New York Fashion Week: Coach’s highway honeys

Reporting from New York — Stuart Vevers, the designer hired to turn around Coach, showed his second ready-to-wear collection for the American fashion brand during New York Fashion Week on Thursday at a gallery space downtown.

The inspiration: Roadside Americana, classic workwear silhouettes and the 1984 cult film “Paris, Texas.” A beautiful oddness, according to show notes.

The look: Highway honey.

The scene: A mural of a barren highway landscape with road signs pointing to Route 66 and Amarillo set the scene for models clip-clopping out onto the runway dressed in sorbet colors and girly short skirts.

Key pieces: Shaggy pastel-colored furs, patent leather field vests and miniskirts, flared pants and creature T-shirts featuring artwork by L.A.-based animator Gary Baseman. Fugly shower slide sandals and clogs in white trash white. Candy-colored, cross body flap bags.

The verdict: The cutesy, vintage feel of this collection seems tailor-made for a campy fashion magazine spread. But how it will play in the real Paris, Texas, and whether or not it can buoy Coach’s sagging profits, is another matter. It may be a little too odd for that -- and a little too young. One of the reasons Coach started losing loyal customers a few years back was because it became too teen dream and not enough timeless classic.

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