For Michael Kors, a great entrance is part of the clothes. His Fall/Winter 2026 campaign brings that idea to life with Misty Copeland, Sutton Foster, Judith Light, Audra McDonald, Lea Michele, and Kara Young—six performers who know something about commanding a New York stage.
As Town & Country reports, Michael Kors fell in love with theater as a little kid, when his parents took him to see his first musical on Broadway. It was a real doozy: Annie Get Your Gun starring the late, great Ethel Merman. “I thought it was a normal show. I thought she was a normal actress,” Kors recalls. “I remember sitting in the theater fully mesmerized.” Now, 60 years later, Kors and his husband Lance Le Pere go to the theater on a more than regular basis. “I’m a theater addict,” Kors says. “If there were a Theatergoers Anonymous, I’d have to join.”
As theFashionSpot reports, back in February, during New York Fashion Week, Michael Kors staged a collection to commemorate his 45th anniversary at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center (complete with supermodel Christy Turlington closing the affair). Now his 45th anniversary campaign continues Kors’ love affair with the Great White Way. Photographed by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, the images take a stripped-back approach. Shot in black and white, the portraits put the personalities of the cast front and center, with movement direction by Stephen Galloway and styling by Carlos Nazario.
“I do like how New York this campaign feels, which is very appropriate for Michael Kors to commemorate his 45th anniversary. The casting saves this from absolute mediocrity. They’ve all been photographed by I&V so beautifully!” voiced vogue28. “It looks like all these women were having fun. They are confident, beautiful, and happy which is always a yes in my book. Well done,” forum member WAVES applauded.
Yes, but what about the clothes? The collection plays with the tension between structure and movement, pairing sharp tailoring with draped jersey, fluid layers, pleated trousers, and statement outerwear. Sculptural bags and shoes carry that same sense of movement into accessories, designed with the pace of a New York wardrobe in mind.
Kors compares the way Audra McDonald transformed the material of one of his favorite musicals, Gypsy (“she took the wind out of me”), to his own attempts to reinvent the white button-down or the little black dress. “I can always look at another camel coat or another turtleneck,” he says. “You always hope it’s going to be a new one.” That’s just one way, Kors says, that theater is like fashion. A great collection, like a great stage production, “is the right thing at the right time. There’s an alchemy when it all comes together.”
The campaign also extends beyond the clothes. Michael Kors will make donations to Broadway Cares in the names of each of the six women, supporting the organization’s work with people affected by HIV/AIDS and other critical health needs.
—
Photo Credit: Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock.com
