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Tough girls take the runway at Coach

Rivets, studs, fringing and tough-girl leather set the tone
Models in floral and leather outfits stand next to a rusty car at a fashion show.Getty

While you were sleepingโ€ฆNYFW guests schlepped downtown to the Coach 1941 show at Hudson River Park to find moody lighting and a bunch of trashed old cars balanced on top of one another. What was this? Mad Max 5?

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Designer Stuart Vevers swept the house clean โ€“ then let it get dirty again in the coolest way possible. Gone was last seasonโ€™s varsity innocence, and in its place: an edgy melange of โ€™50s rockabilly, neo punk and โ€™90s grunge.

Rivets, studs, fringing and tough-girl leather set the tone, which was anchored by brilliant โ€œbrothel creeperโ€ shoes like the ones London Teddy boys used to wear, only exaggerated in their proportions. Coachโ€™s version comes with very high crepe soles, the uppers made from red velvet or studded leather โ€“ theyโ€™re clearly going to be one of the the cult shoes of the season. (At this point, some of you will be scratching hour heads and saying, โ€œBoots in summer?โ€ but forget about logic โ€“ fashionโ€™s about magic; anyway Americaโ€™s spring is our autumn so theyโ€™ll be perfect for Australia.)

These cult-boots-in-the-making were shown with the jacket shape du jour โ€“ the bomber, in camouflage, khaki, or embroidered satin or leather.

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Prints ran from Elvisโ€™s head on shirts, to Coachโ€™s signature florals on dresses โ€“ but there was nothing sweet about them.

Sticking largely to a colour palette of black, green and wine, the new Coach girl wears her floral frock with serious attitude โ€“  sure, it might be sheer; you might even be able to see her pink satin shorts underneath it, but sheโ€™s no pretty little lady.

She knows exactly what she wants (and how to get it): arm candy. For Coachโ€™s Spring โ€™17 bag collections, that means small and structured, possibly bubble gum pink, certainly embellished to the hilt, and carried by a super-chunky metal chain strap. Get your motor running indeed.

(Credit: Getty)
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(Credit: Getty)
(Credit: Getty)
(Credit: Getty)
(Credit: Getty)
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(Credit: Getty)

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