The Verdict on Calvin Klein’s Return to the Runway

NEW YORK — Seven years after it was discontinued with the ouster of Raf Simons, Calvin Klein’s high-end “Assortment” line returned to the catwalk on Friday below the stewardship of Veronica Leoni.

Her hotly anticipated debut for the American mega-label unfolded on the 205 West thirty ninth Road workplace the place Calvin himself — within the viewers together with model icons Christy Turlington and Kate Moss — used to point out again within the day. Certainly, every part concerning the present, from the spare set to the bare-faced American beauties on the catwalk, aimed to reconnect the label to what Calvin did.

“My purpose was to erase every part that has been achieved after he left, and restart prefer it was the primary day,” mentioned Leoni backstage, insisting that the method wasn’t nostalgic however “about wanting ahead” — in different phrases choosing up the place Calvin left off.

The consequence was an assured outing that expressed a wider breadth of prospects and elegance declinations for a model that may simply be pigeon-holed right into a minimalist formulation. Leoni’s expertise is the flexibility to cost the language of discount — through which she is nicely versed, having labored with minimalist masters equivalent to Jil Sander and Phoebe Philo — with a sensuality that’s completely attuned to the Calvin ethos.

“What I’m good at is making garments, and that’s what we targeted on,” mentioned Leoni, matter-of-factly. And the faultless drape of the tailoring, the circulate of the clothes and the pajama-like slouch of the better items had been actually testomony to that.

Fact be advised: among the many slinky slip clothes and killer skirt fits (wanting contemporary for the primary time since Working Lady), a touch of Yohji-inflected “vogue nun” crept into the affair. However that’s comprehensible, given Leoni’s function in fine-tuning The Row with the Olsens.

The gathering’s American vibe — seen within the straightforwardness of the checked shirt and denims ensembles and her give attention to characters like the school scholar and the bombshell — was new to her work. And if a little bit of nostalgia was inescapable, Leoni’s viewpoint felt clear. Onwards.