A bold, perhaps non-workwear glow at the Michael Kors spring show.fashion
Michael Kors is one of the few big names in European Fashion Weeks that hasn’t abandoned New York, and you can always count on its lustrous, leisure-class womenswear straight from the pages of Condé Nast Traveler. Or, as Coase puts it, “clothes for women who like to be the center of attention.”
On Wednesday morning, in a glasshouse full of palm leaves in downtown Manhattan, he put the money in his mouth. His spring show kicked off with a white Halston-style silk skirt his suit. This was a great reference to what Scarface star Michelle Pfeiffer wore as her character Elvira his Hancock. As evidenced by the suit’s legacy in film costume lore, it was not only noticeable, but impossible to ignore.
If The Course sells impossible (and outdated) fantasies of what women want to wear, Vogue’s editorial has tennis champion Serena Williams and Academy Award-winning actor Anne Hathaway in the front row of stars. Chief Anna Winter was included. Dressed in the past and present of course – it suggests that it is an illusion that some women still pursue.
Since it’s a spring collection, Kors explained that the idea was “resort to city, city to resort.” “London is full of people who wear flip flops to work instead of the beach. What we wear on vacation is what we wear in the city.” I’m headed to the office in a hurry, wearing baggy heels on both my private jet and my school run, and my cell phone and keys in a tiny little boxy handbag.
In fact, the collection may have been better suited to the ideal body type and the beach than the conference call. Mini sarongs were tied into miniskirts, wide-leg trousers in red, black, and pink were belted to the hilt, and a sumptuous silky blouse was unbuttoned at the navel. Paired with a gorgeous sequined top (gold, of course), a bra top was worn as the top, flashing a little midriff and collarbone here.
Still, there’s a nuance between peek-a-boo tops and fringes, and Kors has revived his famous cashmere shmoo. It looks like a jumper, but it’s actually a scarf or belt. used to deal with. This shmoo was red.
There was an attempt to tackle a meatier topic than what to bring on vacation. Will Michael Kors answer austerity? “Buy one that will last you 20 years,” he said. “The best way to be sustainable is to not buy something you’ll only wear once. I’m not trying to be mean to H&M, but that’s the problem.”
And what about those thick socks and sweatpants you’re used to wearing at home? “Fine!” he said. “America invented comfort! But do I mean tracksuits? No, of course not.”
New York Fashion Week was all about high-octane glamor, and it’s understandable. The much-discussed return to normalcy was only the week before mask-wearing mandates were in place on the metro, unlike in the UK. After a while, Kors thought, “People need to enjoy today.”