Saturday, September 13, 2008

new york - calvin klein - spring/summer 2009


an archetectonic idea has become a hugely influential movement in fashion for the past couple of seasons. for spring/summer 2009 francisco costa showed his own take on how to transform a two dimensional sketch into a three dimensional silhouette. since taking over the duties as creative director at calvin klein, the architectural influence was something that costa explored since the beginning of his tenure. the lines and silhouette of his clothes evokes anything from towering modernist skyscrapers, or the geometry of art deco. all the while he managed to give the clothes a feeling of lightness, like they're breathing. but this time however there was a sense of automation in how the clothes were executed. while the construction of the clothes is undoubtedly a marvel of technical ingenuity, the soul that gave calvin klein's minimalism its success was somewhat absent. just like how modernism was criticized for lacking in humanity and personality, the same argument can be said about these clothes (not even a more gentle colour palette could fix that). it was obvious that this collection was an exploration of ideas that was first touched on for the resort collection. the micro pleating, the colour, a silhouette that stands away from the body, these were all present in the resort collection which costa was more light handed with therefore it didn't come across as being too over worked. it had the fluidity that unfortunately was missing for spring. if this was another label like gianfranco ferre or tao then this collection might've worked for that clientel. but the calvin klein customer isn't looking for high drama. they want classic, no fuss american sportswear that they can depend on.


photo: style.com

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