Janet Jackson Celebrates 15 Years of Christian Siriano During NYFW

Good things come to those who wait, especially when it involves Christian Siriano. On Friday, guests mingled inside the Pierre on the Upper East Side, adorned with flowers in shades of deep purple and blue, as they awaited the start of the designer’s New York Fashion Week show. Avril Lavigne, Laverne Cox, Quinta Brunson, and more were all in attendance, but once a Siriano-clad Janet Jackson arrived, the show could officially begin.

The presentation, which marked 15 years since Siriano’s debut, cast a diverse group of models who showcased Siriano’s vision for spring-summer 2024, all dressed in romantic and whimsical evening wear that pulled inspiration from the ballet.

“Is it nostalgia? Is it something from the past?” Siriano told Vanity Fair he first asked himself when dreaming up what 15 years should look like on the runway. “My sister and I were ballerinas, and I remember being in these black warm-ups and then coming to life in sugarplum fairy dresses, so I really wanted to show that [transformation] tonight, the progression of what it could be and how visceral and dreamlike clothes can feel. I wanted it to be magical, and a lot of work went into those clothes,” he said.

As for Siriano’s showstopping guest, Jackson said she and the designer met a year ago after the Grammy Award winner fell in love with a red tulle skirt—a textile heavily featured in the collection shown at the Pierre. “I thought it was absolutely gorgeous. So Stunning. Oh, my gosh. He totally outdid himself,” she said of Siriano’s latest collection.

For Jackson, fashion’s ability to evoke feeling is where its beauty lies. “You know it has power when it gives you the ability to feel different, to feel sexy, to feel loony, to take you through these different journeys. That’s what fashion does,” she said.