The Council of Fashion Designers of America has announced the induction of ten designers into its prestigious membership, marking a significant expansion of the organization’s creative community. The 2026 class brings the total CFDA membership to 327, reinforcing the council’s position as the definitive body representing American fashion talent.
The 2026 CFDA Member Class
The newly elected members represent a cross-section of contemporary American design, spanning ready-to-wear, bridal, and conceptual fashion:
- Melitta Baumeister of MELITTA BAUMEISTER
- Aisling Camps of AISLING CAMPS
- Daniella Kallmeyer of KALLMEYER
- Fletcher Kasell and Tanner Richie of TANNER FLETCHER
- Ashlynn Park of ASHLYN
- Stephanie Suberville of HEIRLOME
- Kim Shui of KIM SHUI
- Andre Walker of ANDRE WALKER
- Jackson Wiederhoeft of WIEDERHOEFT
A Legacy of American Design Excellence
Founded by Eleanor Lambert in 1962, the CFDA has long served as the institutional backbone of American fashion. Membership signifies recognition among the nation’s foremost designers of apparel, jewelry, eyewear, and accessories.
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The organization’s current roster reads as a who’s who of American fashion, encompassing established global powerhouses including Tory Burch, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Thom Browne, Michael Kors, Anna Sui, Rick Owens, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Tommy Hilfiger. More recent inductees reflect the evolving landscape of American design, with names such as Willy Chavarria, Christopher John Rogers, Catherine Holstein, Daniel Roseberry, Rachel Scott, and Henry Zankov joining the ranks.
“The 2026 New Members are noteworthy for their commitment to creative excellence and the industry recognition they have achieved to date. We are eager to welcome this dynamic and laudable group of designers.” – said Lisa Smilor, Executive Vice President of the CFDA.
Creative Excellence as the Defining Criterion
“As a membership organization, the Council is focused on increased Member engagement and overall community amongst peers,” said Lisa Smilor, Executive Vice President of the CFDA. “The 2026 New Members are noteworthy for their commitment to creative excellence and the industry recognition they have achieved to date. We are eager to welcome this dynamic and laudable group of designers.”
The CFDA’s admissions process maintains rigorous standards. Candidates must demonstrate recognized ability, standing, and integrity while actively designing, producing, and selling collections of exemplary creativity and quality. Applications undergo annual review by a specially appointed admissions committee, which presents recommendations to the Board of Directors for ratification. Final election requires a majority vote from the existing membership.
Andre Walker is a London-born, New York-raised designer who has shaped American fashion for over four decades while operating entirely outside its conventions. Entirely self-taught, Walker began sketching at seven and was selling designs stocked by Patricia Field by fifteen. By eighteen, The New York Times had profiled him as downtown New York’s boy wonder. Known for his freehand fabric cutting technique, working from pure imagination rather than patterns, Walker has produced fewer than a thousand garments throughout his career, embracing what he calls “underproduction.” His collaborations with Pendleton, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Virgil Abloh, and Kim Jones have cemented his reputation as a designer’s designer. Walker received the Isabel Toledo Board of Directors’ Tribute at the 2025 CFDA Fashion Awards.
Aisling Camps is a Trinidadian-born, Brooklyn-based designer who pivoted from mechanical engineering to fashion, holding degrees from Columbia University and the Fashion Institute of Technology. She founded her eponymous knitwear label in 2013, specializing in superior-quality knits crafted from her Dumbo studio. Camps sources high-quality yarns and produces small-batch collections that balance technical precision with feminine elegance. Her engineering background informs her meticulous approach to construction and fit, resulting in pieces that celebrate the female form through innovative textures and silhouettes. Her tenacity in building an independent brand has earned her recognition as a distinctive voice in American knitwear.
Daniella Kallmeyer is a South African-born, New York-based designer who founded KALLMEYER in 2011 after studying at Syracuse University and the London College of Fashion, where she also worked at Alexander McQueen. Her label has become synonymous with elevated wardrobe staples, specializing in refined tailoring and suiting that balances power with comfort. Kallmeyer designs for real women navigating the workplace, creating pieces that are both sophisticated and wearable. Her meticulous approach to construction and fit has earned her a devoted following among discerning clients seeking investment-worthy essentials, establishing KALLMEYER as one of New York’s most respected independent womenswear brands.
Ashlynn Park is a Seoul-born, New York-based designer who founded ASHLYN in 2020 after more than a decade working at the world’s most influential fashion houses. She trained at Japan’s Bunka Fashion College before beginning her career with Yohji Yamamoto, later serving as a patternmaker for Alexander Wang, Raf Simons, and Calvin Klein. Park’s technical mastery informs her label’s architectural approach to womenswear, with the peplum emerging as a signature element. Her quietly romantic designs balance minimalist sophistication with structural precision, earning her recognition among fashion’s elite as one of New York’s most compelling emerging talents.
Fletcher Kasell and Tanner Richie are the design duo behind TANNER FLETCHER, a New York-based genderless brand founded during the pandemic. Kasell brings a background in fashion merchandising and buying, while Richie’s expertise lies in interior design. Together, they create ready-to-wear and vintage home collections that blur the boundaries between masculinity and femininity, applying a modern lens to past eras. The label champions label-free dressing, rejecting traditional gender categories in favor of personal style and freedom. Their maximalist, romantically-charged aesthetic has earned them recognition as one of American fashion’s most distinctive emerging voices.
Kim Shui is a Chinese-American designer born in the United States and raised in Rome, Italy, who founded her eponymous label in New York in 2016. A Duke University economics graduate, she pivoted to fashion after working in finance, studying at Parsons and training under Prabal Gurung. Her multicultural upbringing informs collections that celebrate confidence, sensuality, and an expansive vision of the American woman. Shui’s daring designs have attracted a celebrity following including Blackpink, Dua Lipa, and Cardi B. She was named to TIME’s Next Generation Leaders and Forbes’ Under 30 list, cementing her status as one of fashion’s most dynamic emerging voices.
Jackson Wiederhoeft is a Texas-born, New York-based designer who founded WIEDERHOEFT in 2019 after studying fashion at Parsons, where they won Women’s Designer of the Year for their thesis collection. Before launching their label, Wiederhoeft spent several years designing for Thom Browne’s women’s runway collections. Their theatrical, romantically-charged designs blend fantasy with craftsmanship, drawing on storytelling and whimsy to create pieces that unleash the wearer’s inner drama. Though known for ready-to-wear, Wiederhoeft has redefined bridal expectations with collections that reject convention in favor of emotion and spectacle. The label was named a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist.
Melitta Baumeister is a German-born, New York-based designer who founded her eponymous label in 2013 after earning an MFA in Fashion Design from Parsons. Her work is defined by sculptural silhouettes, innovative materials, and unconventional shapes that negotiate fabric into unexpected forms. Baumeister’s approach treats garments as wearable sculpture, drawing the sublime from the mundane through exaggerated proportions and material experimentation. Her contributions to American fashion were recognized with the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2025, solidifying her position as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary design.
Profiles in Contemporary American Design
The 2026 class showcases the breadth of American fashion’s current creative output. Melitta Baumeister has built a reputation for sculptural, avant-garde silhouettes that challenge conventional garment construction. Aisling Camps brings a refined approach to contemporary womenswear, while Daniella Kallmeyer’s KALLMEYER label has become synonymous with elevated minimalism and thoughtful tailoring.
The design duo Fletcher Kasell and Tanner Richie have garnered attention through TANNER FLETCHER‘s maximalist, gender-fluid collections that blend vintage references with contemporary sensibilities. Ashlynn Park’s ASHLYN label continues to push boundaries with its architectural approach to design.
Stephanie Suberville‘s HEIRLOME has carved a distinctive niche in bridal and occasion wear, emphasizing heirloom-quality craftsmanship. Kim Shui has established herself as a force in contemporary womenswear with designs that balance sensuality and strength. Andre Walker, a designer’s designer known for his intellectual approach to fashion, brings decades of industry respect to the new member class. Jackson Wiederhoeft rounds out the group with WIEDERHOEFT‘s theatrical, romantically-charged designs that have redefined bridal and eveningwear expectations.
The induction of these ten designers signals the CFDA’s continued commitment to recognizing both commercial viability and artistic ambition within American fashion.
