Current fashion trends can feel a bit like a whirlpool. How are you supposed to wear a bohemian prairie dress alongside your streetwear-inspired pants with a great statement coat without looking like you dressed in the dark? And yet in the hands of the deft young designer Chelsea Goldman, it all comes together.
Now in its fourth year, CF Goldman has really hit its stride as the place women can go for reliably clever pieces that, while still quite posh, are imbued with a spritely sense of fun. An alum of Narciso Rodriguez, Proenza Schouler, and Céline, Goldman is obsessed with craftsmanship, which comes through in her highbrow materials—see Look 1’s paneled, buttery suede skirt—and her perfectly tailored corsets and belts, which have become something of a sensation among the It-girl crowd.
But more than of-the-moment pieces, Goldman’s collection is filled with workhorse items with design-y details. Motocross pants are reimagined here in a crisp menswear suiting fabric with leopard spots stitched across the knees. Surfer board shorts are cut as voluminous culottes in black with white contrast seaming, while outerwear is done two ways: in a mash-up of Liberty florals or spliced with leopard with a subtle bow detail at the back.
Next to these hits, some lilac silk pieces and Lurex-shot items can feel a little less than, but you can’t discredit Goldman for trying new things. She’s still young enough to be experimenting, and when she gets it right, as she did with the vast majority of this collection, it’s so, so good.
