6 Fashion Rule-Breakers Who Haven’t Done It The “Right” Way

In an industry that’s completely obsessed with what’s new, now, and next, standing out in the fashion business can feel impossible, especially given the fact that there are a thousand others like you attempting the exact same thing. Designers can have a ballsy collection or two, but it takes much more than getting editors to rubberneck at the runway to really change the game. Disrupting Fashion Week is one thing. Actually making the industry rethink the way it operates is quite another.

And no matter what aspect of the industry you’re trying to shake up, there’s one strategy that’ll never get you there: following the rules. For an industry that may prize unconventionality, it’s got one of the most traditional, rigid infrastructures around — but there are some brazen individuals who are trying to make it happen by going against the status quo. The six talents ahead are doing it their own way, whether that means stripping away the opaqueness of a the supply chain, forgoing the grind of designing and selling for fashion’s (far too many) seasons, or challenging sartorial gender norms. Here’s why you need to know their names, right this second.