Morning rush hour in Midtown Manhattan slowed to a halt on Friday as nearly 1,000 fashion-industry professionals walked up Broadway in a march meant to urge people to vote on Election Day in November.
The event, held at the onset of New York Fashion Week, was organized by a group that included the Council of Fashion Designers of America; I Am a Voter, an organization that promotes civic engagement; and Vogue. It was billed as bipartisan, but an appearance by Jill Biden, the first lady, and a Harris-Walz campaign scarf worn discreetly by Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue, were among the signs of an underlying Democratic tilt.
The march started outside the Macy’s store in Herald Square, where designers — Tory Burch, Brandon Blackwood, Joseph Altuzarra and Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez among them — gathered with fashion editors and garment industry workers before the crowd walked roughly six blocks to Bryant Park, chanting “V-O-T-E, vote, vote, vote” along the way.
Most participants were uniformly dressed in Old Navy T-shirts designed by Zac Posen, the brand’s recently appointed chief creative officer, which were emblazoned with the slogan “Fashion for our future.” In a manner particular to fashion activism, the T-shirts were styled in myriad ways: tucked into pleated slacks, layered over slip dresses, knotted into crop tops.
Ms. Wintour wore a long striped skirt with her T-shirt and her scarf, which was designed by Thom Browne in partnership with the Harris-Walz campaign.
Kate Young, a celebrity stylist who attended the march, said she had received an email from organizers ahead of the event with instructions not to wear partisan merchandise. “I would wear my Kamala hat if I was allowed,” Ms. Young said.
As the marchers moved toward the park, security guards popped out from the lobbies of office buildings to gawk at the scene. Emma Weedner, a 22-year-old intern who encountered the procession while walking to work, stopped to take photos on her phone. Marcin Andrzejewski, a 50-year-old visiting New York from Warsaw who was smoking a cigarette as the crowd passed him, had one word for what he saw: “Fascinating,” he said.
Near Bryant Park, participants had to pass through a security checkpoint where federal agents searched their many designer handbags, inspecting items like makeup compacts and quilted lambskin wallets before letting people move on.
At the park, speeches by Dr. Biden and others mixed calls for people to vote with more partisan messaging.
“The clothing we wear gives us the power to make a statement without saying a word,” the first lady told the crowd. She was wearing the Old Navy T-shirt beneath a Zadig & Voltaire blazer with “love” written in metal studs on the back. “But this year, we must wear it, say it, march for it and do it: vote,” she added, before addressing the shooting at a Georgia high school on Wednesday that killed four people and calling for a ban on assault rifles.
Later in her speech, Dr. Biden brought up book bans.
Aurora James, the founder of the shoe brand Brother Vellies, used in her speech a version of a line heard often in recent Democratic campaign messaging: “We absolutely cannot go back,” she said.
Ms. James, who was born in Canada and moved to the United States later in life, said in an interview after her speech that she cannot vote in federal elections because she is a permanent resident, not a U.S. citizen. That’s a main reason she wanted to urge eligible voters to cast ballots.
Being ineligible to vote “gives me an added feeling of helplessness,” Ms. James said, and makes her want to ensure that “other people who do get the right to vote are actually doing that.”
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