Vogue crowns new generation of color-obsessed fashion designers

Vogue has identified a new wave of designers embracing bold color, dubbing them the 'New Kings of Color' 35 years after André Leon Talley first coined the term in 1990 for Isaac Mizrahi, Gianni Versace, Christian Lacroix, and Rifat Ozbek. The current fashion landscape, dominated by '90s minimalism and stealth wealth, has created a color desert, but these designers are bucking the trend. Christopher John Rogers, a decade into his career, uses color as an object and has won two CFDA Awards, with collaborations at Target and J.Crew. Julian Klausner took over Dries Van Noten after the founder's 2024 retirement, showcasing painterly color from jewel tones to desert hues in his menswear and womenswear collections. Henry Zankov, launched during the pandemic, specializes in knits and unexpected color juxtapositions, emphasizing texture and materiality. Zane Li, whose brand Lii is nominated for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund prize, applies a Crayola palette to elevated sportswear with color-blocking in primary hues, recently expanding into powdery blues and pinks. The article profiles these four designers as the new standard-bearers of vibrant color in fashion.