NYFW SS26 notes

Coach ss26 neck purses backstage

New York Fashion Week: Not a huge amount to write home about, but a few details captured my attention…

Coach has hit its stride in recent seasons and I’m pleased for Stuart Vevers. He’s a nice guy and I think people conveniently forget that he elevated Loewe in the fashion space before Jonathan Anderson arrived. Anyway, at Coach SS26 (above and below) I liked the neck doodads – cute little pouches and pendants meant to symbolise sentimentality and New York mementos. Styled in combination with dishevelled, oversized silhouettes by appropriately youth-obsessed Olivier Rizzo, they should help attract the next generation of Coach handbag-toting customers.

Coach ss26
Coach ss26
Coach ss26

At Tory Burch SS26 (below) there was more sentimentality, with clothes resembling well-loved, favourite pieces, creased and crumpled, and accessorised with nostalgic trinkets, in particular beachy shell necklaces and earrings worn with drop-waist belted skirts and flapper-style dresses.
Tory Burch ss26
Tory Burch ss26

Toteme (below) got my vote for its skin-baring necklines (for us short neck girlies – thank you), a fab flat-front white pant and a nonchalant new bag, the Clip – a black croc-embossed top-handle transmitting chaotic, city-girl energy. For the record, Toteme bags are really nice and much better value than most It bags.
Toteme SS26
Toteme SS26Toteme SS26
Toteme SS26 Clip Bag
Toteme SS26

Finally, I think 90s minimalism may be giving way to preppy revivalism (yes, agaiiinnnnnn).

The choice in fashion seems to be either nostalgia or basic b jeans and vest tops (if Biz Sherbert’s on-campus youth report is anything to go by) and since America is the home of polo shirts, baseball caps, chinos and boat totes, it’s totally unsurprising they want to elevate this heritage. We’ve already seen former Polo Ralph Lauren creative director Michael Rider’s first look at Celine, early peeks of Jonathan Anderson’s preppy-fied Dior, and both Gap and J. Crew riding high again in public sentiment, while NYFW saw the runway relaunch of Ivy League haberdasher J.Press (a very literal iteration, complete with JFK Junior lookalike – below).
J Press by Greg Kessler/ KesslerStudio

Should you need more preppy references, pick up a copy of Bruce Weber’s newly released monograph, My Education. Let’s hope the kids pick up on this look but put a more contemporary and subversive spin on it, otherwise I fear we’re stuck with Brandy Melville and ballet flats forever.

WORDS: Disneyrollergirl / Navaz Batliwalla
IMAGES:  Coach SS26 x 4; Tory Burch SS26 x 2; Toteme SS26 x 5; J. Press
NOTE: Most images are digitally enhanced. Some posts use affiliate links and PR samples. Please read my privacy and cookies policy here

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