“To confuse matters,” Stuart Vevers sheepishly prefaced our conversation about Coach’s new resort collection, “we don’t call this resort, we call it winter.” The reason for the renaming comes from the fact that Vevers puts his customers first and, well, he doesn’t see them as yachting come December, but instead going out to holiday parties, and gathering with friends and family. And so a celebratory streak serves as a through line here, from the tulle skirts and shearling coats to button-ups in candy-colored hues and a confetti-print shift dress with just a hint of sequined sparkle.
Under Vevers’s watchful eye—now going on 13 years—Coach has expanded from a bag line launched 85 years ago into a fully-fledged ready-to-wear collection aimed at Gen Z. Its carefree, mix-and-match look has been a rare success story in enticing young, notoriously finicky shoppers as other luxury players struggle to woo customers to pay ever-higher prices for bags and baubles. Coach, it seems, offers a clear value proposition. Plus, instead of cloistering itself away, the brand is actively reaching out to its audience. To wit: Just yesterday, Vevers and co. launched &Coach, a social media-driven campaign starring youth culture mavens like Charli xcx, Malala Yousafzai, and PinkPantheress. Last week, the brand partnered with the e-commerce vintage site Depop on a pop-up of secondhand bags.
But back to the collection. There’s a decidedly Mod-meets-New Wave feel to the way, say, a cheetah print shearling coat is tossed over a black button-up and red knee-length skirt, and finished off with a white tie, leather beret, and winkle-picker shoes. Likewise, tulle rendered in festive skirts, and camisoles with bows made of men’s necktie material lovingly pressed to look slightly forlorn (or picked from a vintage bin) have a 1980s downtown New York aura.
Where I saw Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, Vevers said that the inspiration was slightly more arcane: the colors were actually lifted from a 1989 German film, Coming Out. He did admit that there’s also a little John Hughes in there, too—nostalgia Americana at its finest. Vevers launched the brand’s ready-to-wear, which means there’s no clothing archive to speak of. This is him imagining what that archive would look like if it existed. He didn’t, however, want anything to feel too literal, but rather like snippets of time periods, inspirations, references, and then jumbled together—much like how most people approach getting dressed.
Other highlights included slouchy knit V-necks, holiday party-ready velour suits (for him) and a loose velvet dress (for her), gently washed leather jackets in trim chore coat silhouettes and with buckle pocket details, upcycled patchwork varsity jackets, and woven shirts printed with souvenir-style graphics. While the brand has an ongoing partnership with Disney, a grinning Felix the Cat is this year’s star, printed on sweatshirts, bags, and a red crewneck sweater, glinting with sequins and trailing unraveling threads. Frame bags—usually a dainty pouch for a debutante’s night out—felt youthful and winking paired with these clothes. “I think there’s a craving for real contact and real discovery and adventure,” Vevers said. “To me, a night out can be an adventure. You don’t know what’s going to happen. These are the clothes I imagine for having an adventure in the city.”