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For the final show of New York Fashion Week, Ralph Lauren broke free from the pack and went down South America way for his Español-flavored spring collection. Jessica Alba, for one, was excited by it, sitting next to Olivia Wilde taking pictures and mouthing “so chic” to a consultant seated behind her. There was lots to be excited about, between the gold embroidered toreador pants, tooled leather jackets and the serape blanket wrap tops, not least of which were the cha-cha-cha accessories: colorful bead jewelry, stencil cut-out leather belts, python and lizard hobos, blanket stitch platform sandals. Not sure if he had Argentine Marxist revolutionaries on the brain, but the berets and the studded motorcycle mailbags lent a fab Che Guevara air.
Francisco Costa always pushes the boundaries of engineering and fabric with his designs for Calvin Klein and this collection proved to be no exception to the running architecture lessons. Shiny conical shapes were the theme this time out (as opposed to cubes, which he has achieved in the past), and the results were dresses that managed to look like the Guggenheim Museum at Bilbao. Among other cool effects, he worked suiting in black and white double-sided fabrics that winked the contrasting side at the exposed, inside-out edges. Add a platform pump with a crushed gold heel and you’re set to head to Frieze.