There are few shows in modern-day television that manage to get the beats of the ’90s New York fashion scene right.
It is, after all, the city that we’ve all fallen in love with via the tabloids and magazines of the day. It’s the universe that shows like Sex and the City promised to us – a pre-smartphone world distinctly different from the one we inhabit now – where you could work at the glamorously minimalist altars of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein by day and dine at Indochine by night.
And it’s one that Ryan Murphy’s Love Story manages to capture to an almost captivatingly accurate degree – right down to the wheatpasted CK posters disintegrating on the walls of the Garment District.
Yes, we’re talking about that show again… as is everybody else on the internet.
But this time, it’s for the right reasons. Because between Sarah Pidgeon’s beat-up Carolyn-Bessette Birkin and Paul Anthony Kelly’s killer charm as JFK Jr., we as a culture are collectively transported to a more familiar time, a time that we all yearn for, a time dictated not by our feeds but by feeling, and a feeling no amount of aesthetic AI slop could ever recreate.
In a similar fashion, when Stuart Vevers (a Calvin Klein alum himself) was appointed the Creative Director of Coach in 2013, he realized it wasn’t reinvention that the Coach customer wanted, it was that sense of familiarity.
“I sat in the archives, trying to learn what people had been drawn to over the years,” he says in a profile. And once his feet were firmly planted in the past, “there was a moment when I knew we should look to the next generation.”
Thus began Coach’s viral it-bag recipe.
The Brooklyn: Carolyn-Bessette Would’ve Loved It!
But for a man who, amidst the industry’s musical chairs of creative mastheads, has managed to stay steady for 13 years, Vevers denies that there’s a secret sauce to it-bag-dom: “If I knew that, I’d have a lot more of them.”
“It’s a bit of a mystery to me,” he goes onto say, “First, you just have to really love what you make. Sometimes that excitement translates to the client – but not always. There’s no formula here.” There’s, however, no doubt that the Coach client was excited about the Brooklyn – and I mean seriously excited.
When Bella Hadid was spotted carrying the voluminous carryall across NYC back in 2024, the Brooklyn broke the internet – among the first of many Coach bags to do so since. Fellow model-around-town Camilla Marrone and bratster Charli XCX have both put their stamps of approval on it, as have countless Coach users who rave about its sleek, subtle design.
But really, what the Brooklyn manages to encapsulate is the essence of that New York woman – one who walks everywhere, has the same coffee order every day, and stops by at the magazine vendor before work every morning. It’s an uncomplicated reimagining of those beautifully crafted Ergo hobos of the ’90s. It fits your laptop, it fits your day, and only gets better with age.
Not to mention, the Brooklyn has now become a New York fixture that would’ve been right up Carolyn-Bessette’s alley!
The Teri & the Nolita: Nostalgic Hits, Lovingly Revisited
But unlike some of its quiet-luxury-coded counterparts, Carolyn’s minimalist nineties’ nostalgia isn’t the only era Coach is interested in revisiting.
And the early 2000s, dear reader, was not subtle.
Logos were loud. Pochettes were tiny. Wristlets were social currency. And Coach was there for all of it. What’s interesting now is that instead of disowning that chapter – and the very logo-blasted cloth bags that once drove the company to its nadir – Coach is now championing it. “Those bags are now almost like vintage treasures,” says Hannah Krohne, a self-proclaimed loyal Coachie, “It brings a vintage, thrifty aesthetic to Coach.”
And while every adolescent coping with the horrors of middle school and America’s Next Top Model in 2004 lusted after those logo-encrusted Swinger styles (that Coach has also recently redesigned), worshipful videos on TikTok (specifically, CoachTok) and YouTube have driven today’s tween Regina Georges to the Teri and the Nolita – clever reimaginings of the original Coach pochettes and wristlets that stay faithful to their origins, but also fit a full-sized iPhone (and more!) – all at a price-point that doesn’t feel outrageous.
The Teri, for instance, maintains that compact, shoulder-skimming silhouette — the kind you tuck under your arm on your way out — but in proportions that make sense for 2025. The Nolita, on the other hand, still carries that deliciously specific first-bag energy — the one you’d loop around your wrist for nights out that don’t need documenting. Just a cardholder, lip gloss, and keys. No laptop. No contingency plan. A life that fits inside a tiny zip-top.
Where some brands would rather erase decades of their existence, Coach excels in embracing that very campiness that makes it Coach!
The Tabby: Bonnie Cashin’s Crown Jewel
And of course, no round-up of Coach bags is ever complete without the Tabby – arguably the one that brought Coach back into the cultural conversation.
But this triumphant return – that began with the Tabby, exploded with the Brooklyn, and is now churning out hit-after-hit – isn’t accidental. Neither is it because of its virality with the Gen-Z, the TikTokers running their manicured nails over the luxe leathers whispering words like “colorway” and “edge-paint”, ASMR-style, or even the endless personalization options the brand offers. Although those certainly did play their part.
No, the reason why Coach’s dip into the archives work – where reissues by rivals with bigger budgets, louder campaigns, and more urgency have fizzled out – is because it stayed true to its roots.
Vevers’ approach was to retain that very sense of familiarity that anchors Coach as a totem of our childhood – and a fixture of the fashion scene.
Yes, we’ve seen our moms lug their logo-laden affairs – brimming with the accoutrements of everyday existence – to school and then soccer practice afterwards. But we’ve also seen Coach remain salient among the style set throughout the ’70s – when Bonnie Cashin was first designing her revolutionary sportswear garbs, going on to become a status symbol for working women in the ’80s, get polished with a covetable minimalist sheen in the ’90s, and finally, live up to the logo-filled excesses of the 21st century.
And the Tabby – a modern reimagining of that archival ’70s Cashin Carry Chunky shoulder bag – has since become a canvas for all of Coach’s eras. Be it the OG glovetanned leather, minimalist spazzolato black, grungy florals, monogrammed canvas, or most recently, as the SS26 Explore Your Story showcases, personalized with accessories that tell our stories (sometimes in the form of, well, literal book-shaped bag charms) – the style remains just as relevant as it did when Cashin had first conceived it.
Because at the end of the day, our bags don’t just carry things. They carry time, memories, a sense of identity, and maybe a folded copy of your favorite book. And each Coach bag feels like a time capsule, a story of its predecessors told through the lens of the present day, grounding our lives with a sense of relief, familiarity, and safety, but in ways that still feel distinctly personal.
That’s a no doubt bold proposition to offer, and Coach is simply nailing it!
Yes! Love this take!
Their designs actually do looked very modern though it’s old model from years ago.