Michael Kors Fall 2014

Anyone could talk about before the Michael Kors show was the news last week that thanks to his soaring stock price, the designer is now a billionaire. That kind of fortune could de-incentivize even the most ambitious type. Not Kors. The last couple of collections, he’s just gotten better and better.

In some ways, Fall looked like an evolution of his Spring show. Easy printed dresses cinched with a leather belt, simple cotton shirts tucked into unpretentious A-line skirts, a chunky cardigan over a little slip of a dress—they all had encore performances here. That’s no criticism; too much of a good thing is wonderful. But Kors has been around long enough to know that he can’t repeat himself and get away with it. And so he mixed in a little Big Sur with the Big City. If Meryl Streep circa the late seventies was last season’s muse, here it looked like he could’ve been channeling Stevie Nicks. Sleeves were billowier, the fil coupe fabrics were more shimmery, and the furs had just a touch more shag. And there were miles and miles of suede fringe, which he used quite convincingly for daytime. A skirt draped from chocolate brown fringe looked fantastic with an ombré Aran pullover, and the fawn-colored version he paired with a hand-knit sweater and wool melton men’s coat was a contender for the look of the show.