Seeking Approval #06: Journalism, Public Relations and NYCxDesign 2025 Recap

In this recap of NYCxDesign 2025, I share the good, bad and ugly truths of attending PR events in New York.

Here, I attend an NYCxDesign 2025 event at Blu Dot in New York. Full look description below.

The PR/journalist relationship is a complicated one. As journalists, we tend to pride ourselves on operating with a high level of journalistic integrity, meaning our focus is purely on reporting facts with as little influence from our personal feelings as possible. A similar sentiment exists in my new job in criminal justice, where we remain as objective as possible when making court appearances to discuss the progress of the youth we serve.

Back in the days when I was organizing schedules for New York Fashion Week, I had a writer tell me he was considering not attending any events. I couldn’t imagine why, seeing as attending glitzy events put together by various PR firms seemed like one of the perks of being a journalist. Now, a few years later, I am beginning to understand where his mind might have been.

I was recently invited to attend a series of NYCxDesign 2025 events by London PR firm Alpha—Kilo. The featured events and brands felt aligned with the direction of this newsletter and the career interests of some of the people I work with, so I decided to attend as many as possible.

This morning I finally reviewed the press materials from the Bisazza event I attended at NYCxDesign 2025.

First up was an iF Design Trend Report 2025 panel discussion, where speakers talked about topics including design equity, sustainability and AI’s role in the future of design. The event took place at NeueHouse Madison Square, which reflected the luxurious, design-themed night.

Above, photos taken at the iF Design event hosted at NeueHouse Madison Square. I wore a LouLou Studio blazer, Uniqlo T-shirt, Scanlan Theodore trousers (similar), belt (similar) and boots (similar), Goldstories necklace, Gucci bag and Able accessories.

The panel event was no doubt the highlight of the entire week:

Above, NeueHouse hosts an iF Design Trend Report 2025 panel discussion. Speakers from left to right: Moderator Lisa Gralnek and panelists Ashley Evangelista, Hlynur Atlason, Kai-Uwe Bergmann and Annabelle Schneider.

Later on, I went to Blu Dot where Dudd Haus celebrated the 20th anniversary of their Strut table with a DUDDxDOT exhibition. While the space was incredibly interesting, I felt distracted by the PRs whose excitement was enough to indicate something was off. They gave me the spiel about the purpose of the event, and brought me over to meet the designers. “This is Kyoko Harris. She’s a journalist from The Wall Street Journal.”

There it was. No wonder they were so thrilled by my presence.

I tried to focus on the design pieces, the Blu Dot space and getting to know the designers, but there was an underlying element of discomfort throughout the entire preview. As soon as I cleared up that I was no longer representing WSJ I saw faces fall and interest dim.

Blu Dot partnered with Dudd Haus to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Strut table. Here, photos from the DUDDxDOT press preview.

“So do you write for different publications?” asked one designer. I told him I wrote a newsletter. “Ohhh you’re a Substacker,” he said with mild playfulness and a neutral expression. “No haha, not on Substack. I write for my website.” The more I spoke the less interested he seemed. It’s easy to think I was just projecting my insecurity onto the situation, and I should have kept the conversation going to create interest. However, I’ve learned that this kind of experience is much bigger than I am.

I continued photographing the space in a Uniqlo x Ines de la Fressange sweater, Wilfred (via Aritzia) trousers, Alterre shoes, Gucci bag, Able accessories, Goldstories necklace plus socks I bought in Japan last year. No matter how beautiful Blu Dot was, the space felt lonely after the mix up, which distracted me from learning about Dudd Haus’s designs.

I headed to the next press preview with a bad taste in my mouth. The most genuine interactions I’d had at DUDDxDOT were with the servers. I thought about how when I was at WSJ, over two years ago, I didn’t even cover design. I thought about how the invitations I received from Alpha—Kilo probably would have gone ignored or declined had I still worked there. I thought about how they screwed up an opportunity to form an authentic connection with a journalist who had relationships that could benefit them. More than anything, I thought about how I wasn’t thinking about the design pieces I had been there to see.

Immediately after, I went to see the opening of Italian brand Bisazza’s new showroom in NoMad:

Here, views of mosaic designs at the new Bisazza showroom in NoMad.

I was happy to see the PR person who I had spoken to at a few other events throughout the week. When she introduced me to someone as “a journalist from The Wall Street Journal” I cleared things up. She said bluntly, “Oh—That’s a good thing to know,” and zoned out for a moment, making mental adjustments in front of the Bisazza communication director and me. I started to regret coming. She continued talking me through the space, but seemed to be going through the motions as it sunk in they wouldn’t be able to check WSJ off their list of attendees. I couldn’t leave quickly enough.

I saw a cluster of bags at the entrance and asked another PR what they were. “Oh, I think those are press materials. I’m sure you can have one.”

I took the bag but found myself feeling shitty every time I glanced at it from then on. It was a week before I read the materials inside.

NYCxDesign 2025 cast my mind back to the colleague who thought about skipping all of New York Fashion Week one season. Sometimes attending brand events feels like a distraction from the work. While we’re trained to be objective in our writing, these events are often designed to make us feel important and exclusive, so when we see a brand’s logo we smile and want to cover them. Unfortunately, often the end result is that journalists feel used. Worse, we end up associating certain brands with “fake” people and experiences, not because the brands aren’t doing notable work, but because the people representing them weren’t genuine in our interactions.

~

With that, thank you so much for being here. The PR/journalist relationship has a long way to go, and it feels like some of my purpose in writing All-Year Season is to lift the veil on the realities of operating in this industry, especially as an independent writer. Hopefully, over time, we can chip away at the structures that lead to embarrassing situations that ultimately obscure what the brands have to offer.

Yours Truly,

Kyoko

I am not compensated for the features listed in All-Year Season. My sincerest thank you to Alterre, Goldstories and Uniqlo for supporting the creation of this post.