Review of Coach Fall 2023 Fashion Show
A brat pack of young talent – from rappers to actors- were at the show
By Constance C.R. White
Like a fashion bellwether for the Coach show that was unfolding in front of him, Lil Nas X sat in the front row sucking on a red lollipop. It matched his red and blue custom-made outfit comprising an adorable Valentine/ Galentine Coach handbag and foreshadowed the lollipop earrings dangling from the models’ ears as they came down the runway.
I wanted something more real and grounded.
Stuart Vevers
On either side of him were other young stars – though none as big as he is. But together they reflected their own Brat Pack aura of camaraderie, friendship, respect and the energy of the world is ours – (if it weren’t so darn hard sometimes): Let’s all relax, have fun, and enjoy ourselves when we can.
Burying the slickness and grandeur of recent shows, designer Stuart Vevers breathed life into casualwear; the kind where you look authentic and like you didn’t think about your clothes too much. You’re dressing not to be performative but to be comfortable and maybe a little expressive.
“I wanted to move away from the cinematic (inspirations) of last season,” he said after the show which was held in the period-heavy spaces of the 1877 Armory designed by architects Tiffany and White.
“There’s nostalgia in that for me,” said Vevers. “But the new generation is really responding to that. I wanted it to feel youthful and fresh.*
As the audience wandered in and took their seats, the sounds of “Walk On By” and “Anyone Who Had A Heart” by the recently departed Burt Bacharach (and his writing partner Hal David), flowed around the clatter of voices transporting listeners to another era. “I’m a fan,” said Vevers. “We just decided yesterday to have that to celebrate him in this way.” It was indeed a show of juxtapositions; the old school with the new.
There was the historic idea of denim, highlighting its move into modern everyday wear with rips and studs. Continuing the brand’s (Re)Loved program, old fabrics were repurposed into something new, like the sheer dresses with fabric ends applied onto them.
Shearlings with a worn vintage finish were shown over classic turtlenecks. Holey, striped sweater dresses with Superman “S” on the chest and other cartoon characters were retrieved from the attic and given new life.
Patchwork leather jackets and pants looked like they could have come from the famed Orchard Street shopkeepers of thirty and forty years ago, those purveyors of leather and shearlings, which back then weighed a ton but exuded cool.
Embellishments like the fabric pieces and gleaming crystal studs like the ones on Lil Nas’s outfit elevated the ordinary. “I thought the show was beautiful,” said the entertainer. “I saw a lot of great pieces that I need on my body as soon as possible. It was very cute,” he added, before giving a nod to “my friend” the rapper Ice Spice, seated next to him.
“I thought the show was beautiful,” said the entertainer. “I saw a lot of great pieces that I need on my body as soon as possible. It was very cute,” he added, before giving a nod to “my friend” the rapper Ice Spice, seated next to him.
The little orphan Annie look alike, went straight for the micro bags, picking her favorites – the banana bag and the fish-shaped bag.
Vevers gets a gold star for his work building Coach into an American fashion house while polishing the jewel in the crown – handbags.
He juxtaposed those adorable mini bags ”always big enough to fit a cell phone,” he noted, with bags big enough to fit a body in.
The gigantic tote may well be the next collector’s item for handbag aficionados. Stripped of any accouterments and made from natural leather, Vevers said, “I wanted the simplest version of the Coach tote bag we could make. He called it “the quintessential Coach tote bag.”