rmtfkkg: Designer

Calvin Klein Collection
Designer: Francisco Costa
Date and Location: Thursday, Feb. 17, 205 West 39th Street
Photos: slide show

“A purple brigade, a veritable mauve decade.” (The Cut)
“She fed the eye … with a storm of feminine colors, like pale lemon and jade, and new long-sleeved minidresses and suits with a floppy velvet bow at one side.” (The New York Times)
“A very happy place.” (Style.com)
“Scott demonstrated a wonderful, devil-may-care attitude with colors, lengths and shapes that all worked in that charming, eccentric way her cult customer loves.” (WWD)

On the eighth and final day of a New York fashion week that turned out to be all about fashioning modern Americana designer handbags cheap, Scorecard knows critics weren’t quite sure what to make of the erstwhile master of prairie-luxe Ralph Lauren’s rather literal love letter to the screen siren glamour of a “Limehouse Blues”-era Anna May Wong. Meanwhile over at Calvin Klein, Francisco Costa infused his minimalist chic with a new sporty vibe. That was deemed a stylistic home run.

“He put the icing on New York Fashion Week.” (AP)
“Ultra-feminine frocks for every occasion (matching pup not included).” (Daily Front Row)
“A dog show called ‘Cake.’” (Elle.com)
“You know it’s going to be a good time at the show when a) you’re greeted by a cute waiter offering slices of chocolate cake, and b) among the show notes, it credits ‘Dog Grooming: The Salty Paw.’” (FabSugar)
“A fantastical take on uptown luxe.” (FashionEtc.com)
“[A] delectable, whimsical collection.” (Fashionista)
“Best in Show goes to a textured coat that looked to be made of tiny pastel flowers sewn together. Second place goes to Mr. Mizrahi’s version of a long poodle skirt, in gray flannel, with a poodle pin at the waist.” (On The Runway)
“A collection of desserts, glamorous looks, and custom-dyed dogs.” (Racked National)
“Why shouldn’t he put all of his favorite things on the catwalk — namely cake and poodles, with a dash of Dorothy Draper and Wayne Thiebaud?” (Style.com)
“Mizrahi is certainly a guy with a lot of zippy tricks up his sleeve.” (WWD)

“Soft and shaggy alpaca done as a pullover top, and worn with pressed wool cigarette pants … looked cozy and cool.” (All The Rage)
“For fall, he’s made his favorite shape a little looser — sometimes boxier — with sloped shoulders and a curved collar based on a baseball jacket.” (AP)
“Francisco Costa showed a brilliantly wearable Fall collection that showed off what he does best. That would be fabric … and silhouette.” (Daily Front Row)
“Francisco Costa, the current king of pared-down chic delivered a collection worthy of that title.” (The Daily Telegraph)
“While the idea of architectural minimalism has been beautifully explored by the designer even since he started his tenure, this was at once an authoratative statement on the subject and a softening up.” (ELLEuk.com)
“Calvin Klein’s Fall ’11 spoke to that quintessentially-Calvin aesthetic in easy A-line shifts and subtle metallics.” (FabSugar)
“Modernism, of the most exacting and telling sort.” (Fashion Wire Daily)
“Though the collection continued in the spare mode we’ve come to expect, the new textures, fabrics and silhouettes allowed for movement.” (FashionEtc.com)
“We flipped for the charcoal-colored alpaca jacquard sweatshirt on Sigrid Agren — a super-luxe take on a sporty standby.” (Fashionista)
“There were no gimics or tricks: just impeccably simple clothes.” (Grazia)
“Intriguing and sophisticated.” (Heard on the Runway)
“Ever-so-slightly more daring silhouettes.” (Huffington Post)
“This was an unusually controlled collection — refined, with sports touches an alpaca jacquard sweatshirt, baseball ribbing peeking from the neckline), relaxed lines — and all the intensity focused on exceptional technical fabrics with grain and shimmer.” (The New York Times)
“None of Mr. Costa’s designs looked like those of anyone else, and some of his fabrics seemed to be utterly new inventions, with fuzzy or furry textures.” (On The Runway)
“Other New York designers this week have been moving away from the American sportswear that has defined the last couple of seasons, but minimalism remains Costa’s thing.” (Style.com)
“Francisoco Costa’s fall collection for Calvin Klein carried with it a certain stillness.” (Vogue.com)
“The magic from this collection wasn’t derived from flashiness or attention-begging trickery. It did the opposite, it stunned with clarity and singular vision.” (Vogue.com UK)
“It was good, confident work — spare and clean as usual, but looser designer handbags cheap, softer and more textural than some of Costa’s recent offers.” (WWD)

“Closer to the old Hollywood version of Asia (‘The Lady from Shanghai’) than anything new and relevant.” (All The Rage)
“The Ralph Lauren runway was a departure from what New York Fashion Week had seen over the last eight days. Or, more accurately, it was a trip.” (AP)
“If this is a naked ploy to corner the Chinese market, Lauren should bear in mind that the prospective customer in Beijing and Shanghai would probably much prefer a Fair Isle cardigan.” (The Cut)
“A far east fantasy.” (Daily Front Row)
“Ralph Lauren – who has made no secret of expansion plans in the region – literally looked East for AW11.” (ELLEuk.com)
“Inspired visions of Marlene Dietrich in ‘Shanghai Express.’” (FabSugar)
“Recalled the Golden Age of Hollywood as much as today’s growing global giant.” (Fashion Wire Daily)
“From a week in which the buzzword was glamour, we finally got the real deal.” (FashionEtc.com)
“Lauren’s theme was anything but subtle.” (Fashionista)
“For a supremely black collection, it felt incredibly light and delicate.” (Grazia)
“Essentially a love letter to the world’s fastest-growing luxury market.” (Heard on the Runway)
“Usually, when Mr. Lauren takes a theme, he injects it with modernity. But the offering became increasingly clichéd.” (International Herald Tribune)
“It was possibly one of Mr. Lauren’s most beautiful shows in a while, a display of confidence and worldly polish.” (The New York Times)
“Suggested a mood of Orientalism, as seen through an Art Deco lens.” (On The Runway)
“He’s conquered the Boulevard Saint-Germain and Madison Avenue with sweeping new flagships, so where to next for Ralph Lauren? From the looks of his Fall runway, Shanghai and Beijing are on the horizon.” (Style.com)
“Seemed to guarantee an invitation to the captain’s table on the SS Normandie, or a first class berth on the Orient Express.” (Vogue.com)
“The designer chose to refine his vision of the Orient via the glamour and elegance of the Thirties.” (Vogue.com UK)
“The trip made for an air of mystery and plenty of high chic.” (WWD)

Bill Blass
Designer: Jeffrey Monteiro
Date and Location: Thursday, Feb. 17, The Monkey Bar, 60 East 54th Street
Photos: slide show

Isaac Mizrahi
Designer: Isaac Mizrahi
Date and Location: Thursday, Feb. 17, 205 West 39th Street
Photos: slide show

“For Jeffrey Monteiro’s second collection as designer, he stripped the outfits of most embellishment and let the shapes do the talking.” (AP)
“Alternated between feminized menswear-inflected suiting and fluid, floor-sweeping dresses.” (Daily Front Row)
“The whole thing was elegant — right in line with the understated glamour that Bill Blass has always been about.” (Elle.com)
“Monteiro is starting to lay a new foundation for the house that Blass built.” (Style.com)
“[The] designer … echoed the clean and simple silhouettes, in typically masculine fabrics designer handbags cheap, that Blass fast made his trademark — and the result was a resounding success.” (Vogue.com UK)
“You could feel Monteiro steering the tenets of Blass — simplicity day and night — in a more current direction that hinged on a dose of sex appeal.” (WWD)