At Calvin Klein, Costa's Modernist Mode Still Reigns

Fashion Wire Daily – FWD101 Model walks the runway at Calvin Klein show during Fall 2010 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New …

New York – New York fashion's torchbearer for sculptural chic,Francisco Costa, stayed the brand's course with his fall 2010 collection for Calvin Klein on Thursday, Feb. 18.

With a packed house, a live stream on the Web and a paparazzi drool-inducing front row in a week that has been notably short on celebrities - Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington, Helena Christensen, Kate Bosworthand Whoopi Goldberg were all there - the show was a testament to the successful run that Costa has had as the creative director of Calvin Klein since taking the reigns at the house in 2004.

Top models from Calvin Klein's past walked in the show, includingStella Tennant, Kristen McMenamy, Kirsty Hume, as well as current runway favorites Sasha Pivovarova, Karlie Kloss, Jac and Freja.

A light show and experimental soundscape by Berlin-based artistCarsten Nicolai set the tone for the show of 34 crisp looks that featured the streamlined, technical cuts that are Costa's signature.

The show opened with an oil slicked black viscose coat with a ballooned out raglan sleeve, a silhouette that Costa repeated throughout the collection.

Costa's conceptual clothes are so precise they would seem to require an engineering degree in order to execute a pattern, and thus the cut is usually the star of the show. But for fall, Costa also let texture add a welcome dose of sensuousness to his usual intellectual fare. Shearling popped up on an ivory trench and a midnight blue sequin embroidered silk jersey top had the appearance of bubble wrap. Sleek viscose cascaded like liquid silver on a column dress for evening worn by a silver haired Kristen McMenamy.

Costa also loves a good technical fabric, and here he used double faced wool for coats that were as smooth as a sleek scuba wetsuit and combined rubberized silk crepe with double faced wool in a sleeveless shift.

Though one doesn't go to a Calvin Klein show expecting the color palette to rock the boat - this season's neutrals consisted of glossy black, ivory, silver, midnight blue and flint gray - a couple of shift dresses in a day-glo blue had the kind of impact you might imagine the first explorers to the Caribbean would have experienced upon viewing such clear blue waters.

Technically brilliant as always, there was little to fault in Costa's offerings on Thursday, except to wonder how long he will continue working in this particular modernist architectural mode. For now, a shearling coat is perhaps as postmodern as it gets.