Mr. Clean
Who Better Than Francisco Costa to Fête a Tome Called Minimalism and Fashion
Francisco Costa is writing the book on contemporary minimalism—well, at least the first few pages. The Calvin Klein Collection designer contributed the foreword to Elyssa Dimant's Minimalism and Fashion, which got its sendoff last night at his company's flagship store on Madison Avenue. Not only that, but Costa delivered his copy in signature fashion. "Everything that I got back was very clean, of course, and in the right font—aligned, immaculate," Dimant reported. "There were no layout errors whatsoever."
Dimant, a Parsons professor, places Costa alongside Phoebe Philo as a prime mover in the loftier, more structured minimalism of today, which absorbs influences from sculptors and object designers like Anish Kapoor and Ron Arad. "When minimalism came about in the 1990's, it was so much about comfort and democratic accessibility," she explained. "This movement is much more about high art and high fashion."
It was in that spirit that the party then moved downtown to W editor Stefano Tonchi's Greenwich Village apartment, where the likes of Melissa George and Anh Duong toasted Austrian artist Erwin Wurm, whose new show at Lehmann Maupin opens today. Topic A was still the M word. "It's not about being completely emotionless," Tonchi offered. "That's what killed the first generation of minimalism—that kind of coldness, emptiness, bad lighting." Added Costa: "Jil Sander is the queen of minimalism, and she lives in an incredible castle with gorgeous antiques."
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