Introduction
Maxwell Osborne is a New York designer and co-founder of Public School New York. Born and raised in the city and closely connected to footwear and retail culture, he attended art school before entering the Sean John design department as an intern. He learned menswear through practice, progressed into a design role and formed a working partnership with Dao-Yi Chow around shared references to New York street life and dress.
Osborne and Chow founded Public School in 2008 as a menswear label that combined precise construction with sportswear and downtown utility. The duo’s CFDA, Fashion Fund and Woolmark recognition supported international growth, a 2014 womenswear launch and a series of Jordan Brand collaborations. Osborne’s role is fully co-authored but is often expressed through an emphasis on fit, attitude, footwear and whether a garment belongs in a real wardrobe.
From 2015 to 2016, Osborne and Chow directed DKNY’s menswear and womenswear collections while maintaining Public School. Following the label’s withdrawal from the regular fashion calendar, they returned together in 2026 with Everything Is Now and a direct-to-consumer model intended to restore control over product, delivery and the scale of the studio.
Design ethos
Osborne approaches design through proportion, wear and physical attitude. Public School’s boxy shoulders, broad trousers, layered outerwear, tailored sweats and footwear collaborations reflect his interest in how formal and athletic clothes meet on the body rather than in fixed market categories. The design remains recognisably New York: protective, adaptable and polished without becoming ceremonial.
His work with Chow is based on continuous exchange rather than divided authorship. Osborne’s attention to fit and wardrobe realism balances the label’s broader narratives, while sneaker culture and product engineering give the collections a practical counterweight to runway staging. The 2026 return sharpened this method through fewer gestures, heavier materials and hybrid garments designed to function beyond the comeback story.
Disclaimer
Career history
2026
Public School resumed full collection activity in February 2026 with a direct-to-consumer structure, relaunched e-commerce and a temporary retail programme at High Line Nine. The founders rebuilt the studio around tighter control of product, production, delivery and the brand’s public narrative.
2017
Public School announced its withdrawal from the New York Fashion Week schedule in December 2017 while planning organisational and direct-to-consumer changes. Full ready-to-wear collections then stopped for seven years, a period the founders describe as a pause rather than a clearly documented legal closure.
2016
In 2016, Public School combined menswear and womenswear into two annual off-calendar runway blocks named Collection 1 and Collection 2. The change aligned design and delivery more closely with menswear and pre-collection schedules while reducing the number of separate seasonal shows.
2016
Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne left DKNY in December 2016 as Donna Karan International moved into new ownership and a different operating structure. Their departure ended a brief tenure that had required simultaneous creative leadership of DKNY and Public School.
2015
Public School began a recurring collaboration with Jordan Brand in 2015, initially translating its monochrome New York wardrobe into the Air Jordan 12. Later AJ12 city editions and the Air Jordan 15 made footwear a durable extension of the label’s design identity.
2015
Public School won the inaugural International Woolmark Prize for Menswear in January 2015. The international award recognised the founders’ material and construction work in wool and strengthened the label’s global menswear profile.
2015
DKNY appointed Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne as co-creative directors on 29 April 2015, with responsibility for both menswear and womenswear. They split their time between DKNY and Public School until the Donna Karan International sale and strategic transition ended the appointment in December 2016.
2014
Public School received the CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year award in June 2014. The prize confirmed the duo’s rapid move from incubated New York label to a leading voice in American menswear.
2014
Public School introduced womenswear during its first runway show on 9 February 2014. The new category retained the menswear collection’s layered tailoring, outerwear and urban utility, establishing a co-ed main line rather than a separate diffusion identity.
2013
Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in November 2013. The award supplied capital and mentorship, accelerating Public School’s business development and the womenswear launch that followed in 2014.
2013
Public School won the CFDA Swarovski Award for Menswear in June 2013. The recognition placed the still-small New York label within the main institutional conversation around American menswear.
2010
Public School was selected as the sole menswear participant in the inaugural CFDA Fashion Incubator in 2010. The development period strengthened the business and supported the founders’ decision to consolidate production in New York City.
2008
Maxwell Osborne has co-directed Public School New York with Dao-Yi Chow since its 2008 foundation. His emphasis on fit, proportion, footwear and wardrobe function remains central to the label’s joint design process and its 2026 reconstruction.
2008
Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne founded Public School New York in 2008 as a menswear label designed and produced in New York. The launch established a joint authorship built around tailored sportswear, layered utility and the idea of a New York uniform.
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