Responsible cult London label Damson Madder proudly made their New York Fashion Week debut with their Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, In The Slow Lane on Wednesday 10 September at New York City’s Marble Cemetery.

This season’s collection and campaign celebrate the radical art of slowing down, inviting the audience to take life at their own pace and eschew the digital space for the joys of real life connection, craft, and community. 

Damson Madder presented a unique activation for their inaugural New York Fashion Week presentation, blending fashion, intellect, and street culture. Inspired by the disappearing concept of the ‘third space’, the brand presented their AW25 collection styled on a collective of real chess players and enthusiasts from New York, cast and curated by collective Club Chess. The event featured a timed chess tournament followed by a reception at NYC institution, Chess Forum.

AW25 embraces a rebellious yet thoughtful design ethos, inspired by the outdoors, off-the-beaten-track exploration, and a distinctly British nostalgia rooted in nineties and noughties Britpop culture. Helping bring this vision to life are makeup partner, New York Makeup Academy, and hair care partner, Unite Hair. The collection reworks classic preppy staples with unexpected twists like functional straps, ties, and detachable tool-style belts and hoods that make silhouettes modular, playing into the themes of fluidity and utility. Punky, lumberjack-inspired checks add edge to delicate dresses and blouses; the brand’s concept of “cocktail gorpcore” brings together campsite grit and midnight glamour in unexpected and wholesome ways.

The new collection also premieres an expanded knitwear range that is the brand’s largest yet, crafted entirely from 100% Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) certified wool. Hero pieces include a leaping rabbit intarsia with a Peter Pan collar, and navy blue sweater vest in lambswool decorated with a minimalistic white picket fence and barn. Following the massive success of their sold-out Jerry trench coat from Pre-Fall 2025, which has seen waitlists soar to 23,000, the brand’s new cult outerwear offering further solidifies Damson Madder’s stronghold in this category. This season debuts new silhouettes such as an olive green military style bomber jacket and a sophisticated cocoon-style wool coat. Damson Madder’s iconic puffers also return in fresh prints with tie details and detachable hoods. Accessories have also been reimagined, with the signature Benny bowling bag newly minted in a rich burgundy satin alongside their sought-after seasonal collection of hoods, scarves, and bonnets in playful stripes and argyle prints. In The Slow Lane runs the gamut of essential cold-weather pieces.

The AW25 collection and “In The Slow Lane” campaign launched 8 September 2025 through www.damsonmadder.com and selected retailers globally.

Credits:

Makeup: New York Makeup Academy (@newyorkmakeupacademy)

Key Makeup Artist: Mai Mor @mai.mor

Hair: Unite Hair (@unite_hair) 

Presentation Venue: Marble Cemetery 

Reception Venue: Chess Forum 

Production: Oh Management (ohmgmt.co)

PR: Modeworld (@modeworld) 

Casting: Club Chess (@clubchess.club)

Photography: Dylan Pearce (@dylancpearce), Isabella Skarzynski (@isablleaskarzynski)

Sponsors:

• Unite Hair
• New York Makeup Academy
• Poppi
• Culture Pop
• Topo Chico

Emma Hill, Founder Bio 

Growing up, Emma always blended her love of fashion, creativity, and culture with what could best be described as an ‘art school’ attitude. She originally studied Fashion Design, and while she adored many aspects of this creative field, she found herself increasingly drawn to explore the interconnected worlds of business and marketing, eventually graduating with a BA Hons in Fashion Promotion and Communications.

The lure of hands-on experience and a steady pay-check soon led her to relocate to Central London.

After holding several buying roles across the UK fashion market, she developed a deep understanding of the industry; and with that knowledge came a growing awareness of its shortcomings, particularly around sustainability. Determined to be part of the change, Emma launched her own brand, Damson Madder, in 2020 just a week before the country went into lockdown.

What started as a small collection quickly grew into a movement. From the beginning, Damson Madder stood for creative, considered, and responsible fashion using recycled and organic fabrics and dyes to produce pieces people could feel good in and feel good about. Emma’s vision was never just about making clothes; it was about crafting garments with purpose, versatility, and a unique point of view.

The brand’s aesthetic is a contemporary blend of femininity and masculinity, offering thought-provoking designs through a conscious merging of pretty detailing and playful print stories with boyish silhouettes and utility styling. This innovative approach has resonated with a new generation of style-conscious consumers and tastemakers.

Five years on, Damson Madder has grown organically into a cult and celebrity favourite far beyond anything Emma ever imagined. Today, she is celebrated as a self-made British woman success story, leading a team of 45 talented women from the brand’s North London HQ.