It’s very rare to see a creative director gush.
asserted
director → ’ → ?
But Stuart Vevers, the designer of Coach, is flat-out gushing on our Zoom call in June.
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Vevers → gush → June
He laughs, he smiles, he wears colour (well, navy, but he says pink is his favourite).
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pink → laugh → colour
For the past few seasons, Vevers has been optimizing, er, optimism.
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Vevers → optimize → optimism
Previously, he’s explored the impact of youth culture, the intimacy of hand-me-downs and warmth of retro-minded nostalgia.
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he → explore → nostalgia
But all these ideas crescendoed at Coach’s Fall 2026 collection, taking inspiration from both the birth of Vever’s second daughter and the technicolour of “The Wizard of Oz.”
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ideas → crescendo → Oz
Fittingly for a legacy American brand, these ideas were projected through an Americana lens, with lived-in varsity jackets, repurposed denim and Judy Garland-esque evening gowns.
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ideas → project → jackets
“I could talk about [that bag] all day,” Vevers says.
uncertain
Vevers → talk → bag
“The Kisslock was a phenomenon like I’ve not experienced before in my career.
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I → experience → career
And I’ve been really fortunate to have some amazing highlights, but that was something else.”
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that → have → highlights
The purse gets its personality from the 1960s.
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purse → get → 1960s
Coach’s first head designer, Bonnie Cashin, created the “French Purse” — a gold- plated steel frame with knob closures in glove- tanned cowhide leather.
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designer → create → leather
It was briefly reissued in 1991 as the “Lindy Bag” in celebration of the brand’s 50th anniversary, but the true resurrection of the Kisslock Frame came in 2024.
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resurrection → reissue → 2024
Vevers sent an enormous version down the Spring 2025 runway — playing off the overall theme of oversized toys and trinkets.
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Vevers → send → toys
He and his team were looking at how they could personalize the oversized teddy bear and dinosaur clutches and thought adding a Kisslock clasp to the front was the solution.
uncertain
adding → look → front
That led them to the archive.
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That → lead → archive
“And we were like, what if we make [the Kisslock] big? What if we make it really big, almost like a cartoon.
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it → make → cartoon
And the response was immediate,” Vevers says.
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Vevers → say → ?
The Kisslock Frame Bag 27 went viral instantly, becoming the most-wanted purse of the season.
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Bag → go → season
It was cemented in the cultural lexicon after being spotted in the arms of Sarah Jessica Parker in ”And Just Like That…” Season 3.
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It → cement → Season
The wait-list to purchase it became so long, Vevers himself couldn’t snag a bag.
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Vevers → purchase → bag
“I know it was a breakthrough because my friends started to call in favours,” he laughs.
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he → know → favours
“In those first drops, I couldn’t even get one myself.
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I → get → one
I think it was probably the third drop when I reserved one for my friend in Australia.”
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I → think → Australia
The bag looks deceptively simple: a big clasp, a big metal frame, a big pouch and a big strap.
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bag → look → clasp
But in reality, Vevers reassures me it’s quite the opposite, as is usually the way.
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way → reassure → me
To construct one Kisslock Frame Bag 27 takes more than 19 hours of work by hand.
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construct → construct → hand
“We had some limitations of how many we could produce because it was made in a very specific way with a specific factory [due to] the long, long frame,” he shares.
uncertain
he → have → frame
The one on the Fall 2026 runways, and coming into stores now, expands on the purse universe.
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one → come → universe
As opposed to being big and bulbous, the Kisslock Frame Bag 30 is long and lean, favouring an East-meets-West silhouette that has been trending over recent seasons.
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that → oppose → seasons
Vevers also evolved the material and construction, pushing the leather to be even softer and “squishier,” as proven by the scrunched-up way it was styled on the runway.
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it → evolve → runway
And it comes in a rainbow of colours from electric blue to poppy red.
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it → come → red
But of all the bags in all the world, what made this one hit?
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one → make → world
“It’s something that you’ve not seen before,” Vevers says.
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Vevers → ’ → that
That bag feels fresh and different and also very nostalgic.”
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bag → feel → ?
As an owner of the pink version from the Spring 2025 collection, I have a more emotional theory: It’s carry-on-sized time travel.
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It → have → theory
It’s childlike joy.
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It → ’ → ?
It’s that feeling of trying on your mother’s clothes when you’re a kid and everything is a little wonky and weird and oversized, but looking in the mirror, you’ve never felt more beautiful.
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you → ’ → mirror
That’s something Vevers can relate to.
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Vevers → ’ → ?
“Most of us don’t need another bag.
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Most → need → bag
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
