NYFW: The Talented Mr. Michael Kors

Italian seaside opulence meets the Hudson River in New York City as Michael Kors channels the lifestyle of Tom Ripley and friends

Michael Kors’ Spring 2025 moodboard consisted of snapshots of Mediterranean beaches and Netflix’s new thriller Ripley starring Andrew Scott and Dakota Fanning. Yes, it was the numerous retellings of The Talented Mr. Ripley which inspired the designer’s current outing; the wealthy, indolent characters in Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel and the Gwyneth Paltrow-Jude Law 1999 film swanning about Italy’s (fictional) town of Mongibello.

It’s a type of lifestyle some of us might only be privy to when on vacation—the long, lazy, sun-drenched days by the water which turn into glamorous dinners in the evening—albeit every look in Kors’ noir-ish runway was designed to be worn by Marge Sherwood-types and the everyday New Yorker.

Set to the orchestral swells of scores I can only describe as ‘seaside opulence’, a classic black halter dress with a sweetheart neckline and a pleated midi skirt with a thigh-high split opened the show and was cinched in with a wide black belt. A made-in-Florence black raffia bucket bag added a playful touch to the look. Meanwhile, a boxy white blazer over a pair of Bermuda shorts was laidback sophistication personified and was teamed with the ‘Manhatta’ top handle, a new silhouette for the brand. Speaking of new iterations, even the classic white shirt got an upgrade, its collar constructed to sit on top of the shoulders.

“I think the world lives to go out to dinner, and back in the day, people like Bill Blass used to call it tabletop dressing,” Kors told WWD. “I love the gesture of clothes, but in real life you’re not taking a normal shirt and pulling it off your shoulders.”

Elsewhere, texture was overt: A black raffia coat gave the appearance of a fur one. A denim circle skirt displayed rather interesting denim floral petals. A lace slip mini is finished with heavy black fringing. Brown slides also featured fringing. The good old bucket hat had pieces flying off it.

But for every note on texture, there was a belt to cinch the waist capturing a 1950s silhouette. Yes, somehow, in grabbing the essence of Highsmith’s words, Kors expertly mixed the streamline simplicity of Anthony Minghella’s 90s-era blockbuster film. The real feat was making it wearable enough for a woman embarking on an Italian sojourn or, simply, going out for dinner in Manhattan. Eccellente.