Style: COACH gets a reborn identity at 75!

At 75 years old COACH is looking better than ever!

COACH VINTAGE Circa-1971 Coach Mahogany Leather Fringed Duffle Shoulder Bag - $995
COACH VINTAGE
Circa-1971  Mahogany Leather Fringed Duffle Shoulder Bag – $995 USD

That can be due to a recent much needed facelift.  It happens as we become more tired looking over time. However the Coach bags that I own have remained in very good shape over the years with no signs of diminishing. Almost like new. Of course it helps that I look after my stuff with kid gloves but mostly it has to do with the overall craftmanship.  I always thought Coach never got the credit it deserves.  Similar to another brand that makes beautifully well-made leather bags, Furlacoach4.

Photo: Garance Dore
Photo: Garance Dore

Coach is more widely known than Furla though, and loved by many. Most of us are familiar with the Coach logo (although I’ve never loved their bags with the highly recognizable logo written all over them – I prefer the hidden logo) and the attractive leather handbags are readily found in almost every city.  Even though they’re well made using high quality leather and come in many colours and price points they never quite reached the “tops” in the designer bag category.  They were considered a “starter” bag which sounds kind of snobby but I think it’s because you can find them everywhere and they have so many outlets.  Also younger women can more afford them and if that’s the case and they’re made so readily available to the masses they are not deemed so ‘exclusive’. But that may change now as the brand becomes more upscale.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  They never had a problem selling but now they may become more sought after and appeal to a different demographic – a more sophisticated crowd.

COACH VINTAGE Circa-1973 Coach British Tan Leather Rip & Repair Small Dinky Bag $695
COACH VINTAGE
Circa-1973 British Tan Leather Rip & Repair Small Dinky Bag – $695 USD

Not all about the BAG

They make more than bags you know and they have Stuart Vevers. Entering his third year as creative director for the brand, Stuart Vevers has revamped an American Classic into a brand every girl wants to wear again.  A major feat.  He is in charge of all creative aspects of the Coach brand, including Women’s and Men’s product design, brand imagery, and store environments. Since his takeover we can expect to see mini skirts and mod square-toed boots with a hint of bohemia & rock n’ roll details (studs, metallic, floral prints and leather – lots of it).  It helps that cool girl Dree Hemingway is a model for them.

The ultimate nod is that they’re re-introducing some popular styles from the past – available exclusively at the exclusive department store Barneys no less.

COACH VINTAGE Circa-1972 Coach Black Leather Fringed Stewardess Bag $1,195 USD
COACH VINTAGE
Circa-1972  Black Leather Fringed Stewardess Bag – $1,195 USD

On the occasion of celebrating 75 years in the leather biz, the brand is taking a look back by launching three customized iconic vintage bags. The Dinky, Stewardess and Duffle were selected for the “Coach Vintage Collection,” sourced from collections all over the world, but originally created in NYC in the 1970s and 80s. Over 18 months, the bags underwent authentication and restoration processes before each was given one of three hand-applied motifs—Fringe, an homage to the American West, Rip and Repair, a nod to the baseball mitts that inspired the original founders of Coach and Vintage Stripe, a reference to classic Ivy League style. “This feels like the perfect way to honor our 75th anniversary by bringing together our heritage with something new in one project, “Vevers explains, “It was lots of fun creating these one of a kind pieces for Barneys.”

The limited-edition collection retails for $595-$1,195 and will be available exclusively at Barneys New York locations on Madison Avenue and Beverly Hills, as well as barneys.com.

THE BOOT: BANDIT Chelsea by Coach

Coach Bandit Chelsea Boot
Coach Bandit Chelsea Boot

Traditional Americana goes downtown in a cropped cowboy boot (always loved the cropped cowboy – maybe I’m a cowgirl at heart) colorblocked in black and oxblood leathers with a saddle leather gore and exotic embossing on the heel. This statement limited edition is finished with a low heel for all-day ease.  Niiiice!

What do you think?  Like or no like?

 

Vintage Style – the thrill of the find

They don’t make em like they used tovintage2 (2)

Some Vintage shopping advice:

I don’t know about everyone else but I enjoy searching for a good vintage piece.  Something that is considered a “good find” so to speak.  This is not entirely true because I have never searched very hard,  most of the vintage things I’ve bought was found by accident. In other words I wasn’t really looking for anything specific, the stuff just found me (they find me everywhere). But it’s amazing what you can come across if you know what to look for and have some patience.  I’m usually delightfully surprised by at least one item.  The best places to shop of course are upscale areas in metropolises like New York, London or L.A.  I still have a pair of pants purchased from a flea market on Portobelllo Road in Notting Hill.  Well made clothes never go out of style.

This kind of shopping comes by way of specialty vintage boutiques (like Decades in Los Angeles where I once bought a small Gucci bag), vintage2vintage clothing fairs (where I scored my Pucci wedge sandals), consignment stores (make friends with the owner and they’ll let you know when something special comes in), auctions, on-line sales sites (1st Dibs?), flea markets, estate sales, even yard or garage sales. I bought a one-of-a-kind Fendi baguette from a yard sale of all places.  Never used (by the seller that is).  In fact it was so cheap that I wondered if it was a knock-off at first.  The “best-ever”bag find was bought by a friend of mine – a real steal.  She purchased a Louis Vuitton Speedy Bag for only $5.00 and It’s real (major bag envy because I paid full price for mine).  So we can benefit from the relatively small group of people who don’t know what they have or just don’t care.

If it’s an estate sale, head for the bedroom where the clothes of the lady of the house are often laid out.  Here you could be face-to-face with the situation vintage shoppers dream about – the discovery of an entire wardrobe of a person whose taste is much like your own, and in your size.  Keep dreaming, and make her a rich person who shopped in Paris, whose heirs care more about her Sisleys than her Schiaparellis.  It can happen. I came thisclose to scoring a vintage Chanel jacket that fit me to a tee rummaging through someone’s closet.  I no sooner put it down (never do this) before someone else snapped it up.  That opportunity has not presented itself again.  I think of it as “the one that got away” but I’m still dreaming….

Such sales in resort areas like Palm Beach, Long Island or Santa Barbara (I just bought a pair of Chanel costume earrings in *Santa Barbara) offer particularly rich possibilities but other suburban places and outskirts have yielded legendary vintage finds.  I have friends who are experts at recognizing quality vintage jewelry (a category onto itself) which really helps.

Here’s what you really need to know:

Obviously just because a garment is old does not automatically make it better. OLD is just OLD.

What you are looking for is vintage clothes (accessories, etc.) of great quality and interest.  One of the primary reasons for shopping vintage is the chance to buy a garment as beautifully styled and made as the couture clothes of today for less than you would pay for the cheesy, cookie-cutter stuff at the mall. This is easier to accomplish than you might think.  Many pre 60’s clothes were made by hand, using beautiful fabrics that are now too expensive for most manufacturers to use (like a perfectly cut navy gabardine blazer I once bought in Toronto with nice buttons) or they have ceased to be made at all.

You should not settle for anything other than perfect or near-perfect condition.  If the item is in the almost-perfect category make sure the problem is something you can fix.

Look for great styling, expensive or intricate fabrics, interesting finishing touches, and first-class hand workmanship.  These are the qualities that make a vintage garment a wearable classic.

You can always mix classic with your contemporary clothing, in fact it looks best to do so. Most of all have fun looking.  Remember, there’s only one of everything!

*the shop where I bought the earrings had one pair of Manolo Blahnik ornate jeweled flats that fit me. The store owner was going to let them go for only $20 but the toe was pointier than I like so I didn’t buy them.  Sometimes even if the shoe fits and the price is better than…you might have to unfortunately say “no” if the style doesn’t suit you.  You loss is someone else’s gain. Omg Only $20???  You ask yourself, should I have bought them anyway? Shades of Carrie Bradshaw…

Have you made any great discoveries?

Other Sources: Vintage Style – a great overall guide by Tiffany Dubin (former founder & director of Sotheby’s world famous fashion department store in New York) & Ann E. Berman (well-known freelance writer on art collecting and design for publications such as Town and Country, Architectural Digest, Martha Stewart Living & The Wall Street Journal) – Harper Collins. vintage1 (2)vintage1 p.s. buy the way, I bought the hard cover book at a garage sale during Modernism week in Palm Springs while out riding my bike.