The NYFW Spring 2019 shows that ran September 6 through 13 in New York were the season Ralph Lauren turned 50 and the season Marc Jacobs staged what may have been his most theatrical show in five years. Calvin Klein 205W39NYC continued to deliver the editorial provocation while increasingly delivering the wearable retail story underneath. Tom Ford held New York. Coach 1941 kept building. Brandon Maxwell continued to make the case for being the next major American eveningwear name. Below are the houses we are watching as the spring 2019 retail floors begin to mature into fall stories.
Calvin Klein 205W39NYC, the fourth season
Raf Simons’s fourth Calvin Klein collection — staged September 11 — continued the visual language he had built over four shows, with a slight loosening of the editorial provocation in favor of more wearable pieces. The collection used American workwear references, rural-Americana prints, and the now-signature 205W39NYC shearling silhouettes. Calvin Klein‘s editorial reach in 2018 was at a peak. The retail translation will be the slip dresses and the printed work shirts; the runway pieces will sell to the same five percent of the customer base who buy the editorial work. The brand had effectively reset American fashion’s center of gravity, and the spring 2019 collection was the most confident execution of the new direction yet.
Marc Jacobs returns to spectacle
Marc Jacobs‘s spring 2019 collection — staged at the Park Avenue Armory — was the most theatrical Marc Jacobs show in five years. Massive volumes, exaggerated proportions, dramatic outerwear, all set in a single open Armory space with elaborate set design. The collection was a visible course-correction from the restraint of his previous two shows; it was Marc Jacobs reminding the editorial press that he could still produce a moment when he wanted to. The wearable takeaways will be limited but the editorial impact was real. Spring 2019 retail will deliver a more measured version of the Armory show.
Ralph Lauren’s 50th anniversary
Ralph Lauren‘s 50th anniversary celebration was the dominant cultural moment of the week, with a major retrospective staged in Central Park on September 7 and a runway show that walked through the brand’s entire half-century of American sportswear. The anniversary moment was the right one — Ralph Lauren in 2018 was the rare American designer with both the longevity and the cultural authority to claim a fifty-year retrospective. The spring 2019 floor that hits stores in March will be the cleanest, most-curated Ralph Lauren retail story in years. We are not buying anything new from the brand this season but the anniversary moment was important to mark.
Tom Ford holds the New York carpet
Tom Ford‘s spring 2019 show — staged at the Park Avenue Armory the week after Marc Jacobs — sustained the brand’s signature unapologetic glamour with a collection of sequinned eveningwear, sharp tailoring, and the dramatic silhouettes that have defined his American work. Tom Ford was, by 2018, the only major American designer who was making a complete commitment to evening glamour without apology, and the editorial press kept circling back to his shows for that reason. The Tom Ford Beauty line will release new lipstick shades alongside the runway in spring 2019; we are watching the bordeaux range.
Brandon Maxwell, the second runway year
Brandon Maxwell‘s spring 2019 collection continued his rise as the next major American eveningwear name. The collection used the brand’s signature Old Hollywood eveningwear silhouettes — strapless ball gowns, sharp tailoring, single-shoulder dresses — with an increasing confidence in the everyday-wearable pieces of the line (his daywear had been the weaker dimension in spring 2018). The brand’s retail growth has been steady; the celebrity client list (Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Oprah) has been consistent. Spring 2019 is going to be his strongest retail floor yet. We are watching this name carefully into 2019.
Coach 1941, year five
Stuart Vevers’s fifth spring at Coach 1941 produced one of the strongest American luxury collections of the season. The signature handbag silhouettes — the Rogue, the Dinky, the new Parker — anchored the retail story. The ready-to-wear continued the prairie-meets-rock-and-roll language he had refined over five years. Coach in 2018 had effectively completed its climb back to prestige; the brand sat alongside Ralph Lauren and Tom Ford in the upper-tier American conversation. The Tapestry Inc. portfolio gave the brand the runway to keep climbing without confusing the price tier. Spring 2019 will be a strong floor.
What we are buying for spring 2019
The wearable spring 2019 wardrobe, distilled: a Calvin Klein slip skirt or work shirt, a Tom Ford lipstick (Bordeaux range), a sharp Marc Jacobs piece if the retail price holds reasonable, a Brandon Maxwell tailored daywear piece, a small Coach Parker bag in a new finish, a Tory Burch wrap dress for the spring wedding-guest pile. We are passing on the Marc Jacobs Armory volumes, the most theatrical Tom Ford eveningwear pieces, and anything that reads as a costume of a previous era rather than an interpretation of one. The American spring season has a clear center; we are buying accordingly. We will see you on the third Tuesday of December for the winter jewellery roundup.