Increasingly, fashion is keen on providing a moment as well as a fashion show. At New York fashion week, Coach was no different. The venue for the Tuesday afternoon 1941 show, a warehouse space on the Hudson, was transformed into a movie set: glittery sand underfoot and dominated by a huge dinosaur made of rusty salvaged metal. Elsewhere, there was a shopping trolley, and a burnt-out car. Think the world of Mad Max Fury Road, but with celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Lakeith Stanfield and fashion models as its inhabitants.

The collection could be described as punk meets prairie, with models wearing frilled Little House on the … dresses, with biker jackets and earrings made from forks. Denim, leather and shearling dominated, with an XXXXL hoodie the shape for next spring. In a collaboration with Disney, 101 Dalmatians, the Aristocats and Bambi scampered down the catwalk. A Dumbo sweater, meanwhile, is destined to stamp all over social media.

Coach’s 1941 show at New York Fashion Week. Photograph: Billy Farrell/BFA/Rex/Shutterstock

Backstage after the show, creative director Stuart Vevers said he had been inspired by 24 hours spent in Sante Fe. “I did the turquoise trail, and I loved all the little communities where it felt like a house was propped up with an airplane wing. Then I went to Ghost Ranch [where Georgia O’Keefe lived] and the landscapes felt almost alien, and to a nightclub called El Matador ... The scavenging and salvaging, mixed with the alien landscape mixed with the western new romantic club scene, I was like: ‘That feels good.’”

British-born Vevers joined Coach in 2013 and has gained fans for his outsider’s take on classic American style. He has referred to everything from road trips to punk culture in collections and his strength has been cleverly straddling the balance between cool and mass appeal – collaborating with both the Keith Haring Foundation and Selena Gomez in the same year, for example. This collection showed him continuing in the same vein.

Patricia Manfield (l) and Olivia Perez at Coach’s 1941 show. Photograph: Billy Farrell/BFA/Rex/Shutterstock

Founded in 1941, and originally selling men’s leather goods, Coach’s bags stood for affordable luxury in mid-century America. Many of the most popular styles were designed by Bonnie Cashin, who worked at the company for 12 years from 1962. The clasp she used has been championed by Vevers, a nice touch tying heritage and modern together.

Lakeith Stanfield, Carine Roitfeld and Stuart Vevers. Photograph: Billy Farrell/BFA/Rex/Shutterstock

Coach is part of Tapestry, the group that also includes Stuart Weitzman and, since July 2017, Kate Spade. Coach is the biggest player, valued at $4bn (£3bn) by Bloomberg. The group moved into a new 700,000 sq ft HQ in New York this year, suggesting big plans are afoot.

Net sales are up for Tapestry in the year ending 30 June – rising to $1.484bn compared with $1.134bn in 2017. Operating income, however, was down – $187.2m compared with $193m a year ago.