There has been an indescribable joy sweeping New York City as of late, thanks to an unprecedented week of athletic endeavors. Over the weekend, the World Cup kicked off its month-long series of games, but more importantly, in a 4-1 nail-biting win, the New York Knicks took home their first NBA Championship in 53 years. Once the final buzzer rang on Saturday night, people young and old flooded the city’s streets in celebration, some proclaiming excitement for a team that they began supporting fewer than two weeks ago, others shedding tears over the lifetime they’ve spent waiting. One such die-hard enthusiast is undoubtedly New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who quickly took to social media over the weekend to announce this morning’s ticker-tape parade as a culmination of the city’s historic victory.

The celebration began near Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan—a mere stone’s throw from the Vogue offices—where Mayor Mamdani cheered on from the team float, ushering the parade up the Canyon of Heroes before culminating with a Key to the City ceremony on City Hall Plaza where he was joined by the First Lady of New York City, Rama Duwaji. In his particular professional sports-fan fashion, Mamdani donned a Josh Hart Jersey under his suit jacket and over his shirt and tie, but it was Duwaji’s upcycled look that channeled the DIY spirit of downtown New York. She wore a cascading upcycled Knicks T-shirt dress by 2026 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Miss Claire Sullivan layered over a black skirt with orange pom-pom earrings to match.

Sullivan is no stranger to scrappy but stylish designs—nor is she new to the Knicks fandom and their indefatigable attitude. (Sullivan brought this exact polished-punk attitude to her time as a co-creative director of the New York underground brand Vaquera). Naturally, Duwaji’s dress came from the spur-of-the-moment energy that mirrored last weekend’s riotous revelry. “My entire family is from New York, but have all since moved away, and everyone was texting me about wanting Knicks shirts,” Sullivan tells Vogue. “I wasn’t able to go to any of the street vendors myself, so my friends helped me source. When I saw how many colors there were, I was inspired to get one in every color and turn them into a dress.”

Real sports fans know that, when it comes to merch, bootleg—perhaps from a stand on the corner of West Broadway and Houston—is best. On Friday morning, Sullivan began draping T-shirts on her own body, and voila, a draped T-shirt dress in signature Miss Claire Sullivan style was ready for the final game. “I love to make a look ‘just for fun’ and see what happens. I feel like that’s when I do my best work,” says Sullivan, who wore the look out herself on Saturday with an asymmetrical tutu underneath, of course.

This morning’s parade is not the first time that Duwaji has supported an independent designer in such public fashion. Her finger is quick on the sartorial pulse—in February Duwaji made her sole New York Fashion Week appearance in the front row of Diotima’s fall 2026 collection, the beloved New York-based label designed by freshly debuted Proenza Schouler creative director Rachel Scott. For Mamdani’s New Year’s Day inauguration ceremony, Duwaji wore a brown fur-trimmed coat from Palestinian-Lebanese label Renaissance Renaissance and Miista lace-up boots. (Conscious dressing has also always been top of mind for important appearances: For the private midnight swearing-in, Duwaji rented a vintage Balenciaga coat from Albright Fashion Library and borrowed wide-legged shorts from The Frankie Shop.)

As a public figure who must consider clothing choices more consciously than, say, a rising pop star or an of-the-moment celebrity, when Duwaji wears a designer’s clothes it makes an impact. “I can’t express how much of an honor it is to dress the First Lady of New York City,” says Sullivan. “I respect Rama so much. She's an incredible artist with so much grace and dignity. I could not be more proud of our city and everyone representing it right now.”

It’s an undeniable fact: To be a part of Duwaji’s New York is to be part of New York’s fashionable scene.