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Michael Kors can’t shake the memory of a 1986 AIDS fundraiser fashion show held at the original Barneys New York location on 17th Street. Andy Warhol was there, and Madonna and Iman were among the models who descended the store’s grand staircase. “The staircase definitely was a turn-on,” the designer says. “New Yorkers love to make an entrance. Even if they’re making their entrance in their gym clothes, they still want to look cool.”
Michael Kors’s Manhatta bag on his fall 2024 runway.
Manhatta, the brand’s new shoulder bag, was shaped by that philosophy. The style, with its rectangular silhouette, triangular indentation, and chain strap that the designer calls “built-in rock-and-roll glamour and built-in jewelry,” is “quietly distinctive, which I think is so unbelievably New York. It’s sort of like, ‘I want to be noticed, but I don’t want to scream,’” Kors says. He was inspired by the clean lines of the New York skyline. “This is not a city of rococo; this is the city of streamlined architecture.”
“The shape is classic, but at the same time, very unusual. It passes all the tests,” he adds. “It’s a small bag that actually carries what you need it to carry. It’s not a small bag that’s purely decorative.” Kors wanted a subtle logo—in fact, it’s so subtle, there isn’t one at all. But look closely at its shape, and you’ll see an M. It could be for the M in Manahatta, an early name for Manhattan; the M in Manhattan; or the M in Michael.
Another Manhatta bag on the fall 2024 runway.
Kors’s fall show, a ’30s-inspired collection with elegant tailoring and plenty of bias-cut silhouettes, was staged at the same former Barneys New York store, where the models glided down the elegant staircase he couldn’t forget. “When I was designing the collection, I kept thinking about how New York constantly reinvents itself, about classic New York spots that have been fully reinvented for a new generation. Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle was old-school when I was a teenager. We never thought that there’d be stanchions at The Carlyle. Now they’re probably on their fourth or fifth generation of customers. I was thinking about timelessness, and about New York women over the years who have always understood timelessness.”
In a career lasting over 40 years, the excitement and energy of New York City have fueled Kors’s creativity. “It’s the speed of New York that’s always inspirational to me. We are the capital of FOMO. You want to be there first. You want to see it first,” he says. “The most fascinating thing is to have a mix of different people with different lifestyles, different perspectives, all in a very small space. We all feed off of each other.”
This article appears in the November 2024 issue of ELLE.
Adrienne Gaffney is a features editor at ELLE and previously worked at WSJ Magazine and Vanity Fair.