The actor and men’s wear ambassador for the brand has partnered with L.A.-based artist and painter, Blue the Great, on a special limited-edition collection of ready-to-wear, footwear, bags and accessories for spring.
The Coach x Michael B. Jordan collection uses the brand’s heritage as the launching point to spotlight the importance of collaboration and friendship.
The genderless sportswear and streetwear takes its cues from both Jordan’s style and Blue’s artwork. It features both Coach’s Signature and Rexy models, updated with Blue’s trademark mummy-wrapped art. The capsule also features a tote crafted from 100 percent recycled materials.
Jordan told WWD that he met Blue through some mutual friends and they hit it off. “I’ve always been a fan of his artwork, but I got an opportunity to meet him years ago,” he said. “We’ve always been super cool. We’ve kicked it. He DJs a bunch at the house or wherever we are. We’ve always wanted to support one another.”
Ditto for the artists in the community, whether that’s “acting, music, some form of entertainment, or cooking — whatever it is,” Jordan said. “We all like to get together and see how we can support one another.
The fact we can collab with Coach and take his artwork and the fashion pieces and do this collab together is the perfect example of building with your friends and turning that personal relationship into business in a successful way. [This is] what it looks like when it’s done the right way.”
Jordan said the process for this collection, where they worked with Coach’s creative director Stuart Vevers, was “super collaborative. The first time I got a chance to design with Stuart was a learning process.
To take the ideas I had and incorporate them into pieces that I love wearing — hoodies, backpacks, stuff of that nature. I thought that was pretty cool. One of the biggest things I’ve learned since our first collaboration is that there is no right way to do it, as long as you’re passionate and care about it. You have to take risks and swings. Sometimes more times than not, they pay off.”
He said one of his favorite pieces in this capsule is the zip-up switch hoodie in gray, blue and brown. In fact, he liked it so much, he’s wearing it in the campaign images. “The mixture I thought was pretty fly,” he said.
In addition, he’s partial to the “bolder pieces” that can be “mixed and matched with other things that you want to assemble your outfit with. You can just go head-to-toe from the collection. That works as well. I love the mummified C. I think that’s super dope. I gave Rexy a makeover which I thought was pretty cool, too. The pops of color, I think really work with this collab.”
Blue said that he’s “been doing the mummy motif since the beginning of my painting career which is eight years ago. It’s something I’ve been having fun with, building a signature identity with paint.” And as soon as he got a call about the collaboration with Coach, he knew he wanted the final result to represent the best of both. And for him, “I knew it would be something with mummies.”
Like Jordan, he also has some favorite pieces from the collection. “I like the duffle a lot and I like the pullover. My favorite thing is actually one of the women’s bags, the brown satchel. I like how the mummy looks on the C looks across the board.”
To introduce the collection, Coach will release a campaign photographed by frequent Coach collaborator Shaniqwa Jarvis. It will feature portraits of Jordan and Blue alongside beauty and lifestyle influencers Khat and Frank Brim and artist Tori Kirihara in an “open door” art gallery, which is positioned as a place for collaboration and connection.
“We had worked with Blue as part of our spring 2021 campaign, so I was excited to partner with him and Michael on this special collection,” said Vevers. “Mike and Blue have a great friendship, grounded in mutual respect for each other’s artistic approach. The combination brought originality, dimension and significance to this collection.”
This marks the second capsule that Jordan has done with Coach. The first, in 2019, was inspired by Naruto, a Japanese anime adventure series. Blue has collaborated with The Hundreds and Air Jordan in the past.