Coach x Brain Dead Brings Back the Cult of Cool

“MISSED THE PARTY OF THE YEAR LAST WEEK BUT MY COACH GIRLS BLESSED ME 😭 😭 😭 😭”

Wrote the Instagram @y2kbags, before proceeding to unbox a rather curiously-shaped purse – silhouetted in the profile of a sideways human head, then rendered lovingly in Coach’s signature loved leather, neatly tied together with that unmistakable little leather hangtag. 

But before you jumped to the conclusion that here was yet another FW18 Gucci-esque affair – you know, where models strutted down the runway cradling life-sized waxen dummies of their own dismembered members (fashion, after all, is no stranger to reheating its own nachos) – Coach’s “party of the year” in question had, in fact, very little to do with human heads unattached, erm, to actual humans. If anything, it wasn’t a party at all!

Because midway through the evening last Thursday in a warehouse in New York’s Meatpacking District, models emerged from the pack of partygoers, walked down an impromptu runway, and disappeared back again into the crowd in a flash – faster than it took you to take out your phone, much less photograph it! Fourteen looks. Eighty seconds. That was it. 

This, dear reader, is Coach’s latest – and arguably coolest – collaboration, with the LA-based creative collective Brain Dead, unveiled last week to the coolest crowd of New York’s who’s who: actress and comedienne Delaney Rowe was there, as were pop-stars Troye Sivan and Lourdes Leon. 

Artist, fashion designer, model, and influencer extraordinaire, Ella Emhoff confided to Interview: “You wouldn’t expect a fashion thing to be this fun.” It was a true moment, and you just had to be there.’

“Euphoria – It’s Giving Euphoria Season 1”

…was how Rowe described the scene at the Meatpacking District loft. But perhaps even Euphoria couldn’t quite top the party that wasn’t, well, a party. 

The music was blaring (Zara Larsson, obviously), the cotton candy was fluffy, the lemonades were pink (and spiked!), the pretzels were warm, and somewhere in the corner, a queue of fashion kids was waiting patiently in line to board a flying saucer ride. Just your usual Thursday evening.

There was also mini golf, popcorn, and punky graphics slathered onto every visible surface. At the same time, showgoers petted fluffy pink shearling Empire 34 bags inlaid with just the most adorable set of teddy bear eyes. They plotted to steal those tempting knit button-ups peppered with the Coach insignia. 

It was the most fun anyone had had at a fashion event in recent memory. It was also very Brain Dead, and not just because of the flying saucers.

You see, Brain Dead, the collective, is actually an offshoot of Brain Dead Studios, a functioning movie theater and event space in Los Angeles. Since its founding in 2014 by Kyle Ng and Ed Davis, the label has straddled a line most contemporaries struggle with – and often spend enormous sums of cash trying: that the world you build around an object matters as much as the object itself. 

Which goes some way toward explaining the existence of Kachi, Xerx, and Zilly – mascots of the completely fictional, Tokyo-subculture-inspired amusement park that popped up at the NYC warehouse that evening.

“A lucid dream journey” is what attendees were told in the invitation by Coach’s creative director, Stuart Vevers, who goes on to explain, “Kyle and I became obsessed with the merchandise from a fictional amusement park – the mascots, the souvenirs, the idea of stylish superfans collecting and personalizing pieces over time.” Merch to a place that has never even opened its gates, only at Coach x Brain Dead!

“It’s Giving Chic Beanie Babies”

With high-profile, yet obsessively niche collaborations under its belt that include movie merch, made in partnership with A24 (for people who watch movies), gaming merch, made with Magic: The Gathering (for the proud gamers), climbing merch with The North Face (for people that actually climb), and a pretty deep-cut Star Wars capsule that focuses entirely on the franchise’s vintage Expanded Universe (EU) comic books and novels, Brain Dead’s trademark, writes GQ, is “clothes that embrace their community.” 

“For us, if we do a collaboration, we want it to be super weird and unexpected,” says Ng. “Brain Dead has always been about self-expression – culturally, as well as style – with the culture side being first, ahead of fashion.” And thus, its cult-like following encompasses a genuine community of people who care deeply (and possibly embarrassingly) about the thing in question.

Which brings us right back to the Coach bags of the collab. The shearling Empire 34, Soft, tactile, and completely unhinged with teddy bear eyes stealing the showgoers’ hearts as soon as they walked into the venue, is the undisputed star of the lineup, and it knows it. “This is me in a purse,” said influencer Devin Apollon. Correct.

But even beyond the Empire, the collection is a full universe unto itself. 

The iconic Tabby arrives reimagined with crocheted charms, embossed patches, and playful, puffy images of the three mascots: Kachi, Xerx, and Zilly. The Waverly, too, gets the Brain Dead treatment, as do a family of jacquard bags in pink, purple, and bright green. There are soft vinyl charms, button packs, sticker sets, a collectible lunchbox, and that souvenir cup inspired by the fuzzy Xerx – who’s also, yes, the (literal) face of the Empire bag.

Everything here is designed to be added to, built upon, and made more yours with every wear. Deliberately unfinished when you buy it, it’s only finished when YOU are done with it… which, if you’re anything like me, is never. 

When LA Streetwear Met Classic NY

Speaking of more, there’s ready-to-wear too, running the gamut of gingham bias-cut dresses, pleated plaid skirts, rugby polos, mesh jerseys, leather moto jackets, graphic tees, and pointelle knits, all styled with charms and chains. 

Models on the flash runway also sported sneakers and wood-soled clogs in loved leather and suede; “90s interpretations of ’70s silhouettes,” read the design brief. It was nostalgia staring back at nostalgia. Two generations of cast-offs, loved by a third. And nostalgia, after all, is what Coach does best!

“The first bag my mom let me borrow,” says photographer Quincy Whipple with a sense of pride, “was Coach.” Ella Emhoff’s first vintage bag, she recalls, was a Coach leather bucket bag she found on Poshmark. Not to mention, there’s an entire genre of online content – the Instagram @vintagecoachie among them – whose sole purpose is to excavate, refurbish, and celebrate the Coach archive. 

New Coach, on the other hand, is among the few brands that receive a consistent, almost reluctant, nod of approval from viral Gen-Z leathertainment sensation Tanner Leatherstein, known for his acetone-tinted enthusiasm in ripping into purses with gleeful schadenfreude.

None of this, however, is accidental on Coach’s part. 

“I sat in the archives, trying to learn what people had been drawn to over the years,” recalled Vevers of when he first arrived at the label in 2013. What emerged were hit after hit: the Tabby, the Swinger, the Teri, the Nolita, the Empire, and the Brooklyn, affectionate reimaginings of the Coach archives, not cherry-picked but cherished and carried forward.

Brain Dead is simply the natural next chapter, following up on a long list of cool, zeitgeisty collabs with the likes of Disney, Basquiat, and Peanuts. The fuzzy, tender glow of Coach blended with the cultural intelligence of Brain Dead, resulting in an active subculture with a point of view formed in post-punk record stores and skate parks rather than trend reports.  

“I think people are tired of things that feel too polished or identical,” Vevers said of the collection. And here’s a collection that lets you be your full, unapologetic, messy self. Dropping first via Selfridges London, and globally on May 29 on Coach.com and in stores, if the Thursday night party in the Meatpacking District was anything to go by, you’re going to want to be early.

In other news, I need candy floss on the menu at every party.