Calvin Klein Collection Spring Summer 2012

 Above from left: Look 2, 13, 6

Above centre: My forehead doppleganger 10-head Hanne

If you’ve never seen The September Issue then I implore you to buy it, steal it whatever immediately. It’s the closest you’ll ever get to Anna Wintour unless you like stalking and wearing night-vision goggles. I wonder if La Croix does night-vision? So there’s this scene where all the Vogue people are sitting around a table discussing the collections and someone is like “Calvin Klein?” and Andre Leon Talley replies “too clinical” and everyone cackles. And on Wednesdays we wear pink! Gretchen Leon Talley Weiners had a point though. For seasons now Francisco Costa has been so aggressively precise with cuts and fabric technology that the clothes lacked a human touch and looked odd on the models.
Sooooo for spring/summer Costa has lightened up. Maybe he’s smoked a bit of weed and realised he’s not dressing Rosie from the Jetsons. There were plenty of soft edges and a focus on bewbs and curves. It wasn’t like bustiers or anything ridiculous. Costa is way too smart for that kind of stuff. Look 2, 6 and 13 are perfect. There was a lot of Blushy/peachy/apricoty/nudy colours throughout which were a bit, I dunno, nauseating? But the clothes mostly made up for that especially the jackets and some of the dresses with camisole-like detailing were-dun-dun bullshit over-used fashion word approaching-fresh. Also, are spaghetti straps a thing now? Andre?

Blue Blue Heart

These are the most striking blues I've seen. This is at Calvin Klein Collection Spring 2011

Costa Cracks the Whip at Calvin Klein

Francisco Costa, head designer of Calvin Klein presented a strict, almost clinical collection for fall. I think his work is becoming so unrelenting that it lacks warmth and humanity. Perhaps he’s adhering to minimalism too much or only sees it in a certain way.

Jackets were cut in a way that suggested the body was still there under fluid, cocooning shapes.

Big sleeves had darts running up the cuff, gathering them and adding the slightest touch of femininity.

As noted by Nymag.com the collection featured three models who were much older than the rest: Stella Tennant, 40, Kristen McMenamy, 43 and Kirsty Hume, 33.

It’s suggested that they are more representative of the type of person to pull off these clothes: a woman, not a 17 year old teenager. I think this is an accurate point because the younger models looked like they were drowning in some of the coats.

It really was a beautiful collection and the clothes will get that human touch when worn by real women who want to look chic and fucking amazing.

CALVIN KLEIN SPRING 2010

There’s always an architectural quality to Francisco Costa’s work at Calvin Klein that clothes often look like modern sculptural buildings more than clothes. So much so that often the dress wears the model, not vice-versa. This is the problem I have with Costa’s work. I don’t know why but the collection failed to trigger a positive emotional response from me. I thought perhaps I just didn’t get it. You know, you’re the one with the problem Nigel. But then I thought back to Donna Karan’s latest collection and I felt like my heart was going to bust through my chest because it was so much more than just a dress on a model.

The show opened with a single-sleeved dress that sat away from the body like paper, as though it weren’t made for a person. Texture played heavily throughout the collection with some great results. Crinkled jackets, glossy tank dresses looked like latex, bubbly blocks woven into tops and jackets looked great. There was an oversized pocket motif that appeared on jackets, some jutting out and mirroring the hem of short sleeves.
Costa will be running head to head with Marc Jacobs over who’s got the best flats for summer. Both Jacobs and Costa did Japanese geta-like flats. Well, they’re mostly flat, Costa stacked them up a bit but they looked fresh and covetable. The collection had a palette of mainly white, grey and black with a dusting of icy blue, pale lime and pale pink on a trio of looks.
I can’t fault the fabric techniques, the cuts, nor the tremendous amount of thought that’s gone into his work, only the lack of warmth.