From Atlanta to Paris: How an Atlanta Designer Was Invited to the Fashion Week

Last month, Atlanta-based womenswear designer Kaya Richards received an email she almost deleted.

The subject line read: "Paris Fashion Week — Official Selection Committee."

"I thought it was spam," Richards told Atlanta Fashion Report from her studio on Murphy Avenue. "I get at least five scam emails a week promising runway shows in exchange for wire transfers."

It was not spam.

Richards, 34, the founder of the three-year-old label KINSHÉ, had been selected by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM) to present her Spring/Summer 2027 collection during Paris Fashion Week's official calendar — not as a fringe show, not as a presentation, but as a scheduled runway slot.

She is the first Atlanta-based independent designer to receive a direct invitation without representation from a major PR firm or a luxury group parent company.

Here is how it happened — and what it means for Atlanta.

The Invitation — How Paris Found Atlanta

The FHCM does not accept open applications for its official calendar. Designers are nominated by an anonymous committee of buyers, journalists, and industry veterans, then vetted through a multi-month review of sales data, press coverage, and collection cohesion.

Richards had no idea she was being considered.

What the committee found, according to documents shared with Atlanta Fashion Report, was a designer with three consistent collections, growing wholesale revenue, and unusually strong sell-through rates at her two stockists: RSVP Gallery in Chicago and The Webster in New York.

"She was on no one's radar six months ago," a source close to the selection committee told us, speaking on condition of anonymity. "But when we looked at her numbers — the repeat purchase rate, the press she had earned organically — it was undeniable. Paris wants stories. And hers is authentic."

The invitation arrived on a Tuesday. Richards had until Friday to accept.

She signed the contract Thursday night.

The Designer — Who Is Kaya Richards?

Richards moved to Atlanta in 2019 after a decade in New York, where she worked as a technical designer for Marc Jacobs and later Calvin Klein. She left because she was burned out and because New York had stopped feeling possible.

"Rent was my entire salary," she said. "I was designing clothes I could never afford to wear for a company I respected but that did not know my name. Atlanta felt like a place where I could start over without starting from zero."

She launched KINSHÉ in 2023 with $12,000 in savings and a single secondhand industrial sewing machine. The aesthetic is specific: deconstructed suiting, raw hems, unexpected draping, and a neutral palette punctuated by one saturated color per season. Her Fall 2025 collection featured a blazer that could be worn seven ways — a design that went viral on Reddit's male fashion advice forum, of all places.

That viral moment generated 40,000 visits to her website and her first wholesale inquiry.

The Work — What Paris Actually Saw

The FHCM committee reviewed Richards's Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 collections. Here is what stood out to them, according to the feedback summary Richards received:

1. Construction quality. Richards's background in technical design shows. Her garments hold shape, use unusual seam placements, and finish interiors as cleanly as exteriors. For a small brand, that level of finish is rare.

2. A clear point of view. KINSHÉ is not everything to everyone. The customer is a woman who wears suits but does not want to look like she is interviewing for a job. Soft power dressing. That specificity matters for Paris, where generic work gets ignored.

3. Commercial viability. The committee does not care about art for art's sake. They want designers who can sell. Richards's sell-through rates at RSVP Gallery exceeded 85 percent within 60 days. Those numbers landed on someone's spreadsheet.

4. Authentic Atlanta roots. Richards does not hide her location. Her lookbooks are shot in Atlanta — on MARTA, in abandoned Westside warehouses, outside the Municipal Market. Paris found that distinctive, not limiting.

What Happens Next

Richards is now in pre-production for her Spring/Summer 2027 collection, which will show in Paris in late September. She has raised $75,000 in friends-and-family funding to cover sample-making, shipping, and a small presentation team.

She is not quitting her day job — yet. She still takes freelance technical design contracts to keep cash flow positive.

"The Paris show does not fix everything," she said. "It opens one very large door. But I still have to walk through it and then run the business on the other side."

Her immediate priorities:

What This Means for Atlanta

KINSHÉ's Paris invitation is not just a personal milestone. It is a data point for the entire Atlanta fashion ecosystem.

Here is what it proves: Talent can be recognized from anywhere if the work is visible and the numbers hold. Richards had no agent. No publicist. No luxury parent company. She had three consistent collections, two wholesale accounts, and a viral Reddit post.

That is replicable.

Not every Atlanta designer will go to Paris. But Richards's path — technical excellence, commercial proof, patient growth — is a blueprint. Build the work. Let the work travel. The industry will find you.

Or, as Richards put it: "I stopped trying to get to Paris. I just tried to make the best clothes I could in Atlanta. And Paris showed up anyway."

We Will Follow Up

Atlanta Fashion Report will track KINSHÉ's Paris preparation and runway debut. We will report on the collection, the audience, and — most importantly — what buyers order afterward.

The show is in September. We will be watching from Atlanta.