Michael Kors Celebrates 45th Anniversary with Wearable Glamour at NYFW

Under the gold ceiling and chandeliers of Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House, Michael Kors staged a 45th-anniversary Fall/Winter 2026 show that felt theatrical and eminently wearable. The presentation spanned the opera house’s red-carpeted entry and a second floor, opened by a curtain chime and scored with mixes of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Sia’s “Chandelier,” and Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” It proved Kors can still marry operatic drama with 9-to-5 practicality without tipping into costume.

Kors delivered softened, structured tailoring that moved like daywear. Gray trousers that revealed themselves as a long skirt finished with a dramatic train and a tropical wool blazer softened by an elongated bias panel illustrated the collection’s hybrid approach. Portrait-collared toppers, standout pea coats, and stovepipe jeans made in cashmere and cotton pushed American sportswear toward polish. Kors said, “I wanted to really connect the show-stopping drama and opulence with something that felt totally streamlined, timeless, modern. That yin and yang has been at the root of my career since day one.”

Evening treatments were reworked for daylight with precise restraint. Sequins, paillettes, and ostrich feathers appeared on button-downs and pleated pants and were worn under longline blazers or alongside Oxford shirts peeking out from cashmere sweaters. A jaybird blue cashmere sweater was paired with soft tailored trousers finished with a train, while a big white button-down opened the show with a feathery black pencil skirt and almond-toed pumps. On the runway Kors observed that “the rules have disappeared. You can be 75 and wear a short skirt. You can wear flip-flops in the city. You can wear boots in the summer. You can wear jeans with paillettes.”

Styling by Carlos Nazario anchored the New York fantasy, mixing slick leather gloves, architectural accessories, and smart hosiery with a raspberry silk handbag punctuating a fitted tuxedo look. Turtleneck dickies allowed layering “without the bulk,” and a feathered opera coat slid over a white tank and pants styled with men’s lace-up shoes that had blunt square toes. The finale walked in a sequined top cut high in front and long in back paired with a sweeping skirt; sources recorded the closer as Christy Turlington, rendered regal with what read as a bare face, though some accounts spelled her name as Chrissy.

Front-row names reinforced the show’s Hollywood-caliber pull: Leslie Bibb, Uma Thurman, Rachel Zegler, Gabrielle Union-Wade, Dakota Fanning, and Kate Mara watched from the Opera House entry. Afterward Kors toasted to 45 at an afterparty at P.J. Clarke’s where Rufus Wainwright performed, underscoring the night’s blend of celebration and craft.

For workwear, the takeaway was concrete: featherlight textures and bias-draped tailoring can sit beside cashmere stovepipe jeans and dickie turtlenecks as practical, modern wardrobe building blocks. Kors turned anniversary spectacle into a blueprint for dressing that keeps glamour in play and makes it easy to wear on a Monday morning.