New York fashion at V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum on Monday launched their New York Fashion Now exhibition. The show, which features Zac Posen, John Varvatos, Cloak, Sean John, Derek Lam and Proenza Schouler explores the stories of twenty designers who launched their own labels in the five years between 1999 and 2004. Key to the early success of some has been the focused support of the fashion and celebrity press, retailers and manufacturers, as well as the funded design competitions that help the winners pay their bills.

For many of New York's young fashion hopefuls this support has been essential. Young designers shoulder significant economic burdens in one of the toughest industries to crack, along with the expectation to deliver creatively each season. Further, many of the featured design labels were founded around the time of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The designers, along with their staff, factories and retailers, struggled in the resultant economic downturn. Still, the number of designer-led fashion businesses founded in New York City at the turn of the 21st century is remarkable.

New York Fashion Now captures this significant moment of design productivity, both within the city's mainstream fashion culture and outside it. The twenty featured start-up stories provide insight into how so many young hopefuls have prevailed at this particular moment. Zac Posen, arguably the most well-known of the featured designers, showed off a voluminous silk jacquard dress with embroidered flowers at the show. Looks range from a pair of fringed leather trousers from Lost Art by Jordan Betten to a torn, discarded Vietnam uniform, worked into a shirtdress by the Spanish-born Miguel Adrover - who's since moved home to Mallorca - to an intricately constructed chiffon dress by Jean Yu.

Sonnet Stanfill, curator of the exhibition, said she hoped the show changes the European public's perception about New York designers "that it's solely about interchangeable sportswear pieces. I wanted to show how they create clothes so different from each other." The exhibition runs until 23 September.