This afternoon I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat at the Calvin Klein show, actually right next to the door the celebrities came through to make their entrance. Funnily enough of the few who were there I had already interacted with two of them: I met Kate Bosworth at Le Deux when I was living out in LA and Kerry Washington at a press junket when I was interning for Entertainment Tonight. I immediately got that, “Hey, we’ve met before!” feeling, despite the fact that of course they must have no recollection of having met me. It was even worse when Whoopi Goldberg appeared who I have never seen before except on mute on the gym TVs when The View comes on but it’s still, like, “I know you!” when no, no I don’t- and that’s what celebrities are, in this weird plane between our familiars and total strangers. Andre Leon Talley was there, too (exciting!), Naomi Watts, Helena Christensen, Rachel Zoe (who really didn’t look totally emaciated in person. In fact, she looked quite good), and Isabel Lucas who I totally didn’t recognize and who was totally gorgeous. To avoid this becoming too gossipy, I’ll let other observations slide, apart from the fact that it’s more than a little ridiculous how much time and effort is devoted to some of these ‘guests’- it’s not their event, it’s Calvin Klein’s, or more specfically Francisco Costa’s, the creative director’s; what makes them more important, particularly those who are not even in the fashion industry? It’s like if I invited a bunch of people from the tennis team to watch me play the lead in my high school play and later I found out that the major and later I found out that the audience had actually been more interested in them. Kudos to Marc Jacobs for his celebrity-free front row, but thank you Calvin Klein for giving me a chance to see that big bear Andre Talley in person!
As for the collection, I was not a big fan. There were some great platform heel shoes, but much of the rest of it resembled power suits from Repo Man, business casual circa 2074. I wasn’t too keen on the styling either (although Freja Beha always looks fucking amazing)- the low ponytail and minimal makeup only reinforced the ‘all work and no play’ vibe for me for me. Not to be totally rude, but the block-blue looks mixed with the navy and black outfits looked straight out of the Express color palette. NY Mag seems to be the only site that has the runway looks up at the moment, but here’s a photo of the ladies in the front row courtesy WWD and the other hundred sites that those much more important photos up already.
