I've been talking about it a lot * the week in which I insist sensual vs. sexy

A string of opinionated random thoughts.

Simbarashe Cha/The New York Times

Fashion weeks come and go like creative directors do, used as little chess pieces at the discretion of the billionaires that you never see (except at the inauguration last month). My radar barely, rarely, seldomly has a pulse no matter how many Breaking News. I religiously read the Vanessa, Cathys, Tims, and Rachels, and I am more of a grumpy Flaccavento. NYFW usually feels like lukewarm chamomile tea to me (sorry), except for Marc Jacobs, who used to close the week in time for the fashion caravan to hop on the plane for London.

Now, you know I wrote all of this to prepare you for the coup de théâtre: Calvin Klein by Veronica Leoni.

Octogenarian Mr. Klein himself, who was in attendance with ex-wife Kelly, Kate Moss, and Christy Turlington, complimented the show as an extraordinary first time. Calvin Klein resides in the collective memory as the sexy coolness of New York in the ‘90s, when Kate Moss was discovered and sent down the runway with jeans from the man line, it’s sexy, sleek and timeless CBK. What Leoni did is study the archives, extract the codes of OG Klein minimalism and reinterpret them to fit in life in the 2020’s. That is what a designer does: a designer designs what doesn’t exist yet, doesn’t style what’s existing, no matter how timeless. (That’s why I don’t drink the timeless Coolaid.) Yes, it was her debut at CK and let’s look at the stakes: the brand is now Jeremy Allen White being hot wearing boxers and making a call from a landline phone; it’s a sexy dormant giant of billboard underwear.

What I saw in the show is a modern powerful woman who doesn’t have to please the fuck of anybody other than herself, a woman who sits in the C-suite, unapologetic, no need to explain the awkward sleeve volume, the slightly oversized blazer, the cocoon cape over the big coat, or why she wore a gown to work. And no I don’t care wondering if Carolyn Bessette Kennedy would have liked it, because we don’t know, we love and admire her as timeless but that’s it, an encapsulation, she was ahead of the times, so who knows if her style would have evolved into what Leoni designed even before Leoni?

Veronica Leoni is the first woman at the helm of the brand and all that is expected of a woman is to know how to design sexy? That’s it? She went for sensual, grasp the nuance and #thankyoujesus we didn’t get another The Row-to-Zara minimalist iteration or a ruminated Phoebe Philo.

I made a bold statement, supported it with arguments, now, cara la mia Veronica, don’t spoil it.

Love

• A book moment:

Wearing understated garments that weren’t so understated that they didn’t state clearly that she was dutifully willing to rise to the occasion - Eve Babitz.

• A beauty moment: I still haven’t found that greige, soft-as-butter giant pencil to draw around my eye to dissimulate and embrace the darkness. Anyone?

• Icon of the week: Pamela Anderson.

I don’t care

• For the Superbowl especially the food. It took me almost three decades of living in the States to remember that the sport being played is not tennis, nor soccer nor basketball. Don’t ask me if it’s baseball or football because I may not know.

• jelly fish haircuts

• that someone finds it so revolutionary to knot a sweater around their coat that they have to shovel it on their Substack. It’s like RHONY’s Erin who thinks she brought mezcal to the US. Chill, baby girl, our fathers did it before us.

The sustainability debrief

Thrift, consignment, vintage, resale: there’s a world of difference but around one billion dollars in business.

How do you say it in Italian?

Ciao come stai? listen to Neanche un minuto di “non amore” by Lucio Battisti and consider yourself inducted to the Mount Olympus of Italian music.

For all my new followers and anyone who wants to chat, feel free to check out my style diary, the book I wrote and published, and my posts on Instagram.