Stuart Vevers delivers his dress code of the season by way of skater boys and the Coach Cashin bag. Effortless, forward-looking and tinged with a sense of rebellion.
“On the morning of my first day at Coach, my now-husband, Ben, gifted me a framed portrait of Bonnie from the archives of The Baltimore Sun. This portrait still sits behind my desk today,” wrote Stuart Vevers in Coach’s press statement for the brand’s Spring Summer 2022 collection.
It is a poignant disposition that illustrates Vevers’ relationship with Cashin’s body of work. Throughout the years, Cashin has often been referenced as the one who had been forgotten with time. However, her legacy precedes her name – some have even gone so far as to crown Cashin as the architect of quintessential American sportswear.
She was also the first lead designer appointed at Coach. Since taking the helm at Coach in 2013, Vevers has kept Cashin at the top of his mind. In moving the house forward in time, Cashin’s earlier designs have remained a point of reference for Vevers throughout his tenure at Coach.
The Spring Summer 2022 collection is no different in its starting point, taking a page from Cashin’s illustrious legacy. This season, he turned the pages of the history book to Cashin’s debut collection at Coach. It was then that Cashin introduced leather totes inspired by the paper shopping bags she saw on Madison Avenue to the world.
As a designer, Cashin was years ahead of her time. The functional leather tote, a staple in the accessories department to date, stands as a testament to her design sensibilities. “The best-designed handbag in the world is the leather shopping bag, so I didn’t try to improve on it,” Cashin once explained.
She was right on the nose – the inconspicuous carryall transcends time and the trends that have come and gone with it. At the Coach Spring Summer 2022 presentation, Cashin’s leather tote invention, coined the “Cashin Carry” took centre-stage as the season’s pièce de résistance. The classic minimal totes were paraded down the runway in an array of skins from the archetypal environmentally responsible leather, to plaids, tweeds, and kitschy prints.
“I like to think how we’ll look, you know, 100, 000 years from now,” Cashin once mused. Six decades since the birth of the “Cashin Carry” into the world, the carryall and Cashin’s design acumen continues to stand the test of time.
Elsewhere in the collection, Vevers also tipped his hat to Cashin’s sportswear arsenal — taking cues from Vevers’ choice of sport, skating. “Spring presents my vision of a new vocabulary of American fashion inspired by our 80 years heritage through the lens of the next generation,” said Vevers. “A celebration, too, of the colourful, upbeat optimism of Coach’s first designer Bonnie Cashin, I designed this collection in response to the times we are living through — and a collective wish for a better, brighter future.”
In this collection, silhouettes are baggy and oversized. Denim skate shorts went past the knees, graphic t-shirts had sleeves that extended down to the elbows, and low-slung waistlines revealed hints of boxer shorts worn underneath. It all spoke of the ineffable coolness of the skater boys who zipped through the city in their boards.
A devil may care attitude underscored Vevers’ proposition for Spring Summer 2022. Beyond the cut of the clothes, the way they were seemingly haphazardly thrown together, even sans shirt in some instances, is reminiscent of sprightly youth. The vibrant colour palette punctuated bold energy too.
Over the years, Vevers has continuously showed his prowess in rendering the house’s heritage through a distinctively contemporary lens to forge the way forward. If the Spring Summer 2022 collection is anything to go by, the future, according to Vevers, is optimistic, liberating and progressive.
“I like to think how we’ll look, you know, 100, 000 years from now,” Cashin once mused. Six decades since the birth of the “Cashin Carry” into the world, the carryall and Cashin’s design acumen continues to stand the test of time. Elsewhere in the collection, Vevers also tipped his hat to Cashin’s sportswear arsenal — taking cues from Vevers’ choice of sport, skating. “Spring presents my vision of a new vocabulary of American fashion inspired by our 80 years heritage through the lens of the next generation,” said Vevers. “A celebration, too, of the colourful, upbeat optimism of Coach’s first designer Bonnie Cashin, I designed this collection in response to the times we are living through — and a collective wish for a better, brighter future.”
“It is something of a new language”, explained Vevers in an interview. In expanding his vocabulary at Coach, Vevers also made a case for gender neutrality on the runways. Surely, Vevers was making a point with the “Cashin Carry” totes — spotted on the arms of male and female models alike.
“It is something of a new language”, explained Vevers in an interview. In expanding his vocabulary at Coach, Vevers also made a case for gender neutrality on the runways. Surely, Vevers was making a point with the “Cashin Carry” totes — spotted on the arms of male and female models alike.
Over the years, Vevers has continuously showed his prowess in rendering the house’s heritage through a distinctively contemporary lens to forge the way forward. If the Spring Summer 2022 collection is anything to go by, the future, according to Vevers, is optimistic, liberating and progressive.
This story was written by Kames Narayanan. Once you’re done reading about the Coach Spring Summer 2022 collection with the Cashin bag, click here to catch up with our March 2022 cover stars, BTS!
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