Cool downtown in an uptown mansion

The latest collection from New York to pay homage to the city itself is Coach, which presented a subversive vision of luxury and style in a cold winter show on Monday afternoon.

Calendar-wise, this came after Tommy Hilfiger and before Michael Kors, and was by far the most original take on New York style. As designer Stuart Vevers reinvented classic ideas about fashion and design, hipster style takes on a contemporary twist.

For a downtown brand, this was also a very high-end location: inside a historic mansion on Fifth Avenue, around the corner from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Almost as if the cast had crashed a rich kids' party and made it their own. And the net effect was a collection that cleverly challenged the very idea of ​​what luxury really is.

“It's the kids who run the establishment,” Stuart joked.

A key element was the way Vevers aged almost everything, adding street attitude and a sense of imperfection that suggests the clothes and accessories were loved and worn. Hence the taffeta dresses arrived crushed and wrinkled; spy coats were extravagantly large and sheepskin or denim jackets were patchworked.

For men, tuxedos were double-sized and never ironed; the jackets were wrinkled; and suitably faded leather coats in faded anthracite.

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Even the washed and unpolished mechanic's boots for boys and girls. They all carried New York bags and trinkets: coffee mugs reading “I Love New York”; yellow checkered cabin toys; mini statues of liberty; Big Apples and even postcards of Central Park and the Empire State Building.

“I am still very focused on listening to the current generation, that has been one of my obsessions: youth culture. My goal is to see the tropes of classicism or even the codes of luxury through their lenses. While they are disrupting it, challenging it and making it their own,” explained UK-born Vevers, who celebrated his decade at the helm of Coach last September.

In fact, the collection was a clear recognition of a radical change in fashion. People are happy to buy vintage and second-hand items online and to gift and accept them. Which for a brand with nearly $7 billion in annual sales is a huge step forward.

“After more than 10 years here, I still see this city through the eyes of a boy growing up in Yorkshire. It is eternally fascinating and magical where the streets feel like a movie set,” he smiled.