Celebrating 10 Years at Coach, Stuart Vevers Presents His Most Personal Collection Yet for Spring 2024

Ana Colón

September 8, 2023 at 8:52 AM·7 min read

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Coach shows are always a massive production — sets at a cinematic scale, a guest list brimming with star power. Even so, the Spring 2024 debut was something else entirely: a fashion show, followed by a cocktail hour, followed by a seated dinner at the iconic 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library. There was even an anti-leather PETA runway crasher, for an added level of old-school fashion week drama. (Though, obviously, that last one wasn't part of the plan.)

Coach went all-out as a tribute to Stuart Vevers, who's celebrating 10 years at the brand this month. (Surely, it's also a toast to Tapestry, the label's parent company, which is coming off the announcement of its plan to acquire Capri Holdings for a cool $8.5 billion — and of which Coach continues to be the star.) Speaking at Tapestry HQ on the eve of the event, the designer reflected on how different this was to his introduction as creative director back in 2014.

"It was 18 looks, on a sound stage. I felt it was really important to start slowly, to figure out what this was," he said. "This was a very new proposition for Coach — clothing for the first time, New York Fashion Week for the first time. It was a winter collection, and we presented in February, and it was really cold. We showed a lot of shearling, and a lot of the response was, 'I wish I could wear that now.' And people wrote that. I think it helped build my confidence, honestly. It helped build the confidence of the company in me as well. It was such a great start."

If you've been following Vevers' work at Coach for the past decade, you know he's arguably the biggest student of the brand's archive. He'll frequently reference the work of his predecessors, like Bonnie Cashin, and even reissue styles from decades prior. Nostalgia's been a recurring theme throughout his tenure, he'd be the first to admit.

"I would say probably my biggest influence is youth culture, from the history of the U.S. through today," he said. "I spend time listening, thinking about and studying what matters to the current generation. It's nostalgia, but primarily, it's about reacting to what's happening today. It's been a passion of mine through my whole career, and there's something about that that I think sits well with Coach, because in a way, I can trace youth culture through the history of Coach, from the 1940s to today."

<p>Photo: Launchmetrics Spotlight</p> — Photo: Launchmetrics Spotlight

Maybe it has something to do with reaching this milestone, he wondered, but he said Spring 2024 is "one of my only seasons where there's nothing in the collection that's archival-inspired."

"In many ways, this season's about stripping back to the essence," he said, "which is essential design and great quality."

Instead, Vevers looked inward: "My first job after school was in New York, and it was that very particular moment in the '90s. Those first New York memories and those first memories of New York fashion were the inspiration behind this collection," he explained. "There was something really liberating about sketching ideas from memory, remembering the girls dancing in the Pyramid Club in a slip dress and imagining what that slip dress was. That's my memory of that slip dress in the collection... I think that comes from reflection and wanting to celebrate the archetypes that I love about New York fashion."

What makes something "Coach," Vevers suggested, is "a certain ease that's really important, a certain celebration of down-to-earth functionality that I think isn't necessarily typical in fashion. I like to celebrate that because it makes us different... On top of that, there's also attitude that definitely comes through in techniques and materials. There are a lot patinas and effects within the collection, which I've been exploring for a few seasons now. It isn't about replicating a vintage look. It's about giving attitude and a sense of individuality to each piece."

One of Coach's biggest achievements in the Vevers era, many would argue, has been its ability to capture the attention of and engage with Gen Z, an increasingly important customer base in fashion, through product (from its community-led, value-driven endeavors, like the Coachtopia sub-brand, to its viral products) and marketing (such as its many campaigns with up-and-coming talent, from Hollywood and TikTok alike).

"Every generation will look back to research things that they like to find their passions," Vevers said. "What's really important — and what I'm trying to do with Coach — is how it's interpreted: Once the current generation puts it through its lens, it's completely changed. It's not a repeat of anything from the past. It's just inspired. They make it their own. I love speaking to and studying the next generation because they challenge me. They force me to think differently. They force me to stretch myself and to push my boundaries, because they want to do something different. Their values are different. That's what really excites me."

Like other Coach collections, Spring 2024 builds upon the previous season, both thematically and aesthetically: The autumnal runway stripped back ready-to-wear down to a few ideas and materialities like knit dresses, leather and denim sets and jackets, in primarily black and brown.

"Last season was definitely a pivot, and we created a new silhouette for us that did involve a more tailored look," he said. "We've taken it further, also with a lot of new material developments in that tailoring. Leather is still important, but we've been very selective with how we place it. There's a lot of development in wool, cotton, jersey and knit that feels new for us."

The tailoring is another result of Vevers going down memory lane, thinking about seeing young female executives getting out of their town cars in their takes on "power dressing".

"They were reinventing the suit, and that memory made me want to create tailoring that felt very unique to Coach," he noted. The result is a fit that maintains a feeling of lightness through the material, such as over-dyed wool and cotton, that's light enough to allow for movement.

Like Fall 2023, the Spring 2024 collection settles on a handful of sartorial propositions, and explores various iterations of them. There are sheer slip dresses over leather bra and panty sets, as well as boxy, oversized jackets paired with long tailored skirts or no bottom at all. There are undone knits and gauzy fabrics that are more overtly risqué than anything we've seen from the brand before. At the same time, there's a lot of restraint — a focus on not overdoing or overworking, and letting a strong design speak for itself.

"When you're exploring new territory, it's always exciting, that curiosity of, 'What are people going to think of that from us?,'" he said. "It really pushes your creativity because you're feeling a new direction, a new attitude, but you have to figure out a way to make it understandable."

See every look from Coach Spring 2024, below.