Six Things You Need to Know About Coach’s New Creative Director + the Coach Fall 2014 Collection

So who is Stuart Vevers? Amid Thursday’s hubbub, we managed to grab a few minutes with him to answer some essential questions. 

Vevers’s design aesthetic: “I’ve worked for a lot of brands, but [my aesthetic] doesn’t adjust and adapt when I work for different brands. I like taking risks, I like being bold, I like color. To me it always goes back to a cool girl; does she look cool? That’s the defining question.”

How that’s reflected in his first Coach collection: “For me the most important thing was to redefine what Coach means, as well as mixing in that kind of New York, urban-cool attitude, and juxtaposing utilitarian references with more luxurious ones. That to me starts to fundamentally define what Coach is.” 

His pedigree: “I’ve been lucky enough to work for some amazing leather-goods brands: Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Mulberry, and Givenchy, among them, so I bring all that experience to New York to work on Coach. I didn’t want to do what I’ve done before; I wanted to do something that felt right and believable for Coach. Start the next chapter, get things going, have some fun.”

Best movie he saw recently: “That would be Her. I thought it was kind of amazing. I loved how it looked, how it felt.”

Favorite films? “It’s always a toss-up, either Working Girl or Jaws. I referenced a lot of American cinema in this collection. I like women with a real individuality, like Sissy Spacek in Badlands or Shelley Duvall in The Shining.” 

Favorite place to travel: “I’ve traveled in the U.S. a lot and really love it, and I think I’ve referenced that travel a lot in this collection. I almost imagine a girl starting in New York on a road trip and then coming back here, so it’s Americana seen through an urban eye.”