Bill Blass and Calvin Klein Enter the Age of the Ageless
Designers Bill Blass and Calvin Klein proved this week that the zippiness of youth and the elegance of maturity can coexist peacefully in a woman’s wardrobe, even in a single style.
Blass, who showed his spring collection Monday for buyers and press, drew an audience that included TV’s Barbara Walters; socialites Nancy Kissinger, Pat Buckley and Fran Stark; modeling agent Eileen Ford; and a few dozen other well-known, well-heeled women who certainly aren’t miniskirt and crinoline types. But Blass seemed to please them all, judging from the applause, by shaping dresses and suits with subtle understatement, even though some were above the knee and had petticoats rustling underneath.
Flared Just Above Ankle
Suit jackets were short and boxy or gently shaped to the figure, with slim or full skirts that stopped above the knee or low on the calf. Daytime dresses, in princess or long torso shapes, frequently had bias-cut skirts that flared gently to just above the ankle.
Blass’ evening dresses, many at the knee top, had simple bare shoulder bodices, long torsos and puffed-up skirts or side panels that lent a certain youthful exuberance to the styles but were well within the accepted limits of grown-up evening wear.
Walters said after the show that she loved the petticoated skirts and evening dresses, but that Blass’ clothes are “so very expensive” that she only buys the most tailored outfits, which she can wear in her private life as well as on the air. Calvin Klein, who showed his spring clothes Tuesday, also offered long and short, full and slim styles. Here too, the matter of width and length seemed insignificant. What Klein seemed to be saying is that anything can work for women this year if the shapes are simple and the pieces are put together in an uncluttered way. Jewelry and adornment were at a minimum in this show. Shoes were flat.
Klein’s wool or silk suits in navy, black, white or red, featured long, bathrobe-sashed jackets with pleated or slim skirts that hovered at the knee. His persimmon-colored silk and cashmere sweater sets were shown with ankle-grazing brown checked silk skirts. Wide pants had off-the-shoulder or halter-neck sweaters. Petticoated evening skirts, in red, navy or black silk faille, were teamed with off-the-shoulder silk jersey tops in solids or stripes. But other after-five styles were simple sheaths of black silk, narrow from the bare shoulder bodices right down to the hemline.
Klein and Blass’ lines seemed ageless and should allay retailers’ fears that many styles for spring are too ingenue for all but junior customers.
