REDEFINING NYFW, NEW YORK MEN’S DAY BRINGS SPOTLIGHT TO MEN’S FASHION
By: Hillary LeBlanc
New York Fashion Week continues to be the highlight event for fashion connoisseurs in North America. For seven days, people flock to New York City to see fashion highlights from major NYC brands such as Marc Jacobs, Carolina Herrera, Coach and many more. Its popularity has notably grown from the influence of supermodels who draw in crowds of fans in hopes of capturing a glimpse or a snapshot of their captivating beauty on the runway. Over the years we have seen shows pivot to be more size inclusive, more diverse in ethnicity and bring more awareness to redefine beauty, all of this to highlight their biggest focus: women’s fashion. But what about the men?
One woman sought to change this. Erin Hawker is a PR whiz in the industry. Fourteen years ago she founded Agentry PR, a boutique agency with full service marketing communications agency offices in New York City. Agentry PR specializes within the fashion, lifestyle and entertainment sectors across all facets of marketing and public relations. Since founding her company she has represented clients such as Uniqlo, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, AKNVAS, Christian Siriano and many more. Hawker attributes Agentry PR’s success to her patience.
Photo of Erin Hawker, courtesy of Erin Hawker
“Running any business in NYC is difficult to say the least. I was very careful to not start Agentry PR until I had over 15 years of experience and built up a reputation with 5,000 LinkedIn connections. This has proved the most useful thing I did.”
Four years after founding Agentry PR, Hawker realized the lack of male representation within New York Fashion Week and wanted to shake up the industry. From this idea she created New York Men’s Day which continues to run twice a year.
“New York Men’s Day was created in 2014 to support emerging menswear talent. At that time, most sponsorship dollars from large corporate sponsors were going to women’s brands showing at New York Fashion Week. It was a hard sell to get any men's attention. So, the ‘AHA’ moment was a strength in numbers strategy.”
When walking into New York Men’s Day, guests are able to free flow room to room experiencing designers in a gorgeous industrial loft space with each room curated for the designer’s show. With the shows being presentation style over two several hour blocks, this allows press and guests to weave in and out consistently experiencing a new component of each designers work as they go room to room. In the past, designers have had musicians, dancing, runway style shows, rooms decorated with the same textiles as the garments and the designers themselves are always on site for discussion, something coveted at most new York Fashion Week shows. This presentation style method has always been Hawker’s vision. “We ended up pairing six emerging menswear brands up to present, presentation style, in six separate spaces within one gigantic photography studio in the West Village. Each designer presented in a two-hour block with Agentry PR handling all front of house: inviting the most influential media, buyers, influencers and industry executives. Everyone flowed from studio-to-studio at their own pace. It was a huge success and we caught the eyes of Cadillac. They then came on board as a presenting sponsor and we went from six to twelve designers in the second season.” New York Men’s Day is now in its 23rd season and takes place as the kickoff to New York Fashion Week each season. Each season they have amazing brand partners. Oribe has been one of their partners for 22 seasons.
Designer A. Potts Collection at New Men’s Day, Courtesy of New York Men’s Day
Hawker shares that her ability to navigate Agentry PR and New York Men’s Day comes from hard work and organization. She feels that interest has always been high for New York Men’s Day and if anything, it has grown. With the boom of influencers, the momentum has grown in excitement. They always make sure there is a variation of designers representing genderless, streetwear, tailoring, Ready-to-Wear, casual, etc. In other words, there is always something for someone. Hawker also has a small group of advisors who help choose the designers and brands who participate to ensure inclusivity.
Hawker’s work has recently earned her the People’s Choice Award at the Mr Magazine Online Awards. She feels this accolade would not have been possible without her team.
“I felt extremely humbled. To be recognized for our hard work at Agentry PR and New York Men’s Day, it was worth everything. My team is the best, and as we all know, it takes a village. I couldn’t do any of this without them!”
The celebration that evening was made even more special as Hawker’s mom was able to fly in from Wisconsin.
Beyond these accolades, Hawker can also feel proud to be a part of the success of numerous global brands. “It’s honestly amazing to look back at my career over the years. I worked my way up in the fashion industry from a coordinator. I’ve worked in-house, and on the agency side, for some major global brands like Diesel, Donna Karan, Target. We now represent brands at Agentry PR including Fortune 500, Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, ANKNVAS, Gola, Mavi, Garage, Dynamite, DSW and more. I truly believe in hard work and respect. There are no shortcuts, and I wouldn’t be able to work with such great brands, if I didn’t have the experience I do.”
We can expect New York Men’s Day to return to New York Fashion Week February 2025.