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Luca Luca’s New Creative Force Off to Winning Start

Could Raul Melgoza, the new creative director of Luca Luca, be the next Francisco Costa? Melgoza might just give Costa, the celebrated designer of Calvin Klein, a run for his money in the department of cool, crisp minimalism if his Spring 2009 collection is any indication. For lovers of sleek and simple, it was a home run.

Holding his first show for Luca Luca on Monday, Sept. 8, Melgoza, who has worked as a designer for the brand since 2005, said he kept the house's focus on a body-driven, formfitting silhouette, but made it more youthful and emphasized sportswear rather than the red carpet fare usually associated with the label.

"In order to take the company to the next level, I think it should have a broader product line," said Melgoza backstage after the show.

Clean lines and asymmetry were the major themes in this collection, owing to Melgoza’s architectural aesthetic. "Not heavy on prints, not heavy on embellishment," was how he summed it up. Starting with a series of streamlined white silk gazar sheath dresses, Melgoza’s sportswear moment kicked in with cuffed cotton shorts, skinny pants and high-waisted skirts paired with whisper thin tanks and cotton shirts with curved organza insets in the back.

Also notable was Melgoza's pairing sleek inner layers with outer layers that floated off the body. This gave a flattering shape to the body at the waist, but modernized the silhouette by creating movement and adding visual interest.

Many designers have experimented with jumpsuits this season, but Melgoza's was the first to redesign it in a way that made it less like a retro statement and more like a garment for the 21st century. He did this by opening up the back—the program notes referred to it as a "Fly-away" back, and it looked incredibly chic, completely altering the typical "men-at-work" qualities of a less thoughtful jumpsuit.

Some might take issue with the notable absence of color in this collection, but if you think of the runway show as a blueprint, the mostly-white palette highlighted the structure of each garment more explicitly. Dashes of burnt orange, purple and blue indicated that there would be an eventual palette to choose from come spring.

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