Mel and Dara Spiral Through 10 Years of Stuart Vevers at Coach

 

They say fashion week is all about looking to the future, but it’s also a time for reflection. So when we saw leather panties and heart-shaped sunglasses marching down the runway at the Coach Spring/Summer 2024 presentation last week, we thought it was as good an occasion as any to look back at creative director Stuart Vevers‘ ten years at the brand, a decade that’s brought us jelly shoes, Basquiat bags, studded brogues, shearling coats, and sweaters emblazoned with the face of Barbra Streisand herself. After the show, our editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg and our fashion director Dara were feeling nostalgic, so they got together to recap their favorite moments from the Vevers’ reign, from Ice Spice dressed up like a cheerleader to Megan Thee Stallion photographed by Juergen Teller.

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MEL OTTENBERG: Hey, Dara.

DARA: Hello. 

OTTENBERG: Let’s talk about Coach.

DARA: Let’s talk about Coach.

OTTENBERG: We’re talking about Dara’s top 10 moments through 10 years of Stuart Vevers. I can’t take credit. I’m pulling them up.

DARA: There’s a little more than 10. We’re getting the hot hits here.

OTTENBERG: We liked the show the other day. We really like the leather panties, of course.

DARA: Hot. Great leather panties. 

OTTENBERG: I really liked that leather motorcycle mini dress or oversized jacket, whatever.

DARA: I was into the boots. The boots were hot.

OTTENBERG: Yes. I really liked the motorcycle boots.

DARA: And the dinner was good. The dinner upstairs was really good.

OTTENBERG: Delicious food. We sat with Montero [Lil Nas X]. We forgot to take any videos or have any really decent conversations, but whatever. We were staring at Sasha Colby.

DARA: Sitting in the seat of honor next to Stuart Vevers.

OTTENBERG: Yeah, she was sitting between Stuart Vevers and Ashley Brokaw, so we thought there must be an impending campaign with Sasha Colby. And I think that’s great.

DARA: Period.

OTTENBERG: Her beat was good. 

DARA: She had a tousled updo. Green, frilly dress. Really hot.

OTTENBERG: Yes. And while the beat was heavy, it was also giving a modern touch.

 

OTTENBERG: All right. First up, we’ve got Lexi Bowling in Fall 2014.

DARA: This is the perfect fit.

OTTENBERG: Why? Because it’s a perfect shearling?

DARA: Because it’s a perfect shearling. It’s a major, giant take on an old Coach bag. It’s a scarf. It’s giving you all the classic Stuart Vevers things. And this is from his first collection, so I thought it was a good place to start.

OTTENBERG: I’m really into that coat. And I’m really into the next one, which is Fall 2014. What a great sweater. 

DARA: That’s an iconic sweater. 

OTTENBERG: Everybody does this now. And I don’t know if Stuart Vevers was first, but this did feel like a fresh new take on collabs when he did this Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining 1980 Danny Sweater.

DARA: Yeah. 

OTTENBERG: Were there other Kubrick things in this? I can’t remember, but I remember this particular one because it’s a really iconic sweater.

DARA: This sweater was the moment. When I think of Fall 2014, it’s that sweater. You know?

OTTENBERG: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

DARA: Little flash forward to Fall 2020. Another major collab was the Basquiat one.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. This is spending a lot of money well. This is when a big brand is being really flashy with their concepts and their collabs and it’s really working.

DARA: I love the famous bag. The famous bag was it for me.

OTTENBERG: Yes. The famous bag was great. Oh, and here she is. The famous bag. Wow. It’s a fucking good bag.

DARA: It’s a cool bag, right? They did that bag in a bunch of different shapes. Coach is all about the bag and having your bag say “famous,” it’s pretty fierce.

OTTENBERG: Now we’re onto Fall ’22. Did you ever wear this leather coat?

DARA: I personally didn’t, but I kind of wish I did. I tried a shearling version with the closure, the classic Coach lock on the jacket. I thought that was cool.

OTTENBERG: Yes.

DARA: Classic 1970s hot American. Just a classic look.

OTTENBERG: And then we’ve got Ice Spice. I think she looks really great here in the Park Avenue Armory. I just like how she styled herself with her Ice Spice diamond necklace and this cheerleader thing.

DARA: It’s really hot. And then the full shearling, furry, red Elmo looking bag, pants, shoe, jacket on Montero. It’s the dynamic duo here. Really good.

OTTENBERG: Who’s this chick on the left?

DARA: Zoey Deutch. She’s really fierce in her beach waves.

OTTENBERG: She’s giving me rich American, young, modern uptown..

DARA: All white leather. Giving you breath of fresh air.

OTTENBERG: The rotten big apple dress is great, no?

DARA: Yeah. We just shot this. It’s really good. This is from last season. They had a dinosaur, which is a classic Coach motif, a Mickey Mouse, and the New York Apple.

OTTENBERG: I’m here for the apple. Okay. Now we’re going backwards. This is a faux fur shearling coat, also on Lexi.

DARA: 2015. That nasty coat.

OTTENBERG: That is a good coat.

DARA: It’s a good, nasty mint coat.

OTTENBERG: I love this coat. I think it’s good. I also like these shoes.

DARA: Yeah, the platform slide.

OTTENBERG: Could you see yourself in this Coach menswear jacket from Spring 2017?

DARA: Yeah, absolutely. That’s why I picked her. I like this sexy fifties rockabilly boy. He’s cool.

OTTENBERG: He, as a concept, needs to come back. It’s been a minute.

DARA: I need him too. I’m missing him. And he’s never left some pockets of the world. I think it’s time.

OTTENBERG: Yes, yes.

DARA: Studded brogue. What the hell?

OTTENBERG: Yeah. Maybe people need to start dressing extreme again. Everyone’s dressed so normcore that you can’t tell who’s cool and who isn’t, which I think is the point. But why do we all want to look like the bankers?

DARA: Yeah. We need different categories again.

OTTENBERG: And on that note, we’ve got you walking in the— 

DARA: Hi, it’s me.

OTTENBERG: Spring 2019 Coach show.

DARA: Yeah. I have to be a little egomaniac and throw myself in there because I feel like I’m a highlight of the Coach 10-year history.

OTTENBERG: I think you are. Yes, sweetie. It’s been an important decade and you are a big part of that.

DARA: Thank you.

OTTENBERG: What can you tell me about this outfit?

DARA: We’re giving prairie dress. This is height of the Disney collab. We posed backstage with these cutouts of Bambi and Eeyore. Hunter Schafer also walked this show, which is the next slide.

OTTENBERG: Yes.

DARA: And she’s in one of the Disney Pinocchio T-shirts.

OTTENBERG: Yes, she is.

DARA: And we all got these really fierce bags that she’s wearing. It was a really fun show. And a good gift.

OTTENBERG: I’m digging it. J-Lo in the Richard Bernstein Barbara Streisand sweatshirt.

DARA: I couldn’t not. That’s just gay iconography right there.

OTTENBERG: I wish I had this sweatshirt.

DARA: You need it.

OTTENBERG: I think I got an oversized t shirt, but I really like the simplicity of J-Lo’s sweatshirt. I also really like how this picture is styled.

DARA: Yeah. Pile on your Coach bags.

OTTENBERG: She’s just giving rich American woman, rich American icon on rich American Icon.

DARA: Period.

OTTENBERG: Babs on J-Lo. Oh, also, I’m glad you put this in here. This Rob Lowe.

DARA: Rob Lowe’s on the next slide.

OTTENBERG: Richard Bernstein, 1984 Interview cover tank top. It’s so hot.

DARA: Yes! Yes.

OTTENBERG: It’s hot, it’s gorgeous. I don’t feel nostalgic for the time, Spring 2020.

DARA: No.

OTTENBERG: I can’t deal with her as a concept.

DARA: But I definitely want that shirt.

OTTENBERG: I really do like this tank top. And I will not say that this tank top is cursed, even though the timing was.

DARA: Yeah. We leave the season in the past, but we take the tank top with us.

DARA: This was major.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. And this was the time of just Juergen Teller doing whatever the fuck he wants over Zoom with an iPhone one shot. And the world’s just eating it up.

DARA: The world is eating it up. It’s shading it. It’s mad. It’s living. It’s all of it.

OTTENBERG: It’s also literally the only thing the world can really have at this time.

DARA: Ate, ate, ate.

OTTENBERG: I do like the idea of dressing Megan Thee Stallion like a prissy Marcia Brady, voluptuous Russ Meyer Barbie, but doing her up. This is WAP.

DARA: 40 inch hair, umbrella. This is WAP, yeah.

OTTENBERG: Well, wait, no. I think WAP is summer 2020.

DARA: Summer 2020. You’re right. So this is right on the heels of WAP.

OTTENBERG: The world got WAP and it ate it up.

DARA: That’s wild. Thinking about all of the context of this, wow.

OTTENBERG: I love this picture.

DARA: Period. I have no more words. 

OTTENBERG: Wait, the shoe is a flat too.

DARA: Is it a flat? No, it’s a heel.

OTTENBERG: But look at her right foot.

DARA: Okay. The right foot is digging into the earth.

OTTENBERG: Oh, you think it’s collapsed into the earth?

DARA: I think it collapsed into the ground. I see a heel.

OTTENBERG: All I can say is, I am caught up in this. I’m in love.

DARA: It’s legendary.

OTTENBERG: I will say that when I saw this Eagle thing, I was like, “Oh God, really?” But you know what? It’s really good. And I have it somewhere and I throw it in the washing machine all the time. That’s a tip.

DARA: I love that. I have the purse sitting on my shelf. One day I’ll break her out.

OTTENBERG: What color is she?

DARA: She’s a little black Coach. And I’m looking at her on the top of my shelf right now.

OTTENBERG: Hot. I should actually start jogging in this Eagle T-shirt. Because the other thing that helps break in your best T-shirts is— 

DARA: A little sweat?

OTTENBERG: Yeah, a little sweat. Just working out. Wear and tear.

DARA: Do you remember this show? This show was on the pier and they showed 30 minutes of all these different movies, and then a million Gen-Z skaters came out and attacked the audience on their skateboards. Do you remember that?

OTTENBERG: Yes. It was September 10th, 2021. And I know because I was just looking at a video of myself talking about September 10th, 2001 and what I did that night, and I thought about putting it on TikTok, but I was like, “No, I’m a professional now. I need to pretend that this never happened.”

DARA: If you know, you know. I know the story.

OTTENBERG: So now we’ve got Montero producing the Spring 23 show. I think he looks great. I think these shoes should catch on. I don’t understand why I don’t see these Coach jellies on the street because I think they’re great.

DARA: They’re really cute.

OTTENBERG: Dara, I think you should wear them.

DARA: Coach, send me some jellies.

OTTENBERG: I really, genuinely like them. Jelly shoes is an eighties thing that Coach has been pushing for a while. They’re still pushing them for Spring 23. I like that they’re not giving up on them because they think they’re fucking cool.

DARA: I like them. Because you know what? The kids today don’t understand the reality of a really, really flat shoe. They want their chunky chunk. But these flat, flat, flat jelly shoes, that’s fierce.

OTTENBERG: It’s fierce. I think Montero looks good. I think that the leather stuff is cool, too.

DARA: Oh, with that motor jacket that you like.

OTTENBERG: Yeah. And I’m just going on the record to say this bitchy jelly flat is cool. And I think that girls should stop sleeping on it because I think it’s dumb to sleep on.

DARA: Yeah, don’t sleep on the jelly.

OTTENBERG: I also think that this deeply unsexual tan skirt-suit in the middle is really great.

DARA: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

OTTENBERG: No sex, babe. This show is giving you a lot of sex, but sometimes you need to take a break. You know?

DARA: Yeah. A breath is always important. And I love her big coat.

OTTENBERG: Both of us thinking that the black leather is the real standout.

DARA: Honestly, the red leather though. The red leather is pretty hot.

OTTENBERG: I was just thinking some really famous girl has to really show these curves off in this dress. Who is it? I don’t know. But she should wear it.

DARA: Yeah, total agree.

OTTENBERG: I think that we’ve talked the talk.

DARA: That’s 10 years of Coach. 10 whole years.

OTTENBERG: 10 years. I’m not even exhausted after this conversation. I think he’ll keep going.

DARA: I’m ready for 10 more.

OTTENBERG: Long live your reign, babe. It’s great.

DARA: Period.