The Tamesis
Welcome to The Scoop: a weekly email series in which I ask fashion insiders about the week’s stories. This will be a way for the Vogue business community to synthesize and reflect on the latest headlines every Friday and get a little inside scoop.
This week’s guest is Rachna Shah, CEO of PR agency KCD. She started her career at KCD 29 years ago as a junior PR and has seen first-hand the industry’s client approach coming full circle – from a local approach to a global approach and back again.
If you attend fashion week, you’ll see Rachna – dressed in black and wearing headphones, moving quickly between backstage and front row. Ahead of New York Fashion Week, which starts next Wednesday, I called her to get the scoop.
Hi Rachna, any scoop?
We are once again working with the Alexander McQueen brand in the US market. We have a long history with the brand since it was part of the Gucci Group. We started working with Lee on all of his Paris shows and transitioning with Sarah, it was a very meaningful time for the brand. So it was great to work with the brand again on my next trip. The energy at last weekend’s Grammy Awards was high as Lady Gaga paid tribute to Lee on stage, [indie pop band] Marías looked incredible wearing a custom design by Seán.
When did you stop working with Alexander McQueen?
We stopped the transition from Sarah to Seán, which can happen when a brand goes through a reset. But we’re excited to be part of the brand again.
Speaking of the US market, it seems to be the focus of the brand at the moment. Moncler just had its Grenoble show in Aspen and Chanel showed its pre-fall collection in New York…why do you think that is?
The United States has been a focus for brands for some time. Obviously, COVID happened and things changed from a global perspective. But this is a big country. The approach used to be very coastal—mainly New York, Los Angeles, and then maybe Miami. But brands are starting to understand the value of their customers. I think a lot of it has to do with e-commerce. Now they know where their customers live, where they go on holiday… Then, with the coronavirus outbreak, a group of people moved out of the capital because they could work remotely. As the market changes, it’s easy to be hesitant, but in fact, there are still many opportunities in the United States.
With everything going on in the world right now, especially in the United States, the dissonance between the macroeconomics and the fashion world seems to be at an all-time high. Do you expect this New York Fashion Week to be particularly political?
It’s devastating. It was during this era that art, culture and storytelling became so important. How to express yourself during dark times is deeply personal for every designer. I think we’ll see throughout the season how the riots affect the emotional output. But at the end of the day, this is a business and its economics need to move forward. So the key is how to do that while still holding space for what’s going on in the country.
Size inclusivity in men’s clothing has become almost non-existent. But for some reason, in the fall and winter of 2026, it declined again. At the same time, it feels like the company is abandoning its commitment to diversity more broadly. What do you think is the cause of this flaw?
