From emerging designers and independent fashion labels to models, beauty artists and photographers, the inaugural Runway 7 Fashion Awards brought together creative talent from across the industry. These are the names that earned the public’s support and the stories behind their work.
When the Public Has Its Say
Fashion recognition often begins long before an awards ceremony. It can grow through a collection presented on a runway, a photograph shared with a wider audience or years of work spent developing an individual creative identity. For the designers, models and artists recognized through the People’s Choice voting at the 2026 Runway 7 Fashion Awards, the public’s support became another part of those journeys.
Held on September 14 at Sony Hall in New York City, the inaugural ceremony brought together professionals working across different areas of fashion. The People’s Choice results reflected that variety, recognizing established creative paths alongside newer names developing their presence in the industry. Some had already taken their work to New York Fashion Week, while others had built their reputations through independent businesses, international presentations and collaborations.
Among those recognized, Paraguayan model Yanina Gómez received the overall People’s Choice Award. Her selection stood alongside the public’s favorites in fashion design, hair and makeup, modeling and media, bringing attention to the many individuals whose work shapes the way fashion is created, presented and remembered.
Designers: Different Paths to the Runway
The designer selections offered one of the broadest views of the People’s Choice results. The names covered womenswear, swimwear, streetwear, ready-to-wear, couture, sustainable design and handmade fashion, reflecting the many directions that contemporary fashion can take.
Marie Maughan, the public’s selection for Best Womenswear Collection, opened that conversation in a category where individual style and the relationship between clothing and its wearer remain central. Womenswear continues to move between practical dressing, personal expression and runway presentation, making it a particularly expansive field. Maughan’s recognition placed her among the designers whose work connected with the voting audience during this first edition.
For KEED & CO, selected for Best Swimwear Collection, the road to New York was part of a wider journey. Founded by Amy Keed, the label has developed a luxury swim and resortwear identity influenced by travel, destination dressing and expressive styling. During 2026, the brand’s presentations extended across several destinations before reaching New York Fashion Week. On September 10, KEED & CO appeared at Sony Hall with swim and statement looks, continuing a creative direction that brings resortwear beyond the familiar image of beach clothing. The brand’s expansion from beauty into a broader fashion and lifestyle business has been an important part of its development.
Streetwear brought a different story through brothers Phillip and Micah Petty, recognized by the public in Best Streetwear Collection. Raised in Ogden, Utah, the brothers grew up surrounded by influences that would later become central to their brand, Soul By Amé. Church fashion, basketball, music and the streetwear they encountered during family trips to the American South all helped shape their visual interests. Since establishing the label in 2020, they have developed an approach that combines streetwear with art, personal memory and cultural references. Their New York Fashion Week presentation in 2025 marked an important step in taking that perspective beyond their home state. For the Pettys, clothing has become a way to connect where they come from with the audiences they are reaching.
A similarly personal philosophy appears in VERVINEUS, the public’s favorite for Best Ready-to-Wear Collection. Founded in 2020 by Whitney Williams, the fashion and beauty brand takes its name from the expression “Verve In Us,” a reference to the confidence and energy the label aims to encourage. What began as a vision centered on women’s self-expression has developed into collections presented on international stages. VERVINEUS appeared at Runway 7 during New York Fashion Week in February 2025 and has also gained exposure through presentations in Milan. Its progress illustrates how a brand’s identity can remain consistent even as its reach expands into new markets.
The audience’s selection of Mamatha Puttaswamy for Best Global Heritage Collection brought another perspective into the designer results. Heritage-inspired fashion occupies an important place in international runway presentations because it creates space for traditional forms, cultural references and contemporary interpretations to exist together. Puttaswamy’s recognition highlighted that dimension of design within a group otherwise spanning modern streetwear, ready-to-wear and couture.
In Best Haute Couture Collection, the public selected Lervin Zambrano, whose name had already appeared in Latin American fashion presentations before reaching New York. Zambrano was among the designers featured at Maracaibo Fashion Week in Venezuela in 2022, and his work later appeared in the Runway 7 New York Fashion Week lineup in September 2025. Those appearances trace a path between regional creative platforms and the international runway, where elaborate fashion design can be seen by an audience beyond its place of origin.
For Argentine designer Monica Casella, the work behind her fashion has a particularly distinctive foundation. Selected by the public for Best Sustainable Fashion, Casella combines her experience in visual art, architecture and textile design through MoCa Sustentable. Rather than depending on conventional fabrics alone, she has developed handmade pieces using recovered materials, including post-industrial plastic beverage labels. Her techniques bring knitting, modular construction and resource reuse into the same creative process. Casella has also been part of Runway 7’s Argentine designer representation at New York Fashion Week, bringing a perspective in which sustainability is not simply a message attached to a collection but a defining part of how the pieces are made.
Another independent voice came through Gaxco, the public’s selection for Emerging Designer of the Year. The label’s work moves between experimental streetwear and more elaborate designer pieces, with denim, leather, unusual finishes and one-of-one creations forming part of its offering. Among its documented projects is a distinctive violet cowhide set developed for New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2025. The combination of unconventional materials and limited-edition designs reflects an interest in clothing that stands apart from mass production. Gaxco’s place among the public’s favorites brought attention to a newer fashion perspective built around individual pieces and a recognizable visual attitude.
The handmade category offered one of the most personal journeys in the group. Kema, the public’s favorite for Best Handmade Fashion, is Karen “Kema” Maxwell, the designer behind Kema’s Kreations. Born in Panama and later raised in New York, Maxwell learned to sew at an early age before developing a business that combines her interest in fashion with woodworking. Based in Albany, she became known for distinctive handmade handbags and accessories, often incorporating artistic treatments and cultural references into their surfaces. Her February 2025 presentation at Runway 7 marked her New York Fashion Week debut. The collection, Nature: Wood and Waterways, required extensive hands-on work, with individual bags taking many hours to complete. Support from the Carl E. Touhey Foundation helped make that runway milestone possible, connecting a long-developed craft with a new opportunity for visibility.
Anna-Lisa Gore, selected for Best Custom Fashion Designer, represented another form of independent fashion practice. Custom design places special importance on the relationship between a creator and the person for whom a garment is made. Unlike a standard ready-to-wear collection, the process can begin with individual measurements, personal references and decisions that are unique to a particular commission. Gore’s inclusion among the audience’s favorites brought this more individualized area of fashion into the People’s Choice spotlight.
The public’s selection for Best Bridal Collection went to Threads of Elegance, a label that appeared during Runway 7’s September 12 New York Fashion Week program at Sony Hall. The brand describes its aesthetic through feminine elegance, Arabic-inspired influences and a modern approach to couture. Those qualities are especially relevant to occasionwear, where the details of a garment often carry personal and cultural meaning. Its appearance at NYFW offered a larger stage for a design language centered on refinement and formal dressing.
Rounding out the designer group was Marianna Sadié, recognized by the public for Best Eveningwear Collection. The designer’s own portfolio emphasizes individually handmade pieces, expressive silhouettes and clothing intended to communicate confidence and individuality. Her collections include Red Essence, which explores dramatic movement and rich red tones, alongside other eveningwear concepts built around different moods and palettes. For Sadié, the individual garment is presented as a form of personal expression, connecting the visual impact of eveningwear with the experience of the person wearing it.
Together, these twelve selections demonstrated that the public’s interest extended well beyond a single aesthetic. The designers approached fashion through different materials, cultural influences, businesses and creative priorities, yet each found a place within the same voting conversation.
Hair & Makeup: The Artists Behind the Image
A runway collection rarely reaches the stage as clothing alone. Hair and makeup help establish how a look is perceived, complementing the designer’s choices while contributing their own creative perspective. The People’s Choice results also recognized professionals working in these areas.
Catalina Kauert was selected for Best Editorial Makeup, a field that approaches beauty as part of a larger visual composition. In editorial fashion, makeup is often developed alongside photography, styling and creative direction. It can draw attention to a face, establish the atmosphere of an image or introduce a detail that changes how the entire look is read. Kauert’s recognition placed that artistic discipline alongside the work of fashion designers and models.
For Hairstylist of the Year, the public selected Licelot Carvajal. Hair is one of the most immediate elements of a fashion presentation, capable of changing a silhouette even before the details of a garment become visible. Whether a look calls for precise styling or a more expressive form, the hairstylist helps connect the clothing with its overall presentation. Carvajal’s inclusion in the People’s Choice results acknowledged this essential part of fashion’s creative process.
Carmen Torres, the public’s choice for Makeup Artist of the Year, completed the beauty selections. Makeup artistry demands a balance between technique and interpretation, especially in fashion settings where lighting, photography and a designer’s vision must all be considered. Torres’s recognition highlighted the role of beauty professionals in creating the finished image audiences see on the runway and beyond it.
Together, these selections brought attention to work that often happens before a model steps into view. Hair and makeup may be seen in the final photograph or runway presentation, but the preparation behind that image is an equally important part of the creative process.
Models: Presence Beyond the Runway
Fashion models do more than present clothing. Their work involves learning how a garment moves, responding to a designer’s direction and adapting their presence to different types of fashion imagery. The public’s model selections recognized two individuals within that field.
Willian Vidotti was selected for Male Model of the Year. The recognition placed him within a profession where adaptability matters across runway presentations, fashion photography and brand campaigns. Modeling can appear effortless from the audience’s perspective, but the ability to give clothing a consistent presence in front of cameras and spectators is a professional skill developed through experience.
The selection for Female Model of the Year went to Yanina Gómez, who also received the overall People’s Choice Award. Her career offers a particularly clear example of how years of preparation can create opportunities beyond a single competition or fashion appearance.
Originally from Paraguay, Gómez had been developing her public profile well before her 2026 recognition. She began competing in national beauty pageants in 2022, returned in 2023 and earned the Miss World Paraguay title. Her subsequent international appearances brought her to larger stages, while her work outside fashion included legal studies, teaching, dance and community projects. In 2025, she became Miss Universe Paraguay, another milestone in a journey marked by persistence and repeated attempts to reach her goals.
New York Fashion Week became part of that progression. Gómez walked for designer Giannina Azar during the September 2025 season, later returning to New York fashion events in 2026. Her visibility in the industry continued to expand, connecting her modeling work with a broader public identity built through international appearances and representation of her home country.
Her People’s Choice recognition carried particular meaning in that context. Gómez had already experienced the importance of audience support throughout her public career, and the Runway 7 Fashion Awards gave that relationship another setting. The overall distinction placed her at the center of the inaugural People’s Choice results while drawing attention to the path that brought her from Paraguay to international fashion platforms.
Media: The People Who Preserve Fashion’s Moments
A runway show is experienced in person for only a short time, but its photographs can circulate long after the collection has left the stage. Through editorial images, portraits and candid moments, photographers help determine how fashion is remembered and discovered by audiences who were not there.
Evin Martinez was selected by the public for Best Fashion Photographer, recognizing a discipline that depends on both technical skill and creative observation. Fashion photography requires an eye for the interaction between clothing, lighting and movement. The resulting image can reveal details that might be overlooked during a live presentation while giving a collection a visual life beyond the runway.
The public’s choice for Best Fashion Moment Captured was Kundan Adhikari, a photographer associated with New York’s creative scene. His public photography profile emphasizes an interest in working with other creatives and fashion-oriented projects. The distinction draws attention to a particularly demanding side of photography: identifying the instant when a gesture, expression or movement turns into a memorable image.
These two selections recognized different aspects of the same visual practice. One focuses on the photographer’s body of work, while the other highlights the significance of a particular captured moment. Both point to photography’s essential place within the fashion industry, where the images made around a collection often become part of its lasting identity.
What the Public’s Choices Reveal
The 2026 People’s Choice results brought together names whose careers and creative paths are not easily compared. A designer producing one-of-one handbags in Albany works within a very different process from a label presenting resortwear across international destinations. The demands of a couture designer differ from those of a runway model, hairstylist or photographer. Yet all contribute to the larger world of fashion.
Some of these stories have developed through years of independent work. Others have moved between regional platforms and New York Fashion Week, or between fashion and related fields such as beauty, visual art and cultural representation. What connected them in this first edition was the opportunity for the public to recognize the work that resonated with them.
At Sony Hall, the People’s Choice distinctions provided another perspective on the people behind fashion: not only the names seen on garments or in photographs, but the creative individuals whose contributions make those images possible.
For Runway 7 Fashion Awards, the inaugural voting results offered a reminder that fashion reaches audiences in many different ways. Sometimes it is through the construction of a garment, sometimes through the expression of a model, and sometimes through a photograph that preserves a fleeting moment. Each of those connections contributed to the public’s choices in 2026.
