New York Fashion Week: Michael Kors, Coach and Brandon Maxwell debut collections

Clearly enjoying a return to live events, designers are bringing a new energy to the runway

Brash colour clashing at Brandon Maxwell for spring 2022. Photo: Brandon Maxwell

Coach spring 2022 offered a houndstooth dress. Photo: Coach

A ladylike air at Michael Kors for spring summer 2022. Photo Michael Kors

Michael Kors reworked a 1950s feel for spring summer 2022. Photo: Michael Kors

A patterned micro dress worn with an oversized jacket, at at Brandon Maxwell for spring 2022. Photo: Brandon Maxwell

A graffitti T shirt and leather culottes for Coach spring 2022. Photo: Coach

Fluid tailoring at Michael Kors for spring/summer 2022. Photo: Michael Kors

A vintage inspired look for Coach spring 2022. Photo: Coach

For spring 2022, Brandon Maxwell delivered sassy, tailored looks brimming with pattern. Photo: Brandon Maxwell

Michael Kors made knitwear sassy for spring/summer 2022. Photo: Michael Kors

Playing with volume at Coach spring 2022. Photo: Coach

Colour and shimmer at Brandon Maxwell for spring 2022. Photo: Brandon Maxwell

A ladylike air by Michael Kors for spring summer 2022. Photo Michael Kors

Swirling pattern at Brandon Maxwell for spring 2022. Photo: Brandon Maxwell

Updated streetwear at Coach spring 2022. Photo: Coach

Michael Kors offered stylish sequins for spring/summer 2022. Photo: Michael Kors

Following a digital-only approach for the past two seasons, the return of in-person shows at New York Fashion Week marks the resumption of a near-normal schedule for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, and designers are clearly loving it.

Day three of New York Fashion Week was filled with energetic shows and creative collections, as a number of big-name designers returned to the catwalk with live audiences.

Michael Kors

After 18 months away from an audience-led runway, Kors returned in style with a sassy collection that leant on the 1950s, but freshly reimagined.

Opening with Kendall Jenner walking the runway in a sleek, high-waisted pencil skirt and bra top, more slick silhouettes arrived as Bardot tops over fitted pencil skirts, as well as pedal pushers under shrunken cardigans. Fitted and feminine, rather than being pastiche thanks to Kors's clever eye, the collection instead felt updated, with higher waists and thick, patent belts.

White lace came in the form of pretty full skirts, and caramel leather was laser-cut into a perforated knee-length skirt sure to catch the eye of every well-dressed New Yorker. As a designer, Kors knows exactly what his clients want, and with this outing, he upped the ante.

Coach

Delivered as an ode to the street style of New York, the Coach show was a merry skip through graphic T-shirts mixed with checked pencil skirts and thrift store-inspired mini dresses.

Filled with bold patterns and colours – think turquoise hounds tooth and raspberry hooded capes – this was young and carefree.

Throwing out rigid dress codes, this was a joyful miss-match of leather culottes, bra tops and even trompe-l'oeil tops and dresses, all worn with high-top boots.

While looking every inch as if they had arrived by skateboard, the models still managed to carry delicate, structured bags, in a display of New Yorker multitasking at its best.

Brandon Maxwell

This stylist-turned-designer has made a name for delivering serious red carpet looks. So imagine the surprise when, in the new post-pandemic show, Maxwell sent out a collection dazzling with colour and pattern.

The shift feels authentic, and brims with a sense of fun. Think rugby stripes of emerald and gold as a bandeau dress, and a spaghetti strap dress patterned with pink and orange psychedelic swirls. More arty patterning arrived as a low rise tailored trousers worn with a matching bra top and shirt, while more orange and pink swept down the runway as a hooded parka worn over a micro dress.