Time was when Italo Zucchelli, the menswear design director for Calvin Klein, felt color was a part of his repertoire that should be used sparingly, if at all. But now that his world has expanded—this was his second season at the helm of this collection—so have his views on the spectrum. Still, Zucchelli hasn't quite shaken his former ways. His use of a brighter palette was edgy, even provocative; the tones slightly off, to make them fresh and interesting. When the green, for instance, was offered as a mossy suit or a grassy polo, it instantly looked like the color of the season. Likewise the butter-yellow trousers or the red tending toward maroon in another tonic suit.
It wasn't only vivid tones that the designer used to give voice to his new joie de vivre; there were leafy/floral prints as well. After the show, Zucchelli talked about reconciling opposites—colors along with textures and moods (a dressed-up suit with a dressed-down T-shirt, for example). Bringing it all together just so; now there's the mark of a real leader.
