Francisco Costa s strong Fall message meant expectations were high today at Calvin Klein. The collection began with an all-white passage: a lean, chalky jacket, bodysuit, and high-waisted skirt; a shift with nothing to interrupt its lines from shoulder to shin but the model s narrow curves. Slowly working color in, Costa showed a short-sleeve leather jacket decorated in a barely traceable graphite pattern with slim, tapering pants and followed that look with a gray wrap dress softly draped at the back. A trio of long T-shirt dresses with seamless shoulders in pretty, vivid shades of blue and green stood out, but Costa seemed to prefer neutrals. A bias-cut backless halter gown that closed the show was a shade of buff that barely registered.
Here and there, a curving seam interrupted the spare, clean canvas of these clothes, as did the extra panels on the fronts of the dresses. It wasn t enough, however, to alleviate the quiet repetitiveness of the collection as a whole. Yes, it was minimalist in the style of old-school Calvin, but there was a whiff of Raf Simons Jil Sander here, too. Now that Costa has proven he has original ideas, we expect something more inventive from him.
