Every guest who walked into Bowery Showroom on 15 September left with a lanyard. Hanging from each one was a key-fob-style NFC tag linked to the OCEAN SAVAGE website, where it unlocked a concealed member discount, along with a custom 3D-printed logo. It was a membership card in all but name, and for founder Ocean Savage, it was the heart of the day.
OCEAN SAVAGE, the label founded in New York in 2024 by British designer Ocean Savage, presented FW26 PONY CLUB during New York Fashion Week by turning the Lower East Side showroom into a one-day showroom, pop-up and afterparty. Powered by Entertainment Technologies, the event welcomed approximately 500 guests. PONY CLUB is the brand’s third collection, and it draws directly on its founder’s childhood in the South of England.
From the ages of seven to thirteen, she attended Cowdray Hunt Pony Club, returning each summer for three days of riding and learning in groups alongside the same community. It was something she counted down to every year.
“The most vivid memory is the anticipation leading up to it,” Savage says. “Waking up on the morning of the first day, loving every second of it and then being so sad when it was over.”
At thirteen, around the time that chapter came to an end, she began sewing. She sees a clear link between the two. “You could say both involve a lot of discipline, attention to detail and learning through doing,” she says.
Horses are familiar territory for the label. Equestrian references ran through the previous collections, HORSEFLY and UNTACKED, and PONY CLUB is the latest instalment in an ongoing horse-focused series. “I also wanted to start building something beyond the clothes, so the community aspect of Pony Club felt particularly relevant,” Savage explains.
That meant resisting the obvious. Savage wanted to translate the feeling and function of equestrian clothing, not recreate riding uniforms. “We focused mostly on proportions and hardware, reinterpreting those elements through the brand’s existing design language,” she says. British equestrian codes meet oversized sportswear, wide trousers, leather, hooded silhouettes and tailoring.
The brown leather top-and-trouser set shows how that translation works. Its leather closely resembles the kind traditionally used in saddlery. “I wanted to take the familiarity of equestrian leather and push it towards something much more contemporary,” Savage says. Elsewhere, a worn leather jacket is interrupted with striping.
The bomber, one of her favourite pieces, pairs a halftone print developed with Abby J Hilton enhanced by crystal embellishment, every crystal placed by hand. It was one of the most time-consuming pieces in the collection. “It actually came about almost entirely by accident, taking a print we’d previously used and pushing it in a completely new direction,” she says.
Then there is the double stripe.
It has become a signature for OCEAN SAVAGE, and its origins are personal. The stripe began with the classic Mini racing stripes on Savage’s car, but it first served to elongate the body, something she has always been conscious of from watching how her mum approaches dressing and proportion. Across PONY CLUB, it moves between tailored jackets, relaxed sportswear and the set itself, sometimes acting as a graphic element and sometimes shaping the garment.
Headwear offers the clearest meeting of the two worlds. A black cap fitted with metal horse-bit hardware takes an object from traditional English riding and turns it into streetwear. First introduced for SS26, it returned for the pop-up and became the day’s bestselling piece, followed by the signature double-stripe bandana. “The cap sort of just happened, but seeing it become the hero piece was really special because I think it perfectly balances the brand’s different aesthetics,” Savage says. “My favourite thing is that everyone who owns one always tells me how many compliments they get on it.”
The room did as much storytelling as the clothes. Black horse sculptures stood throughout the white showroom alongside saddles, bridles and riding equipment, while the double stripe travelled across the floor. Layers of PONY CLUB posters spread across floors, walls and columns until the clean showroom felt like a temporary clubhouse.
“It was so important to create a space that guests felt part of, and what better way to do that than a clubhouse?” Savage says. “The horses were my favourite part. You wouldn’t believe how we made them.”
During the day, guests previewed the unreleased collection and shopped select pieces while GNGR Labs served ginger shots. In the evening, the room became the PONY CLUB afterparty, with sets by SHEKDASH, DIABLO and AMLINSKY, and Tequila Don Ramón behind the bar.
Which brings it back to the lanyards. Each one holds multiple hidden details, available only to those who received one, and Savage handed them out herself. “I wanted everyone who attended to feel like they were actually becoming part of something,” she says. “With many guests not knowing me personally, handing out the lanyards myself was a great way to see their first impressions of the space as they walked in.”
Bringing a collection preview, a shop and a party together in a single day was not simple. “Every event comes with its challenges, particularly when balancing creative ambition with the practical realities of production,” Savage says. Each event, she adds, is a chance to improve on the last.
What she hoped guests would take home had little to do with shopping bags. “I wanted people to feel welcomed into the world of OCEAN SAVAGE, regardless of whether they were already familiar with the brand,” she says. “More than anything, I hope they remember the atmosphere, the people they met and the experience of being there, rather than just the clothes. That’s what I remember most about Pony Club growing up.”
The event marks a wider move for the label towards building a community around the brand, online and in person, with more events planned around future collections. “I’d love to keep exploring new ways of bringing people together through the brand,” she says. “I’m excited to share what the next version of this looks like!”
As a child, Savage counted down the days to Pony Club every summer. With PONY CLUB, she has given a room full of strangers something to belong to, one lanyard at a time.
Credits
Creative Direction: Ocean Savage @oceansavage
Art Direction and Graphics: Abby J Hilton @ajh.graphics
Lookbook Photography: Jon @blackout.panda DwnTwn @meetdwntwn
Development: Thomas Raver @mustachechubbs
Visuals: Jose Peon @josepeoon
Coordination: Ananya Borle @ananyaborle
Assist: @kyo.adam, @seunggyunlee, @11cory25
Powered by: Entertainment Technologies @entertainment_technologies
Sounds: SHEKDASH @shekdash, DIABLO @diablo and AMLINSKY @amlinsky
Event Photography: Mikhail Tkachevskii @tkachevsky_
Pop-up Drinks: GNGR Labs
Afterparty Drinks: Tequila Don Ramón
Venue: Bowery Showroom
