Kirsten Dunst Bottled Her Signature Quirky Coolness for a Collaboration With Coach
Illustrator Jessica Herschko and Dunst dreamed up vintage-inspired bags, slipdresses, and denim adorned with whimsical illustrations
By
Tara GonzalezPublished: Jul 12, 2023
On a recent drive, Kirsten Dunst’s son was looking at the sun when he said, “When the sun and moon come together, it’s called a smoon.” I can see him peeking out of the corner of a door behind Dunst over Zoom, as the actress and I discuss her recent collection with Coach, created with her friend, illustrator and designer Jessica Herschko.
In 2020, the actress and the artist started Observed by Us, a creative project that began with drawing custom illustrations on everything from pairs of white Vans to children’s button-up tops. When Dunst posted about it on her Instagram Story, someone from Coach reached out, and soon enough she and Herschko were collaborating on a collection with executive creative director Stuart Vevers.
The ready-to-wear and accessories from the collaboration feature things like a “smoon,” handpicked straight from Dunst’s son’s imagination. When I ask Dunst if she wanted to imbue the clothing for adults with childlike wonder, she nods, “It’s accepting the randomness of life in a playful way. I think that the message is of being here all together, too, and the idea of floating in space.”
Herschko chimes in: “Basically, the overarching theme is that we’re all just kind of floating in space … everything is floating! Our ideas, our clothing, our bodies. Planes! Satellites! Everything! We thought it would be fun to sit around and sort of come up with these whimsical stories to make sense of things that don’t normally make sense together.”
The heart-shaped bags, denim overalls, and ruffled knit crop tops of the Observed by Us x Coach collection all feature hand-drawn illustrations by Herschko, floating at random near clasps, sleeves, and pockets. They were inspired by the stories vintage clothing tells, the kind that have a beginning, middle, and end you’re not entirely sure of—the kind with blanks you could fill in with your own memories.
“We’re always drawn to items from like the ’60s or ’70s,” Dunst says. “We wanted to have a vintage feel to this. Coach showed us old bags, and we knew we wanted sweatshirts and denim and the perfect little summer dress that’s kind of like a slipdress, too.” A favorite piece is a heart-shaped bag: “It lends itself to the way Jessica draws!” But mostly, Dunst just loves how the clothing speaks, she says. “Jessica and I made up stories to go with each item of clothing.”
Herschko says the two are drawn to vintage specifically because “[w]e don’t necessarily know what the story is, but there is a story behind every old Levi’s bell-bottoms that someone wore 50 years ago.” They saw this collection as a way to try to re-create the magic of vintage, especially given Coach’s 80-year history. “They gave us models of bags to work with that have lasted the test of time!”
In the age of celebrity creative directors and beauty brands, Dunst’s name being attached to the project might raise some eyebrows. But while not every celebrity collection feels like a natural fit, it’s hard not to see Dunst’s signature hand in all of the pieces, many of which were inspired by her own personal style.
“I think Kirsten has the highest level … not only in clothing, but also aesthetically in general. She’s an artist through and through. She doesn’t even talk about this, but she’s an incredible painter and her color palettes are incredible. Even the textiles in her home and on her clothing!” Herschko says. “I feel so lucky that I get to collaborate with her specifically, because every time she has something to say, it always makes it cooler and better and takes it to the next level.”
I can see Dunst blushing on the left side of my screen. She tugs at the collar of her shirt to say, “You know where I got this shirt? A New Zealand vineyard! It was the worker shirts. I was like, ‘I love your T-shirts!’”
Herschko laughs. “See?”
And now everyone will finally have a chance to own a bit of Dunst’s quirky coolness for themselves.
The Observed by Us x Coach Collection is available to shop today at Coach.com.
