GAME, SET, MATCH

PHOTOGRAPHY: SEVAK BABAKHANI
CREATIVE & FASHION DIRECTION: KIM PAYNE

Sport is as woven into the social fabric of Australia, as Coach is to the American fashion landscape. That’s what I love about the brand’s creative director Stuart Vevers; although he’s British, he’s passionate about American companies and brands – remember Mickey Mouse? His latest collaboration with sporting apparel icon Champion is an extension of this notion, and Vevers is not only pushing the New York brand and its renowned craftmanship into a new space, he’s cementing his respect for the heritage of the house as well. Uprooting this new take on athleisure, and transporting it 16,000 kilometres away to Australia, is exciting. In a land where what our Olympians compete in is just as important as how they compete – and what a woman wears to a sporting game is as much part of the social rhetoric as the match at play – the Australian woman is lapping up this elegant and laidback collab. But it’s a duet that has also caused us to re-assess our Coach staples; why can’t we teem them with everyday sporty attire? Behold GRAZIA’s courtside edit, one inspired by its fellow stateman, Champion. On show in this arena tonight is an array of classic Coach pieces like the monogrammed canvas slides and the polished pebble leather on the Elise Satchel. The star of this Coach season, however, is the buttery soft leather of the limited edition Coach X Champion Turnlock Clutch In Signature Canvas. What a team. What a Coach.