Harmony Between Art and Commerce

Whoever came up with the idea of Isabel Toledo designing for Anne Klein should be walking around with a gold star stuck on their forehead...

The Spring 2008 collection was the second effort for Toledo since she was named creative director of the Anne Klein collection (a company owned by multibillion dollar consortium Jones Apparel Group) in an effort to create a fashion nexus for the dated line.

The Bryant Park show, watched by Calvin Klein designer Franciso Costa and the smartest of fashion's smart, was a collection based on an accidental smearing of paint on one of Isabel's dresses by her husband, artist Ruben Toledo. It's title "Art-Attack" refers to an appreciation of the poetic and unexpected mixed with the timeless, ageless elements of "the great American summer wardrobe."

There was fresh geometry in the print of a perfectly cut shirt dress, detailing and colors reminiscent of enamel glass squares, thin belts accentuating a delicate waist on panelled skirts and dresses, swinging liquid silk skirts with a perfection of understated pleats on the hips, and clutches with the folds of a blank canvas.

Visions of drinking Papa Doble's with Hemingway arrived on a glazed silk hooded raincoat, black tar lace wrap dress with thick front stripe detail, ribbon stripe skinny pants paired with tiny prints on a flowing anorak and tunic combination, a luxified dandy stripe coat and full skirt matched with a silver blouse gave an elegant Audrey Hepburn feel and the tarnished plisse blouse and skirt was an elegant, wearable answer to this season's 1930s silhouette.

Casual, chic American Sportswear is what Anne Klein is known for and it was reflected in the Tatami web belt wrap dress with ingenious front pleating, tunics with sleeve and front zip details and cute Spring shift dresses, all cut to create a flattering figure for those who are not a size 0. Worn with belts of patent brights and cotton ticking, paired with Tatami wedges of stripe, a kicky, fresh, chic figure emerged for the Anne Klein customer.

Exquisite were the hand-painted silk broomstick dresses. The crinkled wedge dress in particular had us rethinking our black uniform, with a brilliant ultra-violet and other Spring colors that can only be achieved by hand.

In a world of faddish new designers, tired old re-workings and ostentatious Why's, Toledo presents a perfectly crafted collection to the American woman with a graceful elegance and hint of subversiveness that simply asks "Why not?"

As an artist, Toledo believes it is important to include the intimacies of emotional and tactile elements in her designs. It is remarkable to achieve beautiful, wearable design and maintain such tactility in general, let alone when it is for a billion dollar corporation.

Have art and commerce met? Is Isabel a pioneer in an industry governed by economics? Her husband Ruben Toledo thinks so, and says she is showing the younger generation of designers how making your art and paying your rent can be done.

The fact that this show was on the last day of a fashion season containing only a handful of truly exciting and talented innovators was not lost on us.

Isabel Toledo stands with those as a beacon of hope for the future of a dollar controlled industry where creativity and artistic integrity hang on the edge of the proverbial slippery slope.