The Coach Bag Interview: Designer Stuart Vevers Talks Us Through His IT Creations

Coach designer Stuart Vevers speaks exclusively to Marie Claire Runway...

Designer Stuart Vevers is the father of all IT-bags - the Mulberry Bayswater, the Luella Giselle, they were both his. Loewe’s Amazona? You guessed it...

Now, he’s working his magic at Coach, giving a cool-over to the all-American accessories house by introducing some covetable new arm candies, plus a ready-to-wear collection for the first time in the brand's 74-year history.

‘You can’t over-think whether something will become an IT bag,' he tells Marie Claire Runway. 'It’s instinctive. The term essentially means that the bag is resonating with people, it stands out and they care. The reasons you’ve noticed that particular bag are the same reasons I first loved it, and why it made it into the collection and the ad campaign and so on. It gets a reaction.’

Here, Stuart talks us through five of his favourite creations for Coach…

The Swagger ‘I’m so happy with the Swagger - that name was right there from inception. We launched it in the SS15 show and it had this immediate reaction that you don’t see very often. You can see in people’s faces, they pick it up and they get excited – it had a phenomenal response in stores, too. The turn lock is quite a cute story – it comes from the closure on the top of [former Coach designer] Bonnie Cashin’s convertible in the 70s.’

The Surrey  ‘I love all the bags with the text in our AW15 collection – they had a graphic quality that translated really well on social media. I was inspired by the idea of a girl in a gang who is personalising her pieces by writing in the back of them. Coming up with those words that sounded quite up and youthful was really fun.’

The Ace  ‘I liked playing with a bag that felt quite nostalgic – a solid leather goods bag, those traditional leather good-sy colours. Shearling trims and finishes really added to its authenticity – that’s becoming a key fabric at Coach as it’s luxe and accessible.’

The Dakotah ‘The Dakotah and other cross-body bags are also looking great - I designed those style in kind of homage to those great Coach shoulder bags from the 70s. It feels very American, it’s got a certain ease to it.’

The Tatum 'The Tatum is also really easy. It’s a tall tote, which we’ve used as a base for all kinds of prints. For SS15 we had Gary Baseman creatures on it, it’s such a versatile design.'