Public School Returns to NYFW After Seven-Year Hiatus with Utility-Minded Fall 2026

After seven years away, Public School New York returned to the official New York Fashion Week calendar with a Fall/Winter 2026 ready-to-wear collection titled "Everything Is Now," presented in New York on February 11. The show, framed in WWD by Thomas Waller as a clear re-entry, staged a practical, restrained program that announced the brand’s intention to rejoin the city’s fashion conversation; a newspaper left on seats read, “After seven years, Public School New York returns to the scene.”

Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne leaned into what Chow described as the brand’s enduring code, saying, “The starting point has always been this idea of having a sophisticated ease.” Chow set the tone for the presentation by tying the title to urgency and a cultural moment: “The title of the show is called, ‘Everything Is Now.’ That’s how we feel, the urgency of everything that’s happening around our country and a bubbling renaissance in New York City. Now we have something to say.” Osborne echoed the collection’s throughline of contrasts, noting, “We’ve always played with the idea of high and low, a T-shirt with a tailored pant, and that’s what carried throughout the collection.”

The clothes read as architectural workwear recut for a more metropolitan life. Sharply cut wrap blazers arrived with boxier shoulders and tailoring “reworked through a more fluid architectural lens,” a construction note picked up across coverage. Outerwear leaned classic and utility-minded: parkas and bomber jackets were gathered in the back to give shape, while one jacket introduced extra arm holes, explicitly “making the sleeves ornamental.” Those moves translated familiar Public School codes—tailoring, denim, sport—into pieces that feel measured and intentionally edited.

Styling kept the high/low idea literal. T-shirts were paired with tailored trousers so that a casual cotton tee read simultaneously relaxed and deliberate against crisp pant lines, the principle Osborne named as the collection’s throughline. The show’s staging and programming underscored the narrative of return; Design Scene’s recap emphasized that on February 11 Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow “stepped back into the format that once defined their rise, presenting a show that confronted time, pause, and re-entry with directness,” and WWD noted that last season’s community event had seeded the buzz that made this comeback expected.

Industry signals beyond the clothes suggested an eye toward partnerships and commerce. WWD’s coverage page included adjacent headlines reading, “Public School's Comeback Includes a Collaboration on One of the More Underutilized Air Jordans” and “EXCLUSIVE: Public School Reveals Exclusive Allen Edmonds Reserve Shoe Styles on Fall '26 Runway,” and WWD listed celebrity attendance with a headline naming Monica and Fabolous. Maxwell Osborne’s other label, Anonlychild, was also singled out as a finalist for the annual Fashion Trust U.S., reinforcing the designers’ standing within the business side of fashion.

Public School’s return was less a spectacle than a tactical repositioning: a collection of considered cuts, utility detailing, and deliberate styling that reestablishes Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne on the NYFW map and signals that the brand intends to convert renewed attention into tangible collaborations and commercial steps.