Calvin Klein's simple season

For the Yale woman, this fashion season poses limited challenges She no longer has to look wistfully at the pink and purple sequined plastic dress with myriad zippers and matching stiletto boots in Vogue. Instead, she can use basic items in her wardrobe, dress them up a bit, and in no time transform herself into a fashion icon. Such versatile items as flared black cigarette pants, classic fitted oxfords and slim-fitting single-breasted jackets are highly resonant of fashion trends, particularly in the Calvin Klein line, this fall and winter.

Vigorous simplicity defines Calvin Klein's latest collection for women. The return to a classic, conservative sense has pervaded the runways this season, with every major designer focusing on simple, elegant styling. Accompanying such simplicity, however, are hints of modernity, daring, and inventive nuance. What results is a striking, body-conscious portrayal of woman: the silhouette is stripped of all superfluous adornment until there is an unabashed meeting of the obvious and the intangible.

Calvin Klein captures the spirit of the season with this direct, dynamic collection. Sophisticated and urban, each piece reflects a particular attention to the fast-paced world we live in: there is a remarkable interplay between precision in structure and ease in movement. The romanticism characteristic of women's fashion is unusually toned down, if not altogether absent, in the creations of this season. There is a uniform emphasis on form-fitting styling and an overall austere look.

Proportions in the collection are narrow and definite. Small collars and lapels create an illusion of length. The slim-fitting pant enhances this illusion, easing into lean, mean flares. The coat has undergone revolutionary changes with the disappearance of traditional styling: its new form is one of a "pure plane, free of structural detail, sculpted into an asymmetric wrap or left straight and stark to float over the curves of a body-conscious dress," New York Times fashion columnist Bernadine Morris notes. The jacket also sustains this dissociation from rigid structure, appearing similarly relaxed with a soft shoulder, narrow throughout the top and finally released in an asymmetric wrap or gentle flare at the bottom. The new Calvin Klein dress has a "clean, concise shape spilling into origami folds moving asymmetrically around the body, evaporating into plain, pure shape," Morris said. The shapes are twisting cylinders and apron-inspired diagonals relaxing into straight skirts below, creating dichotomies between innovation and convention.

In terms of fabrics, this season marks the return to natural fibers, with the occasional juxtaposition of raw luxury and modern technology. The fabrics of choice are cashmere, flannel, fine wool and the softest alpaca. Gone are the days of vintage polyester and iridescent synthetics. Considering the marked simplicity currently seen throughout fashion houses, the natural, organic feel of such fabrics is essential to a thematic continuity.

While the Calvin Klein collection is an example of the general trend toward classic styling, there is certainly not a salient dearth of color in its pieces. Hues are varied: some hushed and lighter in tone, others darker and more vibrant. And although the look is traditional, the shades of color are not. Morris described the colors seen at a New York fashion show: "Washes of heath-ered pales in greyed tones of peridot, lemon, glass, thistle, mint and vapor. Strong solid shots of cardinal, nectarine and mimosa. Camels, muted to near white in grain, vicuna, parchment, albino, cream, and malt. Flickers of citrus or mandarin momentarily break up an expanse of cypress." Explorations of color cross boundaries and push all kinds of chromatic limits.

The recent Calvin Klein collection captures the tension between fixed and moving. Attention to natural fabrics, diverse color schemes and form-fitting style will make the woman this season. At Yale, women should view the currents of the season as a blessing: with relatively little imagination and even the most basic wardrobe, the transition from mortal woman to fashion goddess is easily achieved.

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