Two days ago, Piotrek Panszczyk, who co-founded Area with Beckett Fogg in 2014, announced that he was leaving the brand. Now, Fogg, Area’s CEO, announced that Nicholas Aburn, an American designer who was most recently working as Senior Designer at Balenciaga Couture will be Panszczyk’s successor. “New York has always inspired me with its mix of raw energy and glamour,” Aburn said in a press release. “AREA truly embodies this spirit, and I am excited to bring the brand back to its roots.”
Over the last decade Area shows became one of New York Fashion Week’s essential stops. Panszczyk had a flair for the dramatic and experimental that was also grounded in party-ready dresses and embellished denim separates. “It’s been 10 years of huge independence, 10 years of championing creativity, people, inclusivity,” Panszczyk said ahead of the fall 2024 show last September, which would turn to be his last for the brand. “We were looking back at what we did, in a sense, but we would never do a greatest hits collection, so we were thinking about, ‘what is the key thing that really defines us?’” That would be crystal and metal embellishments, graphic prints, body-con dressing, and a belief in freedom of expression—personal and political—above all.
Aburn is originally from Maryland and studied at Central Saint Martins in London, landing a job working with Tom Ford and later at Alexander Wang. He will begin in March and will show his first collection for the label during the spring 2026 season.
This story has been updated.
