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For productivity obsessives, Harper's Bazaar's "24 Hours With" series is always a fascinating look at how designers slot meeting after meeting, exercise, lunch, and enough time to be creative into one day. For the October issue, the magazine interviews Coach's newish designer Stuart Vevers, a Brit who has been reimagining the brand's Americana heritage for four seasons now. Here are some factoids from 24 hours in the life of Vevers via Harper's Bazaar, although perhaps the most amazing thing is he manages to sit through 14 meetings a day and still routinely gets eight hours of sleep.
Like Tom Ford, he's another designer who chooses baths over showers. "If I have time, I love to take a bath. I add a very sophisticated product called Mr. Bubble, and I like to lie there and check my phones."
He's a Marie Kondo type of person. "I don't have a big wardrobe; I'm quite good at clearing out my clothes. A friend of mine calls it "life laundry," where you go through all of your stuff and get rid of things."
He likes to road-test new styles of Coach sneakers and bags before they hit stores. "I like to try out new styles we're working on at Coach, and I encourage the rest of the design team to do the same. I know some designers are like, "Oh, I don't want it to be seen on the street before it comes out." But I'm not precious about trying out new styles. So I'll use a first prototype to give it a road test."
No wonder Coach's first runway show was staged on the High Line, near the future home of Coach's corporate headquarters. "I love to walk, so I walk to work and back home every day. It takes half an hour, and it's a great time to clear my head and think about the day ahead. Sometimes I listen to music, and most days I walk along the High Line, which is a real treat."
He's really into Bret Easton Ellis. "I like reading educational and advice-type books, but I'm currently reading A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara. I like novels that show the New York experience through the eyes of a dark horse. I used to read a lot of Bret Easton Ellis, like American Psycho. His style references definitely informed my take on fashion."
He has to have his 3pm tea break. "In the afternoon I'll drink tea, something quite British like PG Tips or Builders tea—a proper black tea."
He plans interesting vacations. "Last summer I took a train from Charleston, South Carolina, to Orlando, going from stately mansions and landmarks of the Civil War to Disney World. Nothing takes you from high culture to pop culture and back again like a journey in America. It's the inspiration for what I'm doing at Coach."