Michael Kors showcases the future of affluent fashion at New York Fashion Week show
Michael Kors by Lisa Armstrong
If you’re curious to know what affluent women will be wearing in the coming years, you’re in the right place.
Michael Kors
Michael Kors has always unashamedly dressed women who aren’t embarrassed about looking wealthy. Gwyneth Paltrow, a long-time fan, Carrie Coon (White Lotus, Gilded Age), Anna Wintour and her newly minted successor, Chloe Malle, all present and correct at the show, represent various facets of the Kors’ woman. His template has proved hugely influential. Ask any costume designer how a rich character with taste should dress and, ever since the 1999 version of The Thomas Crown Affair, costumed by Kors, they’ll likely reference his vision.
It’s a glide-y, slide-y way of dressing – the idea is to look as though you’ve nonchalantly tossed something on. But the way a neckline or a waistband sits slightly askew, the better to show off a collarbone, or hips or glimpse of back, has been meticulously thought out.
Like Ralph Lauren, Kors is on a mission to modernise red-carpet style, which the 66-year-old finds dated. “People ask, ‘what is American fashion?,”’ he said at the intimate previews he likes to conduct with a small group of editors the day before his show. “Well, I have to be honest. We invented comfort; we invented speed. We didn’t invent the ballgown. We didn’t invent the custom-made suit. We invented the idea of ease.”
His solution to outmoded ideas of formality, is to turn long dresses into ankle-cuffed trousers, in ultra-fine pale pink, black or khaki wools and chiffon. It worked remarkably well, although what to call these trousers? “Harem, Zouave… they all turn out to be politically incorrect,” he says. His team is still working on a name.
Meanwhile, a long tunic, or a white shirt, collars and cuffs flipped back, or an oversized masculine blazer, layered over a semi-sheer asymmetric skirt looked so glam-axe, it made some of the recent gowns on the Venice red carpet look even more stiff and dated.
There was plenty of draping, which added movement, low slung belts and (as at Ralph Lauren) chunky metal pendants on leather chains.
Fringing – on bags and clothes – looked both playful and sophisticated. A fringed skirt and a blazer or shirt would do the trick nicely at the dressiest events.
Ralph Lauren by Lisa Armstrong
New York Fashion Week may be buffered by the same winds buffering London’s fashion week (dwindling audiences and declining sales) but it opened on Wednesday with all the trappings that have made it great copy for the past 40 years. By 2pm a growing crowd of people were gathering outside an anonymous office block at 650 Madison Avenue, on the rumour that someone famous might show up.
Ralph Lauren
They did, eventually. Oprah, Gayle King, Jessica Chastain, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Usher, Mindy Kaling and a host of other names who mean a lot in other markets. These days, a brand must cover all bases.
650 Madison is the HQ of Ralph Lauren, one of the few luxury fashion brands doing well right now. It’s a shiny Manhattan skyscraper you could easily pass without suspecting that several floors up, the interiors suddenly become English baronial meets Edith Wharton. We’re talking acres of dark wood panelling, jewel coloured rugs and Victorian oil paintings, although the show itself took place (some four and a half hours after the crowd outside started forming) in a long white box of a space.
It was a small room (that seated around 100) for such a big brand (valued at £14 billion). But that’s the way Ralph Lauren likes it. At 85, he is still master of the universe he created in 1967. Frankly, it’s remarkable how much his vision is resonating not just with customers who grew up with him, but new generations who can’t get enough of the conservative student, preppy clothes he made so enduringly aspirational.
There are all kinds of theories as to why Ralph Lauren the brand is thriving (up 8 per cent in the first half of 2025, when so many others have stalled or reversed). The clothes are aspirational, easy, glamorous and classic at a point when the fashion consumer is bored with ugly, complicated, one season hits.
If you want a simple visual explanation, this show, with its red, black and white theme and elegantly slouchy silhouettes, provided it. Trousers are wider and curved – a fashion touch, but one that’s not scary given that it’s really a continuation of the barrel leg. Maxi dresses wrapped the body like towels, the better to show off those Hamptons or Greek Island tans that will always be part of the Ralph Lauren world.
Sun hats are back, big time and big brimmed; the overall vibe pared back but soft, with a 1930s meets 1970s nostalgic sheen.
From silky dungarees, carpenter pants and red cotton maxi sundresses to stripy silk T-shirts (so many stripes) and belted blazers, this was an exploration of two of his lifelong preoccupations: how to make evening wear relaxed (add a vest top) and daywear glamorously functional (with bold, sculptural silver jewellery or a long stripy shirt over shorts).
