At Coach, Stuart Vevers continued his courtship of the next gen, somewhat puzzlingly using a sterile suburban street for a runway set, complete with kids riding bikes and a woman walking a very chic Afghan Hound.
The thought, he said during a preview, was for people to be able to project their own memories onto the Coach world.
What the set lacked in specificity the collection made up for in its fairly narrow vision of ’90s style, with a lot of Kurt and Courtney, from skate rats in distressed shearling coats, graphic Ts and long shorts to grunge girls in floral, bow-bedecked baby-doll dresses and Mary Janes.
The strength of the collection was outerwear, oversized shearling coats in particular, which carried forward the brand’s intent to be more sustainable. They were made from vintage coats upcycled and reconstructed to create patchwork and other tactile effects, or cut into wrap skirts and ponchos.
“We’ve seen a lot from these initiatives; after we try them, we can take do them at a bigger scale,” Vevers said of how Coach’s (Re)Loved bag project that started on the runway led to the creation of an apprentice program to bring in new talent to expand the initiative.
Other shearlings were enlivened with colorful plaid surface treatments, or tagged with graffiti.
In his exploration of leather, Vevers also had a fetish moment, following the spring collaboration with the Eagle Bar — shirtless models in turn-lock black leather vests, pants, whistle chokers or arm bands with keys.
Most of the bags played off of the brand’s heritage, including a kiss lock skinny tote, and a new hand-held box bag. There were also graffiti bags galore.
This is not your mother’s Coach, but clearly it wants to be America’s leather house where the next-gen might go for a coat, a vest or a great pair of leather pants.