Emily Dawn Long Introduces 'Southern Cleavage' for Spring 2027

For her New York Fashion Week debut this weekend, Emily Dawn Long summoned her community of cool downtown acolytes to Bridges, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chinatown, where guests escaped the heat with refreshing glasses of lemonade, branded boxes of popcorn and an enthralling movie (well, short film): “The Crack of Dawn.”

“It’s fun to do something during September Fashion Week. I do men’s and women’s wear, so it’s a good opportunity to get my community around to celebrate,” Long told Fashionista. “And then I’m a big movie buff, so I just wanted to make something that’s a part of my world and bring it into everyone else’s view.”

Directed by Mayan Toledano and written by Paige Elkington, the “offbeat, present-day heist” stars Meadow Walker, Sydney Lemmon (Love Story, The Drama), Terrence O’Connor, Nico Geiger, Delar Gaston and Luca Apple as models and “unqualified theves,” per Long — all wearing Long’s Spring 2027 collection as they navigate theft and downtown New York in style.

Emily Dawn Long Spring 2027. Photo: Courtesy of Emily Dawn Long

“It was really fun to work on because while I was building the collection, I was simultaneously character building,” she said. “It was like costume design meets character building.”

The film’s punny title nods not only to Long’s name, but also to a prominent design detail within the collection: very, very low-cut backs highlighting what the designer cleverly calls “southern cleavage”: “EDL, a Georgia native, reroutes cleavage south, the cut falling not at the chest but along the hip and lower back, a reveal relocated rather than removed,” read the show notes.

As Long has build a name for herself over the last couple of years — she opened an appointment-only showroom/studio space on Chrystie St. in 2025 — it was without a NYFW presence or adherence to the fashion calendar. She releases her viral screen-printed vintage T-shirts, playful accessories, punchy cocktail dresses, men’s trousers and everything in between whenever they’re ready to be sold. Now, she is a finalist for the 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which typically requires some sort of September event previewing a “traditional” collection. For Emily Dawn Long, that means about 12 looks where pieces range from a vintage-looking graphic tee to a metallic “crack”-baring gown.

According to Long, the brand itself hasn’t changed based on any new attention from the industry establishment, but it’s clearly grown.

“I think this is just a testament to my community and what I’ve built and just that it’s getting a little bit bigger. But everyone that helped me make this and everyone that was in the film is a friend and a homie and I’m still making clothes for them,” she said. “For example, Sydney Lemmon, who’s in the film, [her] dress could be for the Oscars or the Emmys, but then everyone else here is wearing a hat. You know what I mean?”

Two things are definitively new for the brand for Spring 2027: prints and a shoe. But beyond new categories, Emily Dawn Long is also gaining visibility in new markets.

“The brand is rooted and based in New York, but I don’t think it stops there. I sell to L.A., Japan, Australia and London every single day, multiple times a day. So it’s getting out there,” she shared. Speaking of L.A., she’s currently working with the owner of Kansas City boutique Mergers on a new retail concept set to open in October. “It’s funny, people think that I’m an L.A. brand when they see it visually,” she noted. “The girls in L.A. are very excited for us to get over there.”

As a girl (usually) in L.A., I can’t disagree. See every look from Emily Dawn Long’s Spring 2027 collection below.