“This week was my six year anniversary at Coach,” Stuart Vevers told ahead of the American brand’s New York Fashion Week show. “So it felt like the right time to try something new.” Gone is Coach’s signature nostalgia for prairie style and in its place is a riot of colour, vibrant graphics and a scene-stealing collaboration with Andy Warhol protégé, Richard Bernstein.
Working with the estate set up by Bernstein’s family (the artist died in 2002), the Coach creative director is bringing his glittering brand of Pop Art back into fashion. Bernstein’s illustrated covers for Warhol’s magazine in the 1970s and 1980s were praised for their high energy and glamorous excess – subjects included the likes of Madonna, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger and Calvin Klein. “He puts wit into the beauties, fantasy into the rich, depth into the glamorous and adds instant patina to newcomers,” wrote Paloma Picasso in a book about the Bernstein’s life. Here, Vevers speaks to about his favourite Bernstein images, Coach’s new show venue and the secret to a successful collaboration.
What is the mood for Coach spring/summer 2020?
New York City was the real starting point for spring/summer 2020; that urgent, raw energy, both past and present. It’s stripped back and upbeat, with a strong exploration of colour, too. There’s something about the extravagance and escapism of Richard Bernstein’s work that contrasts beautifully with a collection that is made for NYC, and that’s bold and real and grounded.
Tell us about collaborating with the estate of Richard Bernstein.
Click Here: West Coast Eagles GuernseyIt started as an inspiration reference, an image on a moodboard, but I soon realised that the collection would feel more complete by working directly with Bernstein’s foundation. It also felt right because Bernstein was an artist that lived and worked in New York City. It was a very organic process.
We featured three of his portraits – of Barbra Streisand, Michael J. Fox and Rob Lowe – in the collection. Partly because I love the artwork and the colours, but also because I have a personal connection to all these celebrities. Not that I know them personally, but rather that they’re icons that I grew up with or have a powerful meaning to me.
Last season you teamed up with the American textile designer and artist Kaffe Fassett, this season it’s Bernstein. What makes a good collaboration?
To me the element of surprise is really crucial. Either you don’t know this person’s work, or you haven’t seen it in this context before. When I’m thinking about a collaboration, it’s the element of surprise that excites me. That and the ability to put the work of these incredible creatives in a new context for a new audience.
Coach has a new show venue this season: the Spur and Coach Passage in the newest section of the High Line. Why did you choose this setting?
Coach has been a big supporter of the High Line and I really wanted to show our 21st-century dreamer stomping the concrete path in some unapologetically practical sandals and sneakers. The High Line has become the heart of downtown New York and it really represents that New York spirit to me, so it is the perfect setting.