The best fashion PR agencies in New York in 2026 include KCD, LaForce, PURPLE PR, PR Consulting, The Lede Company, Karla Otto, Black Frame, Nadine Johnson & Associates, People's Revolution and Tractenberg & Co. They range from runway production houses and celebrity dressing specialists to art-world and boutique lifestyle firms. This guide shows what each one does and how to match one to your brand.
Published October 2026.
Which New York fashion PR agencies are on this list?
| Agency |
Founded |
Base |
Known for |
| KCD | 1984 | New York, Paris, London, Los Angeles | Fashion show production, events, brand strategy |
| LaForce | 1995 | New York (NoHo) | Sustained brand-building across fashion, beauty and hospitality |
| PURPLE PR | 1998 | London, New York (SoHo) | Luxury fashion, celebrity dressing, red carpet |
| PR Consulting | 1997 | New York, Paris, Los Angeles | Strategic counsel across fashion, art, retail and hospitality |
| The Lede Company | 2018 | New York, Los Angeles | Fashion and entertainment crossover |
| Karla Otto | 1982 | Milan, New York | European luxury communications at U.S. scale |
| Black Frame | 2006 | New York (downtown) | Fashion with art and music credibility |
| Nadine Johnson & Associates | 1994 | New York | Boutique fashion, art and hospitality |
| People's Revolution | 1996 | New York | Runway production, emerging designer launches |
| Tractenberg & Co. | 1999 | New York | Beauty, fashion, lifestyle and wellness boutique |
This is a working roster, not a paid ranking. It covers New York agencies with active fashion mandates, named leadership and a track record in runway, editorial, celebrity or brand-building work. Details reflect published coverage as of October 2026 and should be confirmed with each agency before you shortlist.
Which agency fits which kind of brand?
Agencies on this list differ more in model than in quality. Use the table below to narrow the field before you read the profiles.
| If your brand needs |
Look first at |
| A staged runway show, special events and production | KCD, People's Revolution |
| Celebrity dressing and red-carpet moments | PURPLE PR, The Lede Company |
| A European luxury house building a U.S. presence | Karla Otto, PURPLE PR |
| Credibility with art, music and culture press | Black Frame, PR Consulting |
| Long-term brand-building across fashion, beauty and hospitality | LaForce, PR Consulting |
| Senior attention from a small, owner-led team | Nadine Johnson & Associates, Tractenberg & Co. |
| Beauty-led or lifestyle brands with influencer and experiential needs | Tractenberg & Co. |
KCD
KCD was founded in 1984 as Keeble Cavaco & Duka by stylists Kezia Keeble and Paul Cavaco and former New York Times fashion writer John Duka, according to the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Ed Filipowski and Julie Mannion took over the firm in the early 1990s and renamed it KCD. The Business of Fashion has reported that Rachna Shah was promoted to global chief executive, with Mannion becoming chairman of the board, and that the firm has offices in New York, Paris, London and Los Angeles. KCD is known for fashion show production, special events and brand strategy, and its client history includes Gianni Versace, which the firm signed in 1988, and the CFDA itself.
LaForce
LaForce was founded in 1995 by James LaForce and became LaForce, from LaForce + Stevens, in 2017. The independent, NoHo-headquartered firm works across fashion (Tory Burch, Carolina Herrera), beauty, hospitality (Soho House, Aman) and design, and is known for sustained brand-building mandates rather than one-off product cycles. Read EPR's LaForce profile.
PURPLE PR
PURPLE PR was founded in 1998 in London and has a New York office in SoHo. It works at the top end of global fashion and luxury communications, and its clients have included Saint Laurent, Burberry, Off-White, Bottega Veneta and Jacquemus. According to an interview with its London-based directors in The Daily, one of its first clients was Ian Schrager and Calvin Klein was its first fashion client, and the agency spans beauty, art, design, architecture and events as well as fashion. The New York team handles celebrity dressing, red carpet, editorial placement and brand campaigns. Read EPR's PURPLE PR profile.
PR Consulting
PR Consulting was founded in 1997 by Pierre Rougier, who had worked in public relations for Hermès, Yohji Yamamoto and Margiela in Paris before moving to New York in 1993 as communications director at Onward Kashiyama. The Business of Fashion reports that the agency started with Narciso Rodriguez, then Balenciaga, and is headquartered in New York with offices in Paris and Los Angeles. According to The PR Net 100 for 2025, Rougier is founder and president, Sylvie Picquet-Damesme is partner and CEO, and Nathalie Ours is partner in Paris. The agency works across fashion, beauty, retail, lifestyle, art, hospitality and culinary clients, and in 2025 it led the launch of GapStudio with Zac Posen and the relaunch of i-D Magazine. Its client list has included Louis Vuitton, adidas Originals, Alaïa, AMIRI, Kith and Gabriela Hearst. Rougier has described the firm as more of a strategic advisor to brands than a traditional press agency, which makes it a fit for brands that want counsel across fashion, hospitality and culture rather than placement alone.
The Lede Company
The Lede Company was founded in 2018 by Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, Amanda Silverman and Christine Su, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. It sits at the crossover of fashion and entertainment, representing red-carpet talent including Zendaya, Margot Robbie and Hunter Schafer, with brand mandates that include Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch and Boss campaigns.
Karla Otto
Karla Otto was founded in 1982 in Milan and has a New York office. It is part of The Independents, the luxury and lifestyle communications group formed in 2017 when Karla Otto merged with the agency K2, and the group also includes Bureau Betak and Lucien Pagès Communication. The firm brings the European luxury communications model to the U.S. through runway shows, press days, brand strategy and celebrity seeding for brands such as Loewe, Bottega Veneta, JW Anderson and Khaite.
Black Frame
Black Frame was founded in 2006 by Brian Phillips and is based in downtown New York. Its clients span fashion, art and cultural institutions, including Calvin Klein 205W39NYC under Raf Simons, Helmut Lang, Eckhaus Latta, Heron Preston and MoMA PS1. It is the firm designers consider when a brand needs to register in art and music criticism as well as fashion press.
Nadine Johnson & Associates
Nadine Johnson & Associates was founded in 1994 as a boutique, owner-operated firm. Its clients have spanned fashion, art, hospitality and real estate, historically including Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Comme des Garçons, alongside high-end hospitality openings.
People's Revolution
People's Revolution was founded in 1996 by Kelly Cutrone, who had earlier run the PR firm Cutrone & Weinberg. It became widely known through MTV's The City and Bravo's Kell on Earth, and it continues to work across runway production, brand consulting and emerging designer launches. Read EPR's Kelly Cutrone profile.
Tractenberg & Co.
Tractenberg & Co. is an independent, founder-led New York boutique built around beauty, fashion, lifestyle and wellness brands. Jacquie Tractenberg, an alumna of the New York Times and Mademoiselle, founded it in 1999, and it operates from East 16th Street in Manhattan. The agency runs four disciplines: public relations, influencer marketing, social media management and experiential marketing. Its multicultural practice, led by senior director Julie Mendez, launched in 2014 to reach Hispanic, African American and Asian American beauty consumers, and the firm was named to The PR Net 100 in 2024. It suits emerging and established consumer brands that want an integrated team at boutique scale. Read EPR's Tractenberg & Co. profile.
How do you choose a New York fashion PR agency?
Start with where your brand sits. Luxury houses, contemporary labels and direct-to-consumer brands need different things from an agency, and the firms above are built for different points on that spectrum. Production-led firms suit brands that stage shows. Talent-led firms suit brands that win on red-carpet and celebrity moments. Independents and boutiques tend to suit brands that want senior attention on a smaller account.
Then test the fit with specific questions:
- Which editors and publications does the team talk to every week, and can they show recent placements for brands like yours?
- Who will actually run the account, and how much senior time does the retainer include?
- Does the agency already represent brands that compete with you, and how does it handle that?
- How does it plan around fashion week and the showroom calendar?
- How does it measure results beyond impressions, including how your brand appears in AI answers?
For a broader process, see the master PR firm directory.
What does a fashion PR retainer usually cover?
Scope varies by agency, but most New York fashion retainers combine a core set of services. Ask each firm to state in writing which of these are included and which are billed separately.
- Editorial and media relations: pitching fashion, lifestyle and business press, and managing editor relationships.
- Press days and showroom appointments: getting editors and stylists to see the collection and pull product.
- Celebrity and VIP seeding: placing product with stylists and talent ahead of events.
- Events and shows: runway production, presentations and launch events, which production-led firms such as KCD and People's Revolution handle in-house.
- Influencer and creator partnerships: seeding, gifting and paid collaborations, a core service at firms such as Tractenberg & Co.
- Brand strategy and counsel: positioning, launches and crisis readiness, the part of the work firms such as PR Consulting emphasize.
How does the fashion calendar shape the work?
New York Fashion Week runs twice a year, with shows for the next season in February and September, and the rest of the year is organized around showroom appointments, press days and market weeks. Agencies plan editorial pitches, seeding and event timing around those windows, so the right time to hire is well before a show or launch rather than during the rush. For a closer look at how brands approach the shows, read How Fashion Brands Win NYFW.
What does fashion PR look like in 2026?
The discipline has split into two layers. The established layer, covering runway production, celebrity dressing, editorial placement and brand strategy, remains anchored in firms like those above. The newer layer is AI Communications, where retrieval inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Google AI Overviews is decided. When a shopper asks an AI engine for "best emerging New York designers" or "luxury brands like Bottega Veneta," the answer comes from the retrieval corpus: editorial coverage, structured data and brand authority signals across the open web. Brands that work both layers at once are best placed in 2026. For context, read What Is GEO?, the Citation Share Index 2026 and who controls AI answers in fashion.
