There’s beauty in simplicity and having a clear vision for what you want to say with a collection. For Michael Kors, this season was all about “balancing city rigour with relaxed resort allure”. Titled Urban Resort, the clothes weren’t about conceptual ideas of what his wearers wanted, but rather finding harmony between the grind and leisure, and how your wardrobe fits into that.
So, at 10am on the last day of NYFW, just around the corner from the West Village and past an entrance flanked by long lines of people and paparazzi hoping to get a peek at one of the many celebs inside, the brand created a maze-like mirror-lined catwalk filled with verdant green plants juxtaposed with the building’s stone structure.
Celebrating “the fusion of urbanity and nature”, Michael wanted to create something for SS23 that balanced what he sees as the best of both worlds. “It’s the luxury and sleek elegance of city life with the laid-back glamour you find in the best resorts,” the designer said in the show’s accompanying notes. “This collection uses a lot of elements that you normally find on holiday – lots of white, lots of bareness, soft caftans, bare strippy sandals – mixed with the crisp tailoring and polish you need in an urban environment.”
Casting-wise, the show was a veritable who’s who of i-D favourites: Bella Hadid, Paloma Elsesser, Anok Yai, Adut Akec, Rianne van Rompaey, Mica Argañaraz, Halima Aden, Selina Forest, Vittoria Ceretti and many others. Despite this superstar lineup, and the illustrious guestlist, which included Serena Williams and Anne Hathaway, Michael saved 25 spaces for students at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology), where he studied for a short period in the late 70s, having his models walk out onto 10th Avenue so as to bridge the gap often felt at fashion shows in a small but meaningful way, as well as bring the show out into the city where it will ultimately be worn.
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Images courtesy of Spotlight