From Railroad Dust to Office Blues by Private Policy for F/W 26-27, New York Fashion Week | FTV

Don’t miss one of the most powerful statements of the season – Private Policy’s fall/winter 2026-27 collection unveiled at New York Fashion Week! Released in the glow of Lunar New Year, this collection reflects deeply on the histories of Asian labor and how they continue to shape the present. The collection begins with the first generation of Chinese laborers who built America’s transcontinental railroads in the 19th century. Their bodies and time laid the literal foundation for the modern American West, yet their contributions were long erased from dominant narratives. Designer Haoran Li approaches this history not as something closed, but as a line still in motion, connecting past and present. Workwear silhouettes form the backbone: functional cuts, reinforced seams, multi-pocket constructions – garments designed for endurance and survival. These details speak not only to the physical demands of railroad labor but also to the many unseen forms of work carried by Asian immigrants and Asian Americans today: emotional labor, psychological resilience, and institutional navigation. Material choices are deeply symbolic: utilitarian workwear structures reimagined in silk-finished and high-sheen fabrics. This contrast brings light and visibility to labor once absorbed by dust, sweat, and silence—honoring those whose work went unnamed while asserting a growing public and cultural presence today.

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