MICKAEL KORS

Michael Kors is recognized as one of America’s preeminent designers for luxury sportswear and accessories. Since his namesake company was established in 1981, Kors has never strayed from his initial vision of chic, luxurious sportswear with a jet-set attitude.

Today his company produces a range of products through his Michael Kors, KORS Michael Kors and MICHAEL Michael Kors labels, including women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, watches, eyewear and a full line of fragrance and beauty products. Michael Kors products are available in fine retail locations throughout the world, as well as in his own growing network of boutiques.

COLLECTION 2011

You wouldn't be wrong if you called this a greatest-hits collection. Over his career, Kors has ridden double-face cashmere, slinky silk jersey, the aforementioned fox fur, and evening crystals straight to number one, and they were all in abundance today. His MO this time around: playing luxe tailoring against languid draping. For every clean charcoal flannel jacket and straight-leg trouser, there was a clingy cocktail dress or gown. He's loving a tunic for Fall, but they shared the runway with bodysuits. The operative word here was sleek; even the furs were knitted to eliminate some of their inherent bulk. The prettiest came in soft shades of plum and mauve, layered over matching draped jersey tops and pajama pants. Nearly every look in the show was monochrome, the better to create that long, uninterrupted line Kors favors.

For the guys, there were luxe takes on wardrobe essentials, too, like leather reefers, tissue-weight knits, and trousers in stretch gab. But the boys couldn't help fading into the background a bit with all the crystal-studded evening numbers Kors offered, the last one modeled to sultry effect by his favorite model, Carmen Kass, in his favorite color, suntan.

If you want relaxed but unalloyed glamour, this collection proved that 30 years on, Kors is still the man to give it to you.

COLLECTION  JUNE 2011

A long holiday in Australia inspired Michael Kors' Resort collection, a very signature sporty/sophisticated mix of fluorescents, zebra prints, and scuba-influenced silhouettes, along with some gold brocade a shade or two deeper than his models' tans. "Sydney is the ultimate city beach life," he said. "I was in love."

But Kors is nothing if not an equal-opportunity designer. He explained that an acid green and black stretchy wetsuit dress could work with black tights and ankle booties in New York or bare legs and flip-flops in St. Bart's. Versatility is the key to what he described as his brand's biggest season of the year. So is range. The bright, graphic lineup included everything from "eat-your-heart-out-Ursula" bikinis and a sleeveless stretch bouclé tennis dress to ten-ply cashmere sweaters and a reefer coat in a cashmere/angora mix.

The Resort season is just getting under way, but already neons and sport are emerging as two early trends. That puts Kors smack-dab in the middle of things.

SEPTEMBER 2011

Michael Kors claimed his inspiration came from Africa this season. The show notes called it "Afriluxe," an unfortunate bit of marketing speak given the famine crisis in Somalia. But the designer didn't make that misstep with his clothes. This is, after all, territory Kors has explored before. He demonstrated a mostly sure hand today, synthesizing animal prints, hand-dyeing techniques, djellabas, and accessories like crocodile-strap cross-body bags and gladiator sandals that climbed almost to the knee with the easy American sportswear that he owns no matter what the season.

Cashmeres, his familiar one-shoulder dresses, sporty swimsuits—this collection had many of the Kors signatures. Only this time around, the sweaters came holey, as if they'd been stuffed into the bottom of a rucksack (OK, maybe better to leave them in there); an asymmetrical dress was woven and fringed by hand; and the tank suits were accessorized with utilitarian belt bags. Morocco? Montauk? A green and red tie-dyed cover-up will look just as right on the sands of either place. But if his gals will take a pass on a scrappy patchwork sweater and skirt, they won't need to book a trip to the Lebombo Lodge, which he mentioned in his program, to want to scoop up his suede jumpsuits, camp shirts, and wrap skirts.

Sarongs might be a tougher sell with the Michael Kors man, but there were other pieces that delivered the look in less obvious doses: long, dip-dyed scarves, slouchy cargos, ropy sweaters, and washed leather jackets.

DECEMBER 2011

ann Bonfoey Taylor, a skiwear designer-slash-Colorado aristocrat and the subject of a recent exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, was Michael Kors' muse for pre-fall. "Nan Kempner on the range," he called her, meaning the lady liked her clothes. The sporty, slightly rugged sensibility of her personal collection rubbed off on his: knee-length walking shorts met a dip-dyed Mongolian lamb vest, and a tissue-thin knit tank was worn with a low-slung taffeta ball skirt belted at the hips. For accessories, he showed harness bags and polished cowboy boots.

Kors said pre-fall means three things to his business: "seasonless clothes; it's the power woman's favorite season; and it's Hollywood's evening season because runway dresses are too obvious." In the first category: a draped stretch wool sheath in a black and white plaid. In the second: a three-piece pinstriped pantsuit the vest of which stretched down to the model's knees. And in the third: a black silk button-down tucked into a washed faille short-in-front/long-in-back skirt and a stretchy turquoise tank dress with that same sassy, asymmetric hemline.

The three editors in chief at his small presentation—power women all—oohed and aahed the whole way through, but the group saved their real appreciation for the designer's outerwear. Kors has looked west for inspiration before, but he's a city boy at heart, meaning he knows the power of a smart coat. We counted at least three: a Mongolian lamb chubby color-blocked in black and white, a red riding coat with a grand fox collar, and an ivory zip-front coat with a built-in leather harness belt so you don't lose it at coat check. See what we mean about smart?

COLLECTION 2012

Michael Kors had a very good day on Wall Street yesterday, with his company's shares rising 27.5 percent. The collection that put him in the spotlight again this morning won't be slowing that upward trajectory. After 30-plus years in the business, Kors has his formula down cold. Today he conjured images of a rustic-luxe cabin in the woods in wintertime—one exceedingly well stocked with buffalo check and fox fur. His trick, as always, was to filter it all through his glamorous yet practical lens.

There's a story Kors loves to tell, about a client who buys the designer's clothes in multiples, one for every house. These, too, will play as well in Manhattan as they will in Aspen. Especially the furs—shearling, Mongolian lamb, raccoon. Their envy-inducing potential would go to waste in the wilderness. For women who prefer their outerwear on the tamer side, he showed tartan chesterfields and striped blanket ponchos with deep fringe.

Daywear was all about the unexpected mix: an almost conservative midi-length skirt paired with a knit lace tank bustier, or black leather adding edge to a gray plaid dress. Cocktail hour continued to match country with city—see the ivory fisherman sweater and the gold lace skirt. But high evening was highly polished. The crystal-beaded stretch jersey gowns in red and black with keyhole backs were stunners. We wouldn't mind seeing an Oscar nominee wear either one of them.

His menswear played a call-and-response with the women's offerings. He might have done better by skipping the man-furs and a tartan crombie and matching trousers topped by a leather harness, and showing some elegant formalwear instead.