Coach’s creative director Stuart Vevers is one of the leading figures in fashion who’s constantly looking to the past for the present. And no, I don’t mean that he’s known for only taking style references from decades past (though there’s also plenty of that), but rather that he has a knack for refurbishing old Coach pieces as well as incorporating upcycling into new collections.
The latest Coach autumn/winter 2023 runway show was a reiteration of this. Housed at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory—a former National Guard armory built in 1880—the collection was teemed with upcycled pieces underscored by an overall grunge-lite aesthetic.
Opening the runway was a striped knit dress that visibly looked anything but new. It was a pre-loved piece mended by Coach (or purposely left raggedy at parts) featuring a typical touristy NYC graphic. A few others of its one-of-a-kind ilk were also seen on the runway with graphics ranging from other American icons the likes of Superman and Mickey Mouse—all beautifully distressed.
The purposely distressed look continued throughout. In the collection’s shearling pieces (once again, some were pre-worn) the treatment was applied to the way that shearling were trimmed on denim as well as shiny, metallic iterations. The latter saw the outer scuffed at parts for much needed character to what would’ve been otherwise precious creations.
Upcycled leather straps were used in a number of the collection’s ready-to-wear pieces, especially evident in the patchwork treatments in looks 28 and 29. There was also an expansion of Coach’s (Re)Loved program into footwear. The autumn/winter 2023 collection introduced leather sneakers that were partly constructed using leather from pre-loved Coach bags. There’s no obvious tell-tale signs of this, which made it even more special; it’s a skill to deconstruct and reimagine pre-loved pieces into something completely different without so much as leaving a trace of its previous incarnation.
That being said, there were plenty of newness in Coach’s autumn/winter 2023 collection. Vevers introduced a new line of leather bags referred to as Coach Shapes: a collection of playful handheld leather creations crafted in kitschy shapes as well as a decidedly oversized tote.
And while skirts on men aren’t necessarily a new thing in fashion, the inclusion of the trope on the Coach runway signalled that perhaps the brand is ready to not be defined by gender norms. Coach under Vevers has been radical in that sense but cleverly done in rather slow progressions. Previous Coach campaigns have featured queer icons such as Bob the Drag Queen and Lil Nas X, with the latter driving the narrative of self-expression and -identity in the brand’s ‘Courage To Be Real’ campaign.
The overall grunge aesthetic was also a smart way of reiterating the brand’s ethos on community and inclusion—that no one is and should be defined by their sexuality.
It’s often said that there’s nothing new in fashion if creatives often look to the past. But the way that Vevers is doing it with Coach, exemplifies the beauty in reimagining and creating something new from the old.
View the full Coach autumn/winter 2023 collection in the gallery below.
