorship and access to an industry network that this year includes a selection committee of designers, retailers, editors, executives and models: Aurora James, Chloe Malle, Nicole Phelps, Christopher John Rogers, Denise Magid, Eva Chen, Paloma Elsesser, Thom Browne and Yumi Shin.
Christopher John Rogers, Chloe Malle Bloomingdale’s Celebrates the 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, Bloomingdale’s Flagship, NYC, New York, United States – 16 Sep 2026
The competition also includes a Material Innovation Challenge with Humane World for Animals, working with bio-based textiles as the organization pushes the industry toward alternatives to animal-derived materials.
The designers will arrive in Paris less than three weeks after New York Fashion Week, where several appeared on the official schedule, and just 16 days before the Fashion Fund winner is announced Oct. 20 at a dinner gala in New York. The winner receives $300,000; two runners-up receive $100,000 each.
Americans in Paris isn’t just another Fashion Week on the calendar, with a room full of beautiful clothes. This is where buyers and editors can examine the collections, meet the designers and see the details that don’t always come through on a runway or a screen. And for the designers, a conversation in that room could turn into an order, a story or an introduction that could change their lives.
Building an independent fashion business is no easy feat. Phelps has specifically noted the “right-sized” businesses of this year’s finalists and the different ways they’re approaching sales and distribution. Because today, making it as an emerging designer isn’t necessarily about building a fashion empire. It’s about figuring out what works for your brand—and how to make it last.
A viral dress might put a label in front of millions of people overnight, but turning that attention into a business is another matter. Designers still have to manufacture the clothes, manage inventory, find retailers and figure out how to grow beyond whatever first got people talking.
For two days in Paris, these 10 designers have the opportunity to do just that, with buyers, editors and much of the international fashion industry already in town. What happens next may tell us something about where American fashion stands on the global stage.
