Narciso Rodriguez has long been an expert in the kind of sleek, minimalist clothing so many designers are interested in now. So I guess it shouldn't be surprising that he decided to go in a different direction for spring, exploring a looser silhouette and his romantic side.

Don't get the wrong idea though. Rodriguez's version of relaxed is something else. The sharply defined circular neckline on a loose-fit, white linen jacket ensured that even with slouchy trousers, this look was sophisticated.

There was more than a touch of romance in his lingerie-like, bias-cut silk slip dresses with sheer floral and dragonfly patterned insets, or overlays with falling petal designs. Other dresses had bronze sequins trapped inside layers of netting.

And at a time when the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is fashion-relevant again -- as an example that simpler can be better -- seeing the body-skimming nude and barely-there blush silk bias-cut gowns with wide-set spaghetti straps that closed the show, you couldn't help but think about the wedding dress Rodriguez made for her so many years ago.

-- Booth Moore in New York

Narcisco Rodriguez spring - summer 2011 runway collection photo gallery

Photos: Looks from the Narciso Rodriguez spring - summer 2011 runway collection shown during New York Fashion Week. Credit: Jonas Gustavsson & Peter Stigter / For The Times.

In a week that was all about paring down and cleaning up, Narciso Rodriguez and Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa were in their element. Their collections also happened to be two of New York's best.

Rodriguez's clothes were all about curving lines and shadowy effects. Short dresses sliced over the collarbone to reveal flashes of bare skin had an understated sexiness. So did a draped ombre orange, black and gray silk dress, the colors of an L.A. sunset, with a front zipper tracing an S-curve.
An asymmetrically cut, bronze-studded bolero, worn over a black textured silk dress, totally transformed a basic look. What a great idea! He should make little jackets like those a staple in his collections.

Narciso Rodriguez, the New York-based designer famous for his streamlined, muted designs, is launching a separate -- and much lower-priced -- collection for online marketplace EBay.

Starting Monday at 9 a.m. Pacific time, the Narciso Rodriguez for EBay collection will be available through a specially branded store on the website. Prices will range from $65 to $350.

From the sketches the company sent us, it looks to be an American sportswear-inspired line of dresses and separates that employ Rodriguez' trademark body-friendliness. 

There's a smoky blue daytime "suit" comprised of a boxy, short-sleeved jacket and pencil skirt (above, left); at least two form-fitting black dresses with a diagonal swipe of contrasting color near the collarbone -- one white, one red (above, right); a belted trench; and an Empire-waist black party dress with a scoop neck and flouncy skirt. 

It all looks classic Narciso -- wearable, flattering and uncomplicated. Perfect for these convoluted times.

-- Emili Vesilind

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Photos: Sketches for the Narciso Rodriguez for EBay collection. Courtesy: EBay

Michael Kors' show this morning brought many of spring's trends into focus--transparency, cutouts and a body-conscious silhouette. The collection was revealing, but not vulgar, sculptural but also feminine. It was the most commercial expression of the ripped and slashed, '80s-era, Japanese-influenced anti-fashion trend we've been seeing on the runways this week. And it was coming from Kors, the all-American sportswear designer.

The dress was the key piece--sheaths in crinkly silver lame, bleach splatter print Shantung and gray perforated flannel, all of which are seasonless enough to wear in February, when spring clothes start to arrive in stores. Smart.

Cage-like effects are moving from shoes to clothes for spring, and Kors' black stretch crepe dress with a black patent cage cutout at the waist was one of the sexiest things so far this season. A mint green stretch crepe shift was revealing in another way, with bands of clear plastic over the waist and legs.

For more everyday wear, Kors offered asymmetrically draped, crinkly taffeta skirts, and a black crepe suit with boxy cap sleeves. There were some interesting knits, too--cardigans with multiple sleeves, turtleneck pullovers with a single sleeve, and crew necks with ripped hems. It's about as subversive as we've ever seen Kors.

The folks who gave us the presidential candidate paper dolls last year released a new book last month titled "President Barack Obama and His Family Paper Dolls: The Inaugural Edition." And while he may be the commander in chief on paper, the star of these pages is Michelle Obama (and to a lesser extent Sasha and Malia, who were given scant attention in the earlier book).

Among the six outfits included (the girls share four looks, the president himself has six, most of which are variations on his Hart Schaffner Marx suits) are the J. Crew cardigan, Italian Deco tank top and sheath skirt outfit Mrs. O was wearing on her Oct. 27, 2008, appearance on "The Tonight Show," the black-on-red Thakoon number she wore to the Democratic National Convention acceptance speech, her Jason Wu-designed silk chiffon inaugural ball gown, and the sunshine-yellow, custom-made Isabel Toledo dress and Jimmy Choo shoes she wore to the inauguration.

But our favorite is "Plate 8": the red-and-black satin Narciso Rodriguez dress and Loree Rodkin diamond bangle bracelets and earrings she was wearing on election night in Chicago. 

And maybe it's  just us, but Mrs. Obama looks pretty good on paper.

-- Adam Tschorn

"President Barack Obama and His Family Paper Dolls: The Inaugural Edition," by Tom Tierney (Dover Publications April, 2009).

Photos: The Obama family in Chicago's Grant Park on November 4, 2008. Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images. At right, the paper doll version of Michelle Obama's outfit from the same night as depicted in "President Barack Obama Paper Dolls."

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L.A.’s own Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte have been nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Women's Wear Designer of the Year Award. The Pasadena sisters, whose collage dresses were a highlight of New York Fashion Week last month, are up against Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez. Another local designer, Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders, was nominated for the Best Men's Wear Designer of the Year Award alongside Italo Zucchelli for Calvin Klein and Michael Bastian. Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu and Alexander Wang are contenders for the Swarovski Award for up-and-coming women's wear designers. The board of directors Special Tribute Award will be given to First Lady Michelle Obama, who has boosted the American fashion industry by choosing clothes by emerging designers, including Rodriguez, Panichgul and Wu.

The awards, which are the fashion industry's Oscars, are scheduled for June 15 at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York.

--Booth Moore

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Photo: Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

Something old, something new, something borrowed ... Michelle Obama chose some pricey diamond chandelier earrings by local jeweler Loree Rodkin to accent the camel and black Narciso Rodriguez skirt and coat she wore to the "We Are One" concert Sunday in Washington. Obama apparently borrowed the earrings, valued at more than $17,000, from Ikram Goldman, the Chicago retailer who has been helping with her wardrobe over the last few months. Rodkin has been in the news lately for designing the new restaurant Luau in Beverly Hills.

-- Booth Moore

Photo: Earrings. Credit: Loree Rodkin

Undeterred by the stir caused by her red-and-black Narciso Rodriguez election night dress, Michelle Obama chose to wear a camel-and-black color-block coat and skirt by the New York designer for the "We Are One" concert in Washington on Sunday. The graphic style made her stand out against the marble edifice as she and Barack Obama descended the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. She looked strong, elegant and, above all, modern.

--Booth Moore

Photo: President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on January 18, 2009. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Sister paper Chicago Tribune is reporting that the soon-to-be first family has received their Secret Service code names: The president-elect is "Renegade," Michelle Obama is "Renaissance," Malia is "Radiance," and Sasha is "Rosebud" (which may finally solve the ending of "Citizen Kane" after all these years...).

The Rage has always been a fan of this time-honored tradition because it gives us a lighthearted look at how the federal agency tasked with protecting our nation's leaders seems to perceive them. President Reagan was famously dubbed "Rawhide," for example, while President Carter was "Deacon." Our favorite, given President Kennedy''s oft-rumored amatory dalliances, was JFK's code name: "Lancer."

So Obama's moniker of "Renegade" seems appropriate enough, but does the first lady-elect's tag of "Renaissance" indicate a fashion commentary by the Secret Service? (As a rule, family members all have nicknames that start with the same letter.) Style watchers around the globe (including our own fashion critic) have noted that Michelle Obama's high-low style that includes Narciso Rodriguez dresses and J. Crew ensembles may be ushering in a new era of inside-the-Beltway style.

We can only guess the Secret Service secretly approves of her fashion sense -- after all, they could have dubbed her "Ready-to-Wear," right?

--adam.tschorn@latimes.com

Photo: (From left) Malia, Michelle and Sasha Obama, on stage at the Democratic National Convention in August, have been bestowed the Secret Service code names Radiance, Renaissance and Rosebud, respectively. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

 

Narciso Rodriguez staged a fashion show in the film "The Women," which opens this weekend, but he's been fairly low-pro when it comes to promoting the remake, starring Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan and Annette Bening among a bevy of other beauties.

None of them was in the audience at his real-life fashion show Tuesday night, but the film's director Diane English was in attendance. She said she'd been getting a lot of questions about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter being pregnant, because of the single mom storyline in her TV show "Murphy Brown," and the outrage it sparked among the GOP, specifically Dan Quayle, VP at the time.

"I'm very piquant about it," she said. "She and her family are posing for the cover of US Weekly, so I figure they are fair game. I just wish I still had my show."

Oh, the fun she could have.

-- Booth Moore