Following a digital-only approach for the past two seasons, the return of in-person shows at New York Fashion Week marks the resumption of a near-normal schedule for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, and designers are clearly loving it.
Day three of New York Fashion Week was filled with energetic shows and creative collections, as a number of big-name designers returned to the catwalk with live audiences.
Michael Kors
After 18 months away from an audience-led runway, Kors returned in style with a sassy collection that leant on the 1950s, but freshly reimagined.
Opening with Kendall Jenner walking the runway in a sleek, high-waisted pencil skirt and bra top, more slick silhouettes arrived as Bardot tops over fitted pencil skirts, as well as pedal pushers under shrunken cardigans. Fitted and feminine, rather than being pastiche thanks to Kors's clever eye, the collection instead felt updated, with higher waists and thick, patent belts.
White lace came in the form of pretty full skirts, and caramel leather was laser-cut into a perforated knee-length skirt sure to catch the eye of every well-dressed New Yorker. As a designer, Kors knows exactly what his clients want, and with this outing, he upped the ante.
Coach
Delivered as an ode to the street style of New York, the Coach show was a merry skip through graphic T-shirts mixed with checked pencil skirts and thrift store-inspired mini dresses.
Filled with bold patterns and colours – think turquoise hounds tooth and raspberry hooded capes – this was young and carefree.
Throwing out rigid dress codes, this was a joyful miss-match of leather culottes, bra tops and even trompe-l'oeil tops and dresses, all worn with high-top boots.
While looking every inch as if they had arrived by skateboard, the models still managed to carry delicate, structured bags, in a display of New Yorker multitasking at its best.
Brandon Maxwell
This stylist-turned-designer has made a name for delivering serious red carpet looks. So imagine the surprise when, in the new post-pandemic show, Maxwell sent out a collection dazzling with colour and pattern.
The shift feels authentic, and brims with a sense of fun. Think rugby stripes of emerald and gold as a bandeau dress, and a spaghetti strap dress patterned with pink and orange psychedelic swirls. More arty patterning arrived as a low rise tailored trousers worn with a matching bra top and shirt, while more orange and pink swept down the runway as a hooded parka worn over a micro dress.
