Renee Cafaro Atelier at NYFW SS27: When the Runway Finally Reflects the Women We Dress
A stylist's perspective on curves, craftsmanship, cost per wear and why representation in luxury fashion still matters.
There are fashion shows you attend because you want to see what is next.
And then there are fashion shows that make you think about who fashion is actually being designed for.
Renee Cafaro Atelier's SS27 presentation during New York Fashion Week was the latter for me.
On September 12 at Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center, Renee Cafaro presented two distinct collections: Alchemy, her SS27 collection, and Something Borrowed, the unveiling of the house's bridal collection. (EMERGE)
As a fashion stylist, what immediately stood out to me wasn't simply that I was watching beautiful clothes come down a runway. It was seeing curves, fuller bodies and different proportions being treated with the same attention to craftsmanship, sensuality and luxury that fashion has historically reserved for a much narrower body type.
And that matters.
From a Stylist's Chair, This Runway Looked Different
I've spent years dressing women.
Real women with careers, families, curves, stomachs, hips, busts, insecurities, confidence, personalities and lives that require their wardrobes to actually work.
One of the things I consistently teach women is that style isn't about forcing yourself into whatever fashion has decided is acceptable this season. Your wardrobe should work for your body, your personality and your lifestyle.
That's why Renee's presentation connected with me.
There was sensuality without the body being hidden.
There were curves without apology.
There was structure.
There was movement.
There was femininity.
But most importantly, there were clothes designed with the understanding that a fuller body doesn't need to be disguised before it can participate in fashion.
That distinction is important.
Renee isn't simply making larger versions of clothing. Her own brand describes its specialty as innovative fit and handcrafted design for curves and bigger bodies, with the atelier historically concentrating on sizes 16–32. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
That understanding of fit showed on the runway.
Who Is Renee Cafaro?
Before Renee Cafaro became the founder and creative director of Renee Cafaro Atelier, she experienced the fashion industry from several sides—as a plus-size consumer, fashion journalist and editor.
Her background includes serving as U.S. Editor of SLiNK Magazine, a publication focused on curvy women. She has also described an earlier career in politics and grassroots organizing, experiences that help explain why community and advocacy are so closely intertwined with her fashion work. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
Her road to becoming a designer is especially interesting.
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Cafaro put $25,000 into an initiative she called Si Sew Puede, connecting garment workers with frontline workers and hospitals needing masks and medical gowns. As the traditional fashion and magazine industries remained disrupted, she began working with garment makers from that network to develop designs she had been thinking about for years. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
The company lists its founding year as 2021, and that same year Cafaro introduced RCA Public Label as a plus-size ready-to-wear line. (LinkedIn)
But one of the ideas at the heart of her brand actually dates much further back.
Cafaro says she conceived what eventually became her Game Changer Dress in 2009 after struggling to find built-in support that worked for her own G-cup bust. The design ultimately developed into a versatile dress with integrated bust support and became a cornerstone of the brand. (RCA Public Label)
That tells me something about Renee as a designer:
She designs from the problem outward.
She knows the frustration because she has lived it.
A few things to know about Renee Cafaro:
She designs from personal experience. As a plus-size woman herself, Cafaro has spoken about creating for people traditionally underserved by luxury fashion. (RCA Public Label)
Fit is part of the design—not an afterthought. Her atelier has specialized in bigger bodies, while her Public Label platform has expanded its approach to customizable ready-to-wear across sizes and genders. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
Her clothing is produced in New York City. The house emphasizes local production, fair wages and supporting artisans and the Garment District. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
Her work has reached major platforms. Designs have appeared on Alison Hammond, RuPaul's Drag Race UK, the BAFTAs red carpet, Good Morning America, Watch What Happens Live and at the 2023 Oscars. (Renee Cafaro Atelier)
She has already taken plus-size couture internationally. In 2023, Renee Cafaro Atelier presented its exclusively plus-size Velvet Goldmine collection during Paris Fashion Week with Flying Solo. (PR Newswire)
Her first exclusive NYFW show came in September 2024. Transatlantic was presented through Oxford Fashion Studio and centered plus-size couture on its own runway rather than as a token look within another collection. (Oxford Fashion Studio)
Alchemy: Fashion That Doesn't Ask Curves to Disappear
What I appreciated about Alchemy was the relationship between the clothes and the body.
There is sometimes a tendency in plus-size fashion to design around the body rather than for it—to cover this, camouflage that, minimize something else.
That wasn't what I took away from Renee's runway.
The body was part of the design.
The curves helped create the silhouette.
And the woman remained the focus.
From my stylist's perspective, that's exactly where fashion should be heading.
Because my job isn't to make a client look smaller.
My job is to make the clothes work for the woman standing in front of me.
Those are two completely different philosophies.
And Renee's work speaks much more closely to the second.
Something Borrowed: Curves Belong in the Bridal Fantasy, Too
Then came Something Borrowed, Renee's bridal collection.
That added another layer to the conversation.
Bridal fashion is one of the most emotional purchases a woman will ever make. Yet the shopping experience can become very different when a bride doesn't fit the industry's traditional sample size.
Renee approached bridal with the same philosophy that runs through her atelier: the bride should not have to shrink herself—physically or stylistically—to experience luxury.
The collection ranged from more traditional bridal references to less conventional interpretations, while the runway itself featured variation in height, body type and background. (Hello Beautiful)
What I loved was that the curves weren't competing with the craftsmanship.
They were part of it.
The body wasn't something the gown needed to overcome.
The body helped bring the gown to life.
But Here's Where My Stylist Brain Really Kicked In
Beautiful runway clothing is one thing.
Can I build a wardrobe with it?
That's another.
And in today's economy, I think designers and stylists have to start having that conversation more often.
Women are paying more attention to what they're buying. A beautiful garment hanging untouched in the back of the closet isn't necessarily a good investment simply because it's expensive.
I want my clients thinking about cost per wear.
If you spend $600 on a beautifully constructed piece and wear it 30 times, that's $20 per wear.
Wear it 60 times?
That's $10 per wear.
Now compare that with five $80 pieces you bought because they were trendy, wore once or twice and eventually stopped reaching for.
More clothes doesn't automatically equal a better wardrobe.
Versatility does.
Fit does.
Construction does.
Personal style does.
And that's one reason this collection made sense to me beyond the runway.
I saw pieces and ideas that could exist beyond a fashion-week moment. With thoughtful styling, a strong piece can move between occasions, work with different accessories, interact with pieces already hanging in your closet and become part of your actual lifestyle.
For women whose options have historically been more limited at higher sizes, that versatility becomes even more valuable.
Representation Is Great. Access Is Better.
I think we have reached a point where simply placing one curvy model on a runway and calling a collection inclusive isn't enough.
The larger question is:
Can she buy the clothes?
Can she experience the craftsmanship?
Was the garment actually engineered for her proportions?
Can she walk into the room knowing the designer thought about her before she arrived—not after?
Those questions are part of why Renee Cafaro's work deserves attention.
The fashion industry's disconnect from the bodies of many American women remains significant. A 2025 Forbes report, citing Vogue Business's March 2025 inclusivity research, reported that only 24 of 8,703 runway looks surveyed were available in sizing that would fit an average American woman. (Forbes)
That context makes a runway intentionally built around bodies fashion has historically marginalized feel very different.
This isn't about saying one body belongs on the runway more than another.
It's about making the runway big enough for all of them.
My Takeaway as a Stylist
Leaving Renee Cafaro Atelier's presentation, I kept thinking about the women I work with.
Women who tell me:
"I can't wear that."
"They don't make that in my size."
"That looks good on her, but it won't look good on me."
Those sentences don't always come from a lack of confidence.
Sometimes the fashion industry has actually trained women to believe them.
And that's why shows like this matter.
When a woman sees a body that resembles hers wearing beautifully constructed clothing without being hidden, minimized or treated like an exception, the conversation begins to change.
As a stylist, that's the fashion industry I want to work in.
One where I don't have to tell a woman what she can't wear.
I can simply ask:
Who do you want to be today?
And then we dress her accordingly.
Photos By; Oxford Fashion Studio
Written by: Patricia Alwayz A Lady Fashion Correspondent | Senior Fashion Stylist | Fashion & Lifestyle Consultant
You are the CEO of your life and your style.
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