Coach Resort 2024 - abcShoes Inc.

Coach's love affair with Gen Z continues.

The brand's resort collection, which creative director Stuart Vevers refers to as "winter," offers up a variety of silhouettes and eye-popping colors designed to appeal to a younger consumer — the key demographic that the corporation has been successfully targeting of late.

"I don't think our client goes on a cruise, or to a resort," Vevers said during a preview of the collection, which continued to uphold his overall ethos of building the heritage of Coach through the lens of the next generation.

It was for that reason that the brand tapped Lil Nas X as an ambassador last year, and the entertainer worked with Vevers to curate a special edit from among the pieces in the winter line for the first time.

"We were inspired and worked with Little Nas X as part of this collection," Vevers said. "We took inspiration from him and his style. He was on the original mood board and then he actually curated his favorite pieces from the collection to create a Lil Nas X edit."

During the brand's fall show, Lil Nas X donned fluffy platform boots; the latest Coach collection had flat shearling versions in acid pink, orange and blue. There were also concert-T and poster-inspired graphics and embroideries (with motifs of the rapper's new kittens, his star sign, a Coach house address, and more) stamped across ready-to-wear (brightly colored hoodies and Ts, outerwear, an assortment of vintage crewnecks and zip-ups in gray), patched on fluffy beanies, and embossed into colorful handbags. In the words of Lil Nas X, "That's what I want."

The lineup was mixed with a continuation of fall's sleek leather layers, denim (in black) and strong outerwear, including new fluffy coats and a varsity jacket, as well as an assortment of holiday-minded simple little party dresses (a continuation of fall's slip dressing, with shorter hems).

But while the offering looked young and fresh, Vevers didn't lose sight of Coach's heritage. "It's something I’ve been building on over the last few seasons, this contrast of heritage but seen through the lens of the next generation." That was evident in pieces such as colorful saddle bags with heritage hardware that he paired with a bright pink leather jacket, or leopard prints that Bonnie Cashin, one of Coach's most famous early designers, created in the 1960s that made their appearance in trench coats, jacquard knits and insets on bags.

Coach's dedication to sustainability shined through with several bags made from patchwork leather scraps such as those in the newly launched Coachtopia circular collection. "We’re going to take learnings from Coachtopia into Coach and we’re going to take experiments from runway into Coachtopia," Vevers said. "What's most important to me is just to keep exploring and keep pushing."

That also came through in the look book which Vevers said was created without a professional photographer for the first time. Instead, the models took selfies of themselves in the outfits. "I love the spontaneity of it," he said. "I like the idea that we’re exploring self-expression and individuality."