The Quirky Girl is the Star of the Coach Pre-Fall 2017 Collection

“I was so wrapped up preparing for the show that I didn’t realize John Glenn had passed away until a journalist told me. I’ve always been interested in the idea of space exploration. It was also a motif in my first collection when I included images of the Apollo rocket. I’m drawn to the sense of nostalgic possibility from that period in US history. There was this belief that anything was possible. It was such an optimistic time. That is what I am tapping in to.”

“I’ve always felt when Coach does a dress, it needs to have an eclecticism to it. I wanted it to look like you are combining multiple dresses into one new thing. I also feel that a Coach dress should have the ease of a t-shirt. It’s not about formality, or being overly fitted; it’s about capturing a sense of easiness.”

“In my first collection, I wanted to reset the brand by presenting an identifiable Coach girl and guy and for me that meant creating a head-to-toe look. It was absolutely critical that the clothing was believable and authentic. I focussed a lot on outerwear because it felt like a natural category for a leather goods house; that’s why you see shearling and biker jackets. In many ways it’s a feminine take on boyish clothes. And a colourful feminine take on boyish clothes.”

“We were looking at playing with traditional feminine codes, which is why we included the bows. But they’re done in a cartoonish way. A fashion-inspired Trompe-l’Oeil that gives it a modern, graphic quality.”

“We call the dog Judy, but she’s not based on any real dog. I think she’s some kind of spaniel mix. I was definitely thinking about the surf-skate culture from the ’60s and ’70s when these random graphics started to be used. It’s the randomness that drew me. The inspiration was a colour-by-numbers print.”

“We chose an ice cream cone for the same reason we chose Judy. Just for fun. I don’t have a sweet tooth, but if I were eating ice cream I’d probably choose vanilla. I would rather survive on bread and cheese.”

“The quirky girl is having a moment. When I started to imagine the Coach girl, I wanted to capture the idiosyncrasies of Bonnie Cashin, who was Coach’s designer from in the 1960s. When you go in our Coach archive, you can literally see the moment she walked in the door. Her names for products were charming and quirky, like the “Cashin” carry bag. She had a good sense of humour. You can also see the moment she leaves the house because things start to get brown and black.”

“I don’t know why I chose to put Den 4 on the badges. The number 41 is a nod to Coach’s 1941 birthday. We’re turning 75 years old.”

“One of the things I love about Coach is that it’s a very grounded house. It’s not about reflecting some fancy jet-set lifestyle. It’s grounded in reality; we are authentic and honest. That’s why a lot of my references are everyday things.”

“I think I grew up learning about American style and culture through American film, music and TV. I loved FAME; it was my first introduction to NYC. I loved Little House on the Prairie, Working Girl and Jaws. I also love the films of Terrence Malick. I get swept up in the romance of those big open landscapes.”

“I think it’s still important that we give people a dream. That is why I wanted to create a setting where the cinema and romance comes in to play. I wanted the set to have a kind of Hollywood glow. The photos from William Eggleston, Joel Sternfeld and Steven Shore definitely influenced me. They all created these beautiful and airy romantic images of America.”