Pop hits of the past half-century formed a medley on the Michael Kors soundtrack—everything from Julie Andrews’s “My Favorite Things” to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” The lively sampling was the key to this collection. Kors called it a love letter to individual style.
Binx Walton, the beauty from Tennessee, opened in a floral dress, a tartan cape, and leopard-print boots—a mash-up that exemplified the playful formula here. The days of designer diktats are over (indeed, Kors hasn’t been the only designer to say so this season), so he did what any big-picture guy would do: He gave us a little bit of everything. There were grunge plaids and slip dresses, a “Jackie Onassis at Doubleday” camel leather trench, and boyish pairings of Argyle and plaid or Fair Isle and pajama silk. A Margot Tenenbaum tracksuit walked the runway and also appeared in the front row on a luminous Zendaya. No designer can be all things to all people, but Kors did his darndest here. For an industry veteran, he has a very 21st-century savvy about how the fans are the ones who are now in charge.
The two biggest bits of news were a collaboration with the illustrator David Downton that yielded a va-va-voom-y hourglass dress painted with women’s portraits, plus a range of leather totes to match, and Kors’s embrace of faux fur. This was a feel-good collection for more reasons than one. At a moment when the issue of casting often trumps clothes themselves, Kors’s show felt effortlessly inclusive in multiple ways. There were unknowns and there were runway vets, twiggy girls and curvy ones, male and female models from all over the globe. Kors sees beauty everywhere—a fitting message for Valentine’s Day.
