More than 120 custom-designed flags now fly on the flagpoles around The Rink at Rockefeller Center, each one reimagined by a fashion designer to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The installation, called "America250: United Flags of Fashion," was celebrated on a Monday night and runs through 4 September. WWD

The project brought together the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the US fashion industry's trade body; Vogue; Rockefeller Center; and America250, a national nonpartisan organisation coordinating the country's semiquincentennial. America250 chair Rosie Rios contacted CFDA president and CEO Steven Kolb to propose a fashion collaboration. Kolb told WWD that the original idea was to create quilts, but Anna Wintour, Vogue's global editorial director, suggested flags instead.

Designers were each given one of the 50 state flags, five territory flags, or the Washington, D.C. flag to reinterpret. The roster of more than 20 participating brands reads like a cross-section of American fashion: Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Thom Browne, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Coach, Gap Inc., Bode, Christopher John Rogers, Gabriela Hearst, Altuzarra, Amiri, Carolina Herrera, Donna Karan, Kenneth Cole, Cynthia Rowley, Cult Gaia, Diotima, Chloe Gosselin, APL, TWP, Willy Chavarria, and Alice + Olivia. WWD

Some designers picked their home turf. Cynthia Rowley chose Illinois — her home state — and filled the flag with personal and state symbols: a penny for Abraham Lincoln, a corn stalk, a violet (the state flower), and a deer for the white-tailed deer, Illinois's state mammal. She framed the whole design with a border made to resemble a silk scarf.

Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia was assigned the Washington, D.C. flag. Her version features cherry blossoms, drawn from an embroidered cherry blossom dress in the brand's spring collection. Kolb told WWD that Washington, D.C. was a good fit for Bendet because she is focused on women and empowerment. WWD

Anna Wintour, model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss, and designer Tory Burch were among those who attended the celebration at The Rink. The CFDA had first announced the exhibition on its website on 22 June and promoted it via Instagram on 26 July. CFDA

What makes the installation worth a walk-through is the sheer range of approaches. One designer treats a flag like a quilt; another treats it like a silk scarf or a piece of ready-to-wear. The result is a row of flagpoles that look less like a government building and more like an outdoor gallery — each banner a single designer's answer to the same brief, hung where half a million people pass through Rockefeller Center every day.

The flags remain on display at The Rink at Rockefeller Center through 4 September 2026.