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Coach 1941 Spring/Summer 2017 runway finale on Manhattan’s Pier 76
Credit: Getty Images
Dust off your Nirvana tee, Dr Martins and kohl eyeliner because grunge is back. This is, according to the Brit who’s almost single-handedly made US-brand Coach cool again, Stuart Vevers. And having seen his vision for Spring 2017 today, teamed with his uncanny knack to turn trends on their heads in the past, we have to agree.
The expat Brit, who pulled off a similar revival coup for then-stuffy brand Mulberry a decade ago after stints at Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs before moving on to Loewe, sent models down the runway at Coach 1941’s New York Fashion Week show today channelling a tricked-out mixture of Courtney Love and Scarlett O’Hara.
Show guest Chloe Grace Moretz and Coach 1941 creative director Stuart Vevers
Credit: Getty Images
Moving on from using Mickey Mouse as his muse last season, the famously shy Vevers chose to pay homage to another American icon this season: the King. After a thumbs-up from Elvis’s estate, he plastered the singer’s image on sweatshirts and tees on the runway, with rumours of Elvis-stamped bags and shoes to come early next year.
Elvis re-entered the building at Coach’s SS17 show yesterday
Credit: NOWFASHION
Dresses featured heavily in this collection and if worn alone would have been positively sweet in a Southern Belle king of way. However, the addition of punk-style leather jackets and platform shoes, all overloaded with metal hardware like studs, rivets and even faux bottle tops, moved every outfit into certain bad-girl territory. “Exploring the sense of belonging that comes from being part of a movement – the symbolism of rebels, beatniks and an elvis fan club – embeliished by the individuality of personalization,” said the show program.
There was no sign of the typical satin slip dress we all remember Love wearing in the original grunge era; instead Vevers’ reinterpretation was a more structured sheer V-neck, often with sleeves and sometimes lace details. Just as risqué, but with a dash of pretty added for irony.
Coach 1941 SS17
Credit: NOWFASHION
At the risk of there being almost too much to look at in each outfit, the outfit styling by Karl Templer – a departure from Vevers’ usual style collaboration with long-time friend and LOVE magazine founder Katie Grand – has done more for stamping Coach with a cool-factor than Disney ever could.
Even the staging screeched of anarchy: gravel was strewn across the runway, which was dotted with piles of junkyard cars. Another reason for the models to be thankful for those chunky-soled creeper shoes, pointed studs and all.
Appropriately, Elvis’s granddaughter Riley Keough and Love, both watched on from the front row, along with other noted good-bad-girls Winona Rider, Emma Robers, Serena Williams and Chloe Grace Moretz.
Courtney Love, Stuart Vevers, Riley Keough and Sasha Lane
Credit: Getty Images
Winona Ryder and Netflix hit Stranger Things star, Millie Bobby Brown
Credit: Getty Images
It’s been a good year so far for Coach, which has witnessed sales of both its ready-to-wear and accessories rocket since add the founding year of 1941 to its moniker when Vevers took the creative reins. It’s homage to Mickey Mouse in the Coach x Disney capsule collection sold out almost completely on the day it was released in Australian. We predict a similar riot when this collection drops next February too.
See every Coach 1941 Spring Summer 2017 runway look.
Cover image: Getty Images
