A Day In The Life Of Michael Kors
“I sleep on white pratesi sheets. I can’t sleep on a sheet that’s colourful: it freaks me out”
6:15 A.M.First, I feed my cats, Bunny and Viola. They are feline alarm clocks. I named them after my madcap great-aunts. They turn into gymnasts and start leaping over us and jumping over our heads. I can’t remember the last time I set an alarm at home. Then I grab the newspapers. I read a lot of papers – too many. But I grew up waiting for the paper to be delivered, and I still am that way. I can hear it drop at the door, and the day begins. I actually like to crawl back into bed after I’ve fed the cats, who aren’t hungry. And I’ll kind of do my overview, just scan everything and see what’s going on in the world. If there are things that I really want to read intently, those I save for the end of the day.
Ultra Facialm Kiehl’s
8:00 A.M. If I’m going to the gym, I’ll do Pilates. If it’s nice out, I’ll walk over to the river and down to Battery Park and back. I’m pretty low maintenance. I’m a fan of chamomile shampoo from Klorane. I have used it my whole life, and I think it’s every blonde’s best friend. I use Kiehl’s moisturiser, a little bit of lip balm from Crème de la Mer, and I’m out the door.
9:15 A.M. We don’t even make coffee; that’s too much for us. I am so boring. Every day I have a bialy [a savoury snack similar to a bagel] with a little bit of butter on it delivered from Murray’s Bagels, and I don’t drink hot liquids at all. Maybe on the weekend I might combine breakfast and lunch and get a little salmon on the bialy, but that’s about it. I definitely have a fashion uniform – that is an understatement. It is always something black and knitted with a crewneck. And then either dark jeans, white jeans, olive cargos or chinos. The shoe changes. It can go from a black crocodile Tod’s driving loafer to a black New Balance sneaker that I have custom-made for me.
Bag, Michael Kors Collection Fall 2018
10:00 A.M. The car picks us up at home. I’m definitely a man who loves his tote collection. I’ve learned not to carry a big one because then I’m bringing things I don’t need. I have an LL Bean leather tote from the ’40s that’s small and really beaten-up and that I was very fortunate to find while I was vintage shopping here in New York. I’m not one of those people who sit in the car talking on the phone. The car is my moment to kind of zone out before I jump into the day. And in New York, it’s great for people-watching.
10:15 A.M. The only thing that’s always the same in my workday is that it is never the same. The only thing that stays consistent is that lunch out is not part of the Michael Kors day. The minute I walk in the office, my assistant will show me emails we have gotten, what phone calls have come through and what the day’s meetings are.
Michael Kors Collection Fall 2018
10:30 A.M. I’ll start with, say, a phone interview, then I could jump into a review looking at jewellery samples and then into looking at prints that we are working on for the women’s collection. I think that kind of changing my head all the time, after over 35 years, is what keeps me interested and excited. If it was formulaic, I would probably be bored.
1:30 P.M. Lunch, however, is unbelievably formulaic. I have either sashimi every day or a salad. Four pieces of salmon, four pieces of tuna, and then I’ll have maybe a spicy tuna roll, and that’s lunch. If it’s a really lousy day, like one of those days that you never want to get out of bed, then I’ll have a burger. It’s always delivered in, and it’s always in the office. I probably eat lunch out, truly, four times a year.
Michael Kors Collection Fall 2018
2:15 P.M. Every day, no matter what, there is going to be a minimum of two design meetings. And there is always going to be something like deciding on models or answering press questions. I look at all of it. Or my display team will ask if I want to take a look at new mannequins. It’s a lot. I don’t know what to do with what I call a grey day.
5:00 P.M. On workdays I’ve got to have two pieces of Ghirardelli dark chocolate for a jolt.
Michael Kors Collection Fall 2018
7:30 P.M. We usually go out. We go to the theatre a lot. That is truly my favourite escape. We do not go fashiony, we go the opposite and pretend that we are theatrical folks. We go to Joe Allen on 46th Street and sit at the same table. I always have a Caesar salad and a burger. When I was in Paris, we ate dinner literally four nights a week at Joe Allen in Paris. And if we don’t go to the theatre, most instances we’ll go directly from the office to dinner. We stay in the [West] Village for the most part. We love I Sodi, Sant Ambroeus, JG Melon and Elephant & Castle for that old-school Village feeling. Sometimes we venture out of the Village for Peter Luger in Brooklyn or Rao’s uptown. During the week we never, ever cook. If we watch TV, it’s either something that I can just take my brain out for, like RuPaul’s Drag Race or recently we’ve been watching The Deuce. I love its gritty realism, and I love the reboot of Will & Grace.
12:30 A.M. I sleep on white Pratesi sheets. I can’t sleep on a sheet that’s colourful; it freaks me out. I need the pillows all situated in different spots. I’m one of those people who wake up in the morning with all the pillows on the floor and the covers gone.
From the September 2018 issue from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia