Michael Kors rings in 45 years with a grand celebration of New York Style.

“If <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/facts-about-michael-kors-fashion-designer-age-husband-nyfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Michael Kors</a> were in the dictionary, it would read: something that’s chic, laid-back, and glamorous,” says the designer of his brand’s defining ethos. His <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion-week/morgan-riddle-interview-photo-diary-grwm-michael-kors-fall-winter-2026-show-images-style-outfit-inspiration" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fall/Winter 2026 45th anniversary collection</a>, presented in February beneath the glittering crystal chandeliers of the Metropolitan Opera House to an audience packed with New York luminaries including Martha Stewart, Mary J. Blige, Uma Thurman, and Audra McDonald, was all of those things and more.&nbsp;“I finally feel comfortable saying,&nbsp;It’s very Michael Kors,” he reflects. It’s a somewhat unexpected admission from a designer whose signature camel separates and sumptuous cashmere knitwear are as instantly recognizable as his ever-present aviator sunglasses, the result of decades of refinement, not reinvention.&nbsp;“Between Michael Kors and my years at Celine—I couldn’t tell you how many turtlenecks I’ve designed,” says Kors, who led the French maison from 1997 to 2004. “I mean rollneck, turtleneck, cowl neck, whatever it is.”
There has always been an ease to Kors’s designs, however luxurious they may be. For all their polish, the clothes have never felt precious. “I’ve always believed in designing for people who live a fast life, and for finding the balance between pragmatism and glamour, casual and chic, <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/michael-kors-opens-collection-boutique-madison-avenue-nyc-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">luxe</a> and laid-back,” he says. The Long Island–raised Kors established his vision of jet-set style early, when he left the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1978 to work as a sales associate at Lothar’s, a sportswear boutique formerly located on West 57th Street. He quickly became its visual merchandiser and in-house designer, and soon met his first champion, then–Bergdorf Goodman Fashion Director Dawn Mello, who noticed his talent and encouraged him to launch his own line. Kors’s eponymous label made its debut at the iconic New York department store in the fall of 1981.

Michael Kors at his Fall/Winter 2026 runway show. Courtesy of Michael Kors.

“When I first started out, I was enamored by paparazzi photos of women like Jackie O. and Lauren Hutton, both the photos of them at galas and also the original street-style photos,” Kors recalls. “I loved seeing them just living their lives.”&nbsp;New York women remain his muses. “There’s always been a dichotomy to how I design and how I approach fashion based on life in the city,” Kors says. “It can be both gritty and tough but at the same time incredibly life-affirming and glamorous.”&nbsp;That duality was on full display at Lincoln Center. The Fall/Winter 2026 offering was not just a parade of gowns, though there were standouts, including a crepe jersey column covered in plumes and paillettes, and the closing look, a caped, hand-embroidered sequined style worn by Christy Turlington—both in very New York black. Equally striking was a floor-length T-shirt in ruby cashmere.
It was a procession of clothes a woman could wear riding the subway to the opera or stepping over the curb into an Uber. In Kors’s lexicon, evening is not a synonym for dress. “For some people, it’s a suit and for other people, it’s a man’s shirt and gray trousers,” he says. He paired a Delft blue button-up with exaggerated French cuffs with something he called an “opera trouser,” cut in swishy graphite tropical wool with a built-in bias overskirt that brings the drama, while tonal camel looks layered workwear staples like asymmetric skirts, blazers, and cashmere turtlenecks with plush shearling stoles. Winter-ready peacoats came with oversized, Audrey Hepburn–esque face-framing portrait collars, perfect for a city where Fashion Week leads into cold, snowy commutes. And, tellingly, there was not a stiletto in sight. “All of our shoes are for women who need to walk, pound it, get on the train, and move,” says Kors.

Michael Kors Celebrates 45 Years of American Fashion

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