This season s St. John presentation couldn t have been more different than last winter s runway show, where handlers hustled Kate Winslet, in a second-skin leather shift, into her front-row perch a few seconds before the show began. This time the looks were on mannequins at the brand s properly corporate corporate headquarters, just around the corner from its Fifth Avenue boutique. Senior VP of Design Greg Myler, who has replaced designer George Sharp, explained the choice of a static presentation this season as a way for viewers to better see the texture of the clothes. "We re a knit house, after all," he said. That s all well and good, but the truth is these clothes might have been anticlimactic on a runway. The silhouettes consisted of a handful of fit-and-flare dresses—further nipped in at the waist with wide patent belts—smart daytime jackets with pencil skirts, and a drapey tunic dress for evening. There were suits and dresses in color for those who like color, and similar styles in black and white for those who don t. Save a cluster of beads on a satin opera coat, embellishment was practically nonexistent. Myler s byword for the collection was "clean." As he finds his footing in his new position he ll most likely have more opportunities to get a little dirty.
