Michael Kors and his cappuccino-cashmere army made for the most New York City of catwalks shown this Big Apple fashion week, which ends today. Outside his Tuesday afternoon show, held in the building formerly home to department store Barney’s, came a perfect storm of metropolitan carnage — Blake Lively, Queen of NYC, sploshed through melted, black snow to the squeals of climate change protesters and even higher pitched fans. The scene, as they all do here, played out to bass notes of SUV horns and swearing men. Vive la New York!
So went the sentiment of Kors’s autumn winter 2024 collection, anyway. “I’m very American, and proud,” he said, during a preview. “I'm proud of this city because in New York, things that are quality stand the test of time.”
Timelessness was abundant as looks stepped down the bone-white, spiral staircase of the once iconic shop; it was in the lawyer’s herringbone overcoats, the black cashmere trenches which came draped over matching, slit leg cashmere dresses (“I’m a cashmere addict, I admit,” he bemoaned) and, for evening, in the black, Chantilly lace slips cut on the bias — which you could throw a bomber on and where anywhere, Kors suggested.
The final look was a blend of his grandparents' 1930s wedding outfits; top half a structured tuxedo jacket, bottom a floor-sweeping, black satin gown. In an update on the “totally modern, very sexy” original, the metres-long train was split down the centre, allowing future wearers to scoop it up in two arms and flutter about soirées without a trampling. Image is all important, but customers really wanting to wear Kors’ clothes is his prerogative — it’s the mindset that earned him personal billionaire dollar status in 2014.
Trend-led elements were far from banished, though — office-ready suits for women comprised of hourglass blazers and knee-length shorts; extra-long belts were styled looped back on themselves (see Nineties Daniel Day Lewis, for reference) and yeti-scale, peach fuzz (Pantone’s colour of the year) shearling throw-on's were as statement as they come — “because in a world of black puffers, sometimes you want a Mongolian lamb coat,” said Kors.
Model Amber Valletta walked in a mob wife-ready leopard print overcoat, and was joined by supers Irina Shayk and Mariacarla Boscono. The whole affair felt like a tribute to guilty-pleasure glamour, helped by a score which heard Alicia Keys belt out This Girl is on Fire to violins.
“The world is a bit upside down,” said Kors. “We are designing clothes and accessories that make people feel strong and confident.” The front row, counting actors Brie Larson Katie Holmes and Gabrielle Union had no trouble exuding as much.
It's one of the concluding shows of a New York Fashion Week which, if the American’s predications are to be taken at face value, means by next winter all things streetwear and slouchy will be banished. “We all got used to being so casual,” said Kors. “But beautiful tailoring gives you presence.”
