Nylon Nights
Shrimp Towers & Troye Sivan: Partying With Coach For Its 85th Anniversary
Keeping guests dancing and well-fed? Say less.
What do Bob Dylan, Martha Stewart, and Coach all have in common? Besides all providing infinite style inspiration, they all also turned 85 this year. While I didn’t secure an invite to the celebrations for Dylan or Stewart, Coach made sure to bring everyone into its epic bash in the form of a runway show and afterparty that leaned into the past while charting a course towards the next 85 years.
Pier 36 on the East Side of Manhattan served as the place for a club-like show, where swanky tan velvet couches and low-set tables had bar snacks and bespoke Tanqueray Gin cocktails. And a moment for the guests: Coach campaign star Elle Fanning was the talk of the night in a leopard-print coat and beret; she was joined by a leather-clad Troye Sivan, Storm Reid, Iris Law, the girls of K-pop group KiiKii (remember the name — they’re going to be everywhere soon), and what felt like the entire American fashion industry to revel in the show.
A bit on the recent revitalization of the brand: Under the vision of creative director Stuart Vevers, Coach has transformed from a leather-goods brand making the best purses in the game starting in 1941 to become a fixture in pop and Gen-Z culture. Beyond the main line, there’s Coachtopia, which reworks existing scraps and fabrics to bring affordably priced bags to the girlies, but on Sep. 9 in New York, it was all about the runway.
So, what does a typical Coach silhouette entail? The show opened with long, lean suiting in shades of tan, gray, and navy, worn with white sneakers and the ever-present pendant necklaces Vevers and stylist Olivier Rizzo are fans of. If it seems simple from the front, it’s deceptive: The backs of dresses and tops showed exposed seams, linings, and zippers, giving a peek into the deconstruction Vevers was going for. “We turned familiar Coach ideas inside out, exposed their construction, softened them and left traces of a celebration on them,” he explains via press release. “Having 85 years behind us gives us the confidence to look forward.”
If the first half of the show struck me as surprisingly subdued for a birthday party, the second half revealed that the party might’ve already happened backstage. One model appeared with a metallic party hat atilt on his head, then the real flavor of fun arrived. The cropped vests and long sleeves paired with maxi skirts from the opening looks were reimagined in gold and silver, and the new Turnlock Tote — a see-now-buy-now style available today — was covered in party glitter. It looks like the last dozen or so models walked through a very stylish party store before hitting the runway, with models carrying presents and wearing cowboy boots and low-rise sneakers dripping on confetti. The final looks proved the present is the clothes, with massive taffeta bows trailing off of red, multicolor, and opalescent party dresses.
After a sentimental finale set to “Love Is The Message,” the curtains towards the back of the room opened to reveal where the models may have picked up their glitter: the party room. A full disco-style floor, huge disco ball, multiple bars, and a cozy VIP section all awaited us, plus a healthy dose of food — the shrimp cocktail tower was a hit, alongside the gargantuan (seriously, it was several feet wide) bowl of onion dip with chips and piles of breadsticks. Bridge, Zack Fox, and SG Lewis were responsible for the music, and therefore the vibes, and they all delivered. It’s not everyday you see senior editors and stars like Fanning and Sivan twirl together on the dance floor, but when the energy is that good, we didn’t expect anything less.
After a massive cake was wheeled onto the dance floor and Violet Chachki emerged from it to perform a special “Happy Birthday” message to Coach, I knew the night was going to only get more fun. Alas, I had other stops to make, so I couldn’t spend the wee hours of the morning dancing to SG Lewis. But with a bit of confetti in between my fingers and on the back of my shirt, I knew I had the memories — and Coach knows that leaving a little trail of sequins and shimmer behind is the true sign of a great night.
