Calvin Klein Dazzles With Simplicity
Two camps formed immediately after Calvin Klein’s spring fashion show Tuesday morning in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Pierre. One side, the visionaries, was bowled over by the exquisite simplicity of the designer’s message. The other side, call them for the sake of argument the realists, said that so much simplicity would be hard to sell to American women at Klein’s high prices.
Meanwhile Klein, always a modernist and minimalist, had offered a dazzling display of what fashion may be about as we head into the 21st Century. It is neither long nor short, full nor tight. It is an attitude more than a single trendy shape, length or color.
The attitude is one of ease, clean lines and fluid fabrics.
The designer offered a panorama of this season’s wide-leg pants in soothing neutral shades of stone-gray, manila or ivory. These were shaped into jumpsuits or, most frequently, sailor trousers with double rows of buttons on the front panels. They were teamed with everything from white lace blouses and cashmere tank tops to twin sweater sets and easily fitted blazers. But Klein also showed tight pants with stretch tank tops and riding jackets, as if to say that tight is also right for those who like it.
His skirts were long--and short. The short ones, with loose jackets, were 2 inches above the knee. The long ones, with a variety of bare-shoulder camisoles and tank tops, were slim and ended just below the calf.
Klein’s evening sportswear included manila cashmere tops and cardigans above shear white georgette skirts and a series of incredibly sexy silver- or gold-striped lace tank tops and camisoles that gave the illusion of being weightless and see-through. This same striped lace was shaped into slip-top long, slim evening dresses. He showed lots of evening pants in navy or white crepe.
The Big Drawback
The models wore no jewelry and flat sandals throughout most of the show. They looked clean and fresh in the designer’s mobile shapes and uncluttered outfits. It was, some thought, an example of modern art executed in the fashion medium. But others, especially retailers who have to sell the line, said the simplicity could be a drawback. One major buyer, who asked not to be named, said that these clothes on a store hanger will not look as if they’re worth Klein’s price tag, which, in the buyer’s words, is “humongous.”
“People who would like to buy these clothes can’t afford them,” the buyer said. “And those who can afford them want something more special for the money.” But Joan Kaner, vice president of Macy’s northeast division and fashion consultant to I. Magnin and Bullocks Wilshire, said, “Calvin has done what he does best: clean, classic, simple clothes.”
Among those in the crowd who had seats reserved for them were Bianca Jagger, Barry Diller, Blaine and Ivana Trump, Tina Chow, Mrs. Winston Guest and Mr. and Mrs. Jann Wenner, and author Fran Lebowitz.
After Klein, the fashion troops hurried downtown to Bob Mackie’s show, which was a celebration of the designer’s home state of California.
Mackie’s colors and prints were bright for jacket dresses that hit just above the knee, and wide-leg jumpsuits in flower prints with solid color short jackets.
Fashion Fun
The Mackie humor was everywhere. His “Freeway” outfit of black cotton shorts and blouson jacket featured a huge embroidered freeway, front and back, on which little toy cars are planted. A number called “Laguna Wipeout” is actually shaped into a body-hugging wet suit with brilliant multicolor beading. Evening dresses had shear chiffon jackets with sequins embroidered into the shape of an ancient mission. And the designer’s “Quake” dresses were fringed and beaded in shiny, bright colors from shoulder to knee.
It was a fitting display for the designer who does most of Cher’s public-appearance dresses, and who is known as “the costume king of Hollywood.”
Earlier in the day an informal showing took place at Adele Simpson, the designer whose name has been famous for about 40 years. Simpson, 85, does not design anymore, but her daughter, Joan Raines, oversees the collection of elegantly tailored suits and dresses with jackets.
These are clothes built to give shape to women who haven’t got the figures of Klein models. Simpson’s white linen jackets are trimmed with black braid to match the black linen trousers below. Her dotted navy dress with jacket looks like a suit until you take the jacket off, when it becomes a bare-shouldered dinner dress.
Simpson’s clothes are worn by Barbara Bush, who, Raines said, was in last week to order her spring wardrobe.
