Public School Designers Dao-Yi Chow and and Maxwell Osborne Turn Mentors for an Emerging Designer Showcase

A decade ago, Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne were the new guys on the block, presenting their streetwise, born-in-New York City collection on the runway for the first time at Milk Studios’s MADE showcase. Fast forward to 2022, and the duo are mentoring a new class of emerging labels. It’s a pay-it-forward arrangement sponsored by MADE and PayPal—a chance, says Chow, “to share our experience and help shape how they look at their own path and what they’re capable of doing.”

The emerging labels in question—K.ngsly, When Smoke Clears, and Bed on Water—are all Black-owned New York-based businesses. The early scouting process was a collaborative effort between Public School, IMG, and PayPal, which made a $535 million commitment to address income inequality and drive transformative change at the beginning of the pandemic. But Chao and Osborne made the final selection.

As challenging as the pandemic has proven for some established companies, it also seems to have accelerated the emergence of a new generation in fashion. Outside the New York shows last September, there were scores of young people eager to be seen and dressed to guarantee it. By February, that trend had trickled up to the runways. Here at Vogue Runway, we added eight NYFW newbies to our review roster, but nothing signifies the shift taking place more than the calendar’s headliners: the week’s opener and closer were Shayne Oliver and Telfar Clemens.

“When we came up it still was kind of like the old model of the industry where they didn’t really let in a lot of people. It wasn’t very inclusive and it wasn’t embracing diversity and different aesthetics,” said Chow. “I think we helped to put a crack in that wall. And now I think it’s 180 degrees: If you’re not inclusive, if you’re not thinking that way, then you’re almost not invited to sit at the table.” He and Osborne will work with the three labels in the lead-up to a fashion show featuring their full collections.

The Public School duo have been keeping busy with solo projects. Chow is the creative director of the new lifestyle and performance brand launched in January by Tom Brady. (He laughs and says that Brady’s return to the NFL after a briefer than brief retirement of 40 days will be “good for business.”) And last year Osborne founded the sustainable label AnOnlyChild where he only uses deadstock materials to craft pieces inspired by his family’s hometown in Jamaica, hand-me-downs, and ’70s photography. 

The MADE festival, which will take place over two days in late June, will include the first Public School runway show since 2017. It’s a 10-year anniversary of a sort, but it’s not about looking back. Rather it’s about looking forward. Part of the show will feature the work of another group of designers who will upcycle deastock Public School fabrics to fashion new garments. “Understanding the new generation marketplace,” is the point for Osborne. “We’re part of the old guard,” he said. “I think it’s great to hear and feel the energy from what they’re doing.”

The two-day event will take place in Brooklyn on June 24 and 25.