On Wednesday afternoon, The Northern Club was transformed into the perfect backdrop for our NZFW show of the week, its old-world interiors enhanced by the captivating arrival of Claudia Li’s world. Against the heritage setting, Li’s collection moved through the room at close range, sculptural, luminous, and subtly commanding. There was little distance between the audience in attendance and the garments on show; no runway spectacle in sight — just the clothes, the people wearing them, and the intimacy of seeing the exquisite detail up close and personal.
It was a fitting setting for A Love Letter to New York, Li’s return to New Zealand Fashion Week and, for us, the standout show of the event.
The collection itself is rooted in one of Li’s most treasured memories. In 2016, Li met her now-husband on the corner of 55th and 6th in New York, where the LOVE sculpture once stood. A decade later, that moment became the emotional starting point for a collection shaped by the city’s particular kind of cinematic romance.
Rather than staging a conventional runway show, Li chose a salon presentation that allowed the clothes to move through The Northern Club within arm’s reach of guests. The format suited the collection beautifully. Up close, its precision was impossible to miss: the architecture of a sleeve, the weight of a fabric, the quiet gleam of embellishment, the way a silhouette held its shape before softening in motion.
Li’s New York is rendered through fragments: brownstone steps, flowers wrapped in paper, the West Village at dusk, martinis and white tablecloths, yellow taxis after dark, a late-night slice on the way home. The collection follows the same rhythm, moving through the rituals surrounding a celebration, from ceremony to dinner, dancing and the less definable moments that often become the ones remembered most.
The clothes themselves carry all the signatures of Claudia Li: sculptural volume, architectural tailoring, clean lines and a certain confidence in taking up space. But there is a new level of refinement here, and a more pronounced sense of occasion. Silk duchess satin, fil coupé, taffeta, silk shantung and jacquard lend structure and movement, while crystal embroidery and a fully beaded gown bring flashes of light and intricacy.
The palette begins in ivory and black before drifting into lavender, cherry blossom pink, duck egg, cream and antique gold, colours that read as romantic without being overly cutesy or sweet.
What made the collection feel particularly relevant was Li’s refusal to define occasion dressing too narrowly. These are not clothes conceived solely for a wedding ceremony or formal event, but for everything around it too: the engagement dinner, the party after, the walk home. There is an ease to that idea; rethinking luxury not as something preserved for one perfect, photogenic moment, but for the entirety of an experience.
A Love Letter to New York also introduces Li’s new made-to-order private-client offering, spanning bridal, event wear and special-occasion dressing. It feels like a natural evolution for a designer whose work has always balanced strong visual identity with emotional storytelling: pieces intended not simply to be worn, but kept.
In a week where fashion inevitably competes for attention, often loudly, Li’s show was intimate, assured and beautifully judged, with none of the noise required to convince us of its significance. For Denizen, it was the show of NZFW 2026, and we can’t wait to see what Li does next.
