Coach unofficially kick-started New York Fashion Week SS24 with an off-schedule show for Spring 2024. This wasn’t any ordinary fashion show, as Coach celebrated the ten-year anniversary of creative director Stuart Vevers with the American house.
For a milestone collection like this one, it could have been expected of Vevers to present a retrospective collection, looking back on the past ten years of Coach and highlighting the iconic silhouettes and revamping old pieces we’ve seen come in, but Vevers didn’t do that. Instead he presented a collection that was completely up to date, projecting his current vision for the future of Coach.
Of course, there were heaps of leather coats and jackets that fell in line with Coach’s positioning as the American leather house. Some jackets were cropped while others were oversized, some floor-length, others dropped down to the thigh, some had fringed details, others bore a classic look – Coach said “we got options.”
The leather craft wasn’t exclusive to outerwear though, with fan-favourite handbags given the same treatment. We saw new quilted versions of the Coach Shapes bag series which included a duck, heart and bone this season, and of course the Tabby bag that has infiltrated all your favourite style icons’ closets, from Elsa Hosk to Orion Carloto.
Being a leather-mastered house was once a sought-after accolade, but with our generation’s consciousness to unsustainable practices in fashion, this desirability has been compromised (that is, unless you’re Bottega Veneta). However, Coach has already thought of that and has come up with a solution. For this collection, the American house tapped into its Coach (Re)Loved initiative, a program founded and led by the in-house team which puts an emphasis on circular fashion by repurposing leatherwear and using deadstock and pre-loved fabrics.
Coach (Re)Loved isn’t confined to leather though, with all of their materials sourced with a sustainable focus, from its denim to its lace. Coach has had a massive resurgence in popularity within the past two years, and while its star Tabby bag has been the face of it, it’s thanks to its sustainability-first efforts like its (Re)Loved Program and Coachtopia branch that truly resonates with us.
Today’s youth culture has now become tapped into Coach, just as Coach has tapped into us. The symbiotic relationship between Coach and youth culture has been echoed through floral mesh slip dresses, grungy ribbed knit pieces and a balance between monochrome as well as playful and colourful options. “Spring is a tribute to the way today’s generation is writing their own story through fashion,” states Vevers.
Coach’s commitment to catering to a younger generation wasn’t just felt through its designs this season, but also through its lineup of models, some of which were casted right off the street. In another effort to undo the fashion industry’s moeurs, Coach switched up its seating arrangement, giving everyone a front row seat. No hierarchy, no bobbing head blocking your view.
If Coach’s SS24 show proved anything, it’s that Vevers’ still got it. After 10 years of defining and redefining the brand, the creative director has found a sweet spot between honouring its legacy and house codes while also honing into the younger generation, making us the main character of its narrative.
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