Coach staged their spring 2025 show today on the rooftop of the New York High Line, a stone’s throw from the brand’s headquarters. Creative director Stuart Vevers used the collection as an opportunity to pen a paean to American fashion in general and New York City specifically—the opening look was a beige tailored trouser worn with a high-end take on the iconic ‘I Heart NY’ tourist tees, a motif that appeared throughout the collection, including a particularly chic distressed, deconstructed knit, worn with leather trousers. (Vevers’ young son, River, was wearing a I <3 NY tee when he broke free from the front row to hug his dad during his bow, in one of the most heart-warming runway moments of the season so far).
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Vevers’ primary goal with Spring ‘25 was to “rediscover American classics through fresh eyes”, taking recognisable motifs of Americana and giving them a youthful glow-up. Take the navy blazer, for example, usually the embodiment of stiff American prep. Vevers offered oversized silhouettes in lightweight cotton with delicate pinstripes, thrown over cool leather separates and chunky boots, for a masterclass in contrast. Chinos were another example. Lest they fall into “frat boys on a yacht” territory, Vevers reworked the classic trouser shape in a looser silhouette inspired by skater pants. They were styled with distressed white tees (graffitied up with rock n’ roll-style handwritten slogans) and endlessly wearable distressed leather bomber jackets. Elsewhere, denim—much of it reworked from archival Coach pieces, thanks to the brand’s successful, sustainability-focused ‘(Re)Loved program—was low slung and distressed.
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The whole collection had an effortless, undone quality that felt incredibly modern. Striped cotton pajama-style separates were dressed up with distressed chocolate leather jackets, paired with oversized clasp-fastened clutch bag, tucked nonchalantly under the arm. It’s exactly the kind of look you’d expect some fabulous 20-something to be wearing on their early morning bodega run, complete with dark-tinted sunglasses and artful bed head (provided on the runway by Guido). For evening, there was a similarly less-is-more feel: satin babydoll dresses in a palette of baby yellows, arctic blues, and lilacs, were sweet but not saccharine, dressed down with chunky leather boots and structured leather coats.
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There was also something particularly striking (and fabulously New York) about model Ella Emhoff strutting down the runway in an I <3 NYC tee under a leather skirt suit, 24 hours before her step-mom, Kamala Harris, debates Donald Trump in one of the most hotly anticipated moments of the 2024 presidential election.
The energy in New York is electric with political fervour, with billboards, street graffiti, and rallies all supporting the Harris/Walz ticket. The Coach Spring ‘25 collection wasn’t overtly political, but it did tap into a cultural moment where the question of what constitutes ‘American identity’ is more relevant than ever. Vevers intention was to “take a blazer, a T-shirt, and chinos and make an outfit that isn’t a symbol for an American dream, but clothes that speak to today’s American reality’. His interpretation of that reality—youthful, forward-thinking, inclusive, and sustainable—is one we can all gladly get behind.
All runway photos: Isidore Montag / Gorunway.com
This article was first seen on ELLE AU.