COSTA AND OBAMA

There are rumors swirling that we might soon be seeing First Lady Michelle Obama in some Alexander McQueen wears. Her unofficial stylist, Ikram Goldman (owner of Ikram in Chicago), did say she liked his “beautiful dresses” when she was in town scoping out the pre-collections. In the meantime, the first lady chose to be more demure with a yellow Michael Kors skirt suit when she honored Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa in the White House for his win as the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards fashion design category, for 17 years of creative and innovative women’s wear design.

I’m assuming that if she doesn’t opt to wear a Calvin Klein design while honoring the legendary brand’s creative director, it’s safe to assume we will not be seeing her in CK at any upcoming major events. Costa, a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate who came to the United States in the nineties, has worked for a number of legendary houses throughout his career including Oscar de la Renta and Gucci. He has been the  creative director for the Calvin Klein Women’s Collection since the spring of 2004.

The other Cooper-Hewitt design winners included Bill Moggridge, who created the first laptop computer; Reynold Levy, president of the Lincoln Center; Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown of Tsao & McKown Architects; Hood Design for landscaping; Amory Lovins, a green energy visionary; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; SHoP Architects; the New York Times graphics department; Boym Partners, designer of consumer goods, and Perceptive Pixel, which specializes in digital, interactive technology.