EXCLUSIVE: Coach to Show on The High Line Park
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Coach’s creative director Stuart Vevers is sticking close to home for his spring 2020 runway show: The designer has decided to show his latest collection on the Spur and Coach Passage, the newest sections of the High Line park, the brand has exclusively revealed to WWD.
Coach and its parent, Tapestry Inc., in 2016 moved their global headquarters to 10 Hudson Yards — situated at the foot of the High Line.
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“I’m excited to present our spring collection on the High Line, a place that inspires me,” said Vevers, who showed his first official runway show for the brand on the elevated former railroad line in 2015. “I used to walk to the studio every day on the High Line. I love the industrial railroad history that has been transformed into the green heart of downtown New York. To me, it’s a powerful symbol of New York’s ever-evolving history, and I’m proud to celebrate what makes it special and continue our long-standing support of the park,” he said.
The Coach Passage, named in recognition of the Coach Foundation’s various gifts to the High Line’s capital campaign, crosses through the brand’s global headquarters and features cathedral-like 60-foot-tall ceilings. As visitors leave the space, they enter the Spur section, which includes the Plinth, a large clearing with large-scale artwork and the first site on the High Line dedicated solely to a rotating series of contemporary art commissions.
“We are excited to welcome Coach to their namesake section of the High Line for New York Fashion Week,” said Robert Hammond, cofounder and executive director of the Friends of the High Line. “They’ve generously supported us over the years, including for our most recent capital campaign for the Spur and Coach Passage, and are a true anchor of this neighborhood.”
Since 2010, The Coach Foundation has donated more than $7 million to Friends of the High Line, the nonprofit group that operates the park, and in honor of the spring runway show specifically, has made a donation on behalf of each of the show’s guests to the High Line’s Adopt a Plant Program, which sustains the gardens all year.
“Support from partners like Coach helps us sustain the park for our visitors from New York City and around the world,” noted Hammond.
In the run-up to the New York collections, Hudson Yards, which is adjacent to the elevated park and was to be the setting for several shows during the season, saw defections by Rag & Bone and Prabal Gurung following backlash against real estate developer Stephen Ross — whose Related Cos. is behind the Hudson Yards development — for hosting a fund-raiser for President Trump at his Hamptons home.
According to Coach, choosing to show on the High Line — a public park owned by the City of New York and maintained by Friends of the High Line, in partnership with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation — is meant to be a celebration of the brand’s commitment to the city, the High Line and the spirit of community.
The Coach spring runway show will be held on Sept. 10 at 5 p.m.
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