A PERFECT TEN
Francisco Costa celebrates es a decade of memories. By Lauren Clarke Jensen en
Francisco Costa clocks in a decade at Calvin Klein Collection
Over the past 10 years, I feel that I have become more polished and precise with my designs. I’ve learned to edit and reduce more to create pure, sophisticated clothes,” says Francisco Costa in reflection on his 10 years as Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection. It’s not an easy task to take over as the creative head of a house from a designer who founded a label, especially one that defined ’90s fashion and formed iconic American style as we know it today. Calvin Klein launched the career of Kate Moss as the face of Calvin Klein Obsession and as the waify, young model in the controversial Calvin Klein Underwear advertising campaign, the then 18-year-old Moss, scarcely clad in only her Calvin’s, alongside heart throb of-themoment, Mark Wahlberg. Yet Brazilianborn Francisco Costa, hand-selected by Klein as his replacement after Calvin Klein was sold to Phillips Van Heusen in 2003, has managed the difficult feat of filling Klein’s shoes as well as creating a new fashion discourse through experimentation with innovative materials and technology.
I look back on Costa’s ’ 10 years with a special kind of nostalgia because I worked in the publicity office in New York at the time of his spring/summer 2004 debut collection, and as a junior publicist my role was to juggle each look of Costa’s very first collection between photo shoot, magazine run-through, advertising campaign, sales appointment and celebrity fitting (regular friends of the house in my tenure included Hilary Swank, Gwyneth Paltrow, Christy Turlington, Elle McPherson, Sienna Miller and Natalia Vodionova, all of whom still regularly wear Costa’s creations).
Just before his spring/summer 2004 show, the industry was abuzz with what a designer other than Calvin Klein would bring to the house with such a signature aesthetic. And the seasonal highlights of the runway collection included a foundation-coloured strapless dress shown
with a soft camel knit effortlessly styled over Carmen Kass’ shoulders. There was Look 17, the show exit number I will never forget for the incredible number of press requests I received for it and its brief disappearance in subSaharan Africa where the much-coveted sample had momentarily vanished after a shoot. It was a cashmere green bodysuit recalling ’70s-era pool-side chic shown with a skinny belt and matching lizard-skin pumps. This particular look travelled around the world and back at least 20 times and to about 100 different shoots by the end of the magazine shooting schedule. To close the debut show were a series of exquisite evening wear, an area of design Costa learned to master during his former stint as Tom Ford’s head eveningwear designer and through a prior role in Oscar de la Renta’s atelier. The finale look of the show was an organza and tulle full-bodied finale gown on Natalia Vodianova that was featured on more than a few international magazine covers.
Bianca Jagger was one of the house’s special guests at the spring/summer 2004 show. When she interviewed Costa for
Harper’s BAZAAR US a few years later she said, “(Calvin) defined the American look. His clothes have an extraordinary simplicity and sophistication. Francisco, you have defined that even further.” With validation from one of fashion's most important stylemakers, the surprisingly still down to earth and very humble Costa says of his memories at Calvin Klein, “I have had so many incredible moments over the last decade at Calvin Klein Collection. (One) was when I received my first CFDA award (for Womens Wear Designer of the Year) in 2006. I didn’t expect it and thought perhaps the industry was just being good to me since it is always very supportive of young designers. But then two years passed, and I received my second CFDA award (again, for Womens Wear Designer of the Year). This was another very special moment, because I felt it was not just about being nice—it was a legitimate recognition from my peers and the industry, and that gave me great satisfaction.”
Costa celebrated his milestone 10-year anniversary with the party of the season. Calvin Klein after-show parties are always legendary, and this year, it included a surprise performance by Pharrell Williams. Rooney Mara, the newly appointed face of the fragrance Downtown Calvin Klein, had earlier that day sat front row with Nicole Kidman at Costa’s beautiful show where he pushed the brand even further with a modern collection of “very Calvin” looks—requisite neutrals, blacks and whites, but also Costainfused splashes of colour and a finale evocative of the era of the flapper, where each look was constructed using loose threads to capture the perfect amount of movement.
When I check in on Calvin Klein’s global expansion plan he says, “as we look to the future, I am very optimistic as we continue to expand the Calvin Klein Collection brand globally, especially across the Asian market. Asia has and continues to be a key region for all of the Calvin Klein brands.” Calvin Klein Collection’s boutique is due to open in The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands in spring 2014.
Costa’s success lies in being a careful guardian of the brand’s DNA, though Calvin Klein is still very much about modern sportswear, he’s taken the brand and innovated it. The Calvin Klein woman today is looking for something interesting in a cut or fabric. Costa reflects on one such collection, “One of my favourite seasons was a feminine, all-white collection with applique circles that I designed for spring 2006. I remember it feeling like a breakthrough, because people started looking at my work with a slightly different eye. It offered people something different that they really appreciated and also gave them insight into my world, and the way I think.”