Michael Kors inspires timeless monochromatic elegance in an ode to his late mother’s signature style for SS24.

“For anyone who knows me – I am an optimist. And I am also a pragmatist,” Michael Kors said at a cocktail event on Monday night.

The context was apart from the collection he’d shown in the morning, but no matter. One’s character traits remain constant, and Kors is surely Both optimist and pragmatist, in and outside of fashion. He’s also an emotional New Yorker. On Monday morning, September 11th , Kors brought his show guests to Domino Park, a waterfront expanse in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn. For his runway, he installed a white boardwalk, and decorated the safety barrier with swags of vibrant fuchsia flowers. He made no formal reference to the 9/11 anniversary, but the vista said plenty – the Manhattan skyline, now differently beautiful.

Compared to huge realities, a big fashion show is a small matter. But for most of us, life is made up of a series of small matters that intertwine into a complicated whole. Kors dedicated this show to his mother, Joan Kors, who died last month. From the get-go, she nurtured his love of fashion and enabled his wanderlust – while wearing some pretty snazzy outfits. These left impressions on him as powerful as those of Kors’ other long-running muses, women like Jackie O and Jane Birkin.

This collection was dedicated to Joan while also nodding towards his other glam icons, specifically their love of a chic beach respite. “Barefoot Glamour,” Kors wrote in his program notes, declaring the show a celebration of holiday romps from “Saint Barts to St. Tropez...Phuket to Palm Beach…Rio to Ravello.” His wardrobe prescription for said locales? What else, but a divine cocktail of optimistic pragmatism? That meant clothes alluring in their simplicity – pretty, sensual, unfettered and realized in uncomplicated silhouettes and a mostly neutral palette with shots of potent color.

Kors opened with a trio in white lace, cut to expose legs and flashes of midriff. The material returned in gold for a flute-sleeved dress and skirt, and in a beaded beige skirt worn with a pink sweater. Beiges, taupes and browns figured prominently, too, often in alluring near-matches to the models’ skin tones. Some dresses were cut close to the body, others, with a bit of swish. Separates ranged from everyday essentials like big, crisp shirts to a pair of lace wonders – pink pants for pizzazz and orange undies for a naughty note. Kors wants his women to grab the brass ring – literally and in multiples.

He used the hardware for belts, or to fasten bra tops and play peek-a-boo with skirt panels and dress inserts. While it all looked inviting on the boardwalk, these clothes aren’t limited to the beach; they’ll easily crossover to more citified situations (well, maybe not the orange undies). As for the bare feet, recall Kors’ self-proclaimed pragmatism. Swell though his boardwalk looked, this was NYC, not a sandy beach, so he subbed in barely-there flat sandals.

Hours later, Kors hosted a cocktail party at the UN to mark the 10 th anniversary of the Michael Kors brand- World Food Programme partnership that focuses on school meals. That’s when he mentioned his defining personality characteristics. He added that, “with a roll up your sleeves attitude…I believe zero hunger is something that we truly can achieve.” Optimism and pragmatism. They work – in and out of fashion.