About a dozen looks into today’s Michael Kors show, Kaia Gerber strutted out in suede riding boots and a double-face camel cape with a deep stripe of orange and brown at the hem. It’s a circa-2020 first cousin of a cape Naomi Campbell wore in his fall 1999 show that Joan Didion subsequently fell in love with. She went on to wear it in a Tina Barney portrait. Kors has done town-and-country collections with an equestrian inflection before; this wasn’t his first rodeo, but it was a very strong outing.
He set the stage with a runway of raw wood planks (they’ll be donated to Materials for the Arts afterward) and a performance by Orville Peck, the gay Canadian country singer who wears a fringed Lone Ranger mask. The collection’s blanket capes came from an urge for escape, Kors said. “It’s the dream of getting out, getting away from reality.” They looked as swaggering as they did cozy and secure in their many variations for both day and evening (and women and men). The swaddling motif extended to quilted cashmere sweatshirts and Aran sweaters, which he doubled up for emphasis. Another Aran knit was whipstitched with black leather—talk about a trophy sweater.
Kors’s comfort agenda applied to both day and night. There was a terrific Prince of Wales suit with an easy-to-wear pleated midiskirt, and pleats also featured big in his eveningwear. For an even more relaxed after-dark look, he showed a black sequined smock dress over a turtleneck bodysuit and another pair of riding boots. There wasn’t a pair of stilettos in the show. At a preview, Kors talked a lot about heritage—his brand turns 40 next year, so the past is on his mind: “In 1981, I said my clothes were about dressing for a fast life.” This season, more than ever, he has us covered.
