The Costello Tagliapietra s/s2011 Collection

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY & LAURA WOOD


In the crazed scramble that ensued this last NYFW, I was thrilled to have a contributor in town to cover the Costello Tagliapietra show for TheFE, while I was at the Ports1961 show, 40 blocks away, at Lincoln Center.

A former Vogue and Glamour Mag staffer, these days, Laura’s an agent for Fine Print Literary Agency. In retrospect, she was the ideal person to send to this show, as her schedule has her on the road with a small suitcase and garment bag, quite a bit these days. There’s not room for anything that won’t do double-duty and that can’t get her through a whole day. She, and so many other working women need beautifully draped, flattering dresses such as Costello Tagliapietra’s that pack well and make you look your absolute best with a minimum of fuss. In short, they have taken the angst factor of how to dress well for day without taking aeons to do it before you go off to a day packed with meetings. Comfy these dresses may be, they’re dressed enough to carry you straight into dinner. These hassle-free dresses are today’s answer to “How Should I dress for day?” for the modern workingwoman.

Said Laura, later that evening, when we met up at our room at the Cornell Club, “I’m in love with this sculpted charcoal top and slim midi skirt. It had a polished appearance, but could have been made out of sweat shirting; they looked so comfy. I could see walking into a room and people noticing I look great instead of the clothes wearing me.”
Comfort. That word usually evokes unfortunate images such as stretch waistbands, and sneakers traded in for heels to walk to the office in. True, women do want to be comfortable, but we want to look great doing it. Clothes such as these, fit the bill, not a pair of candy colored velour
Juicy Couture sweats, which I regrettably see all too often at the airport.
After scrolling through the style.com archives, I realized that another reason I am a fan of this line, is that that Jeffrey and Robert are consistent. Consistency is key when one is building a brand. Another plus is that that you always count on soft colors that flatter just about any skintone.


That’s pretty much the remark the CFDA’s Lisa Smilor made last season, post-show. She’s right, season after season, Jeffrey and Robert show beautifully draped clothes
that hide any [God forbid!] belly bulge and flatter you in all the right places.




The seasonal tweaks relate more to the theme of the season, be it “Irving Penn” or “Punkster”, but strip-away the shoes, the makeup, and what you’ve got left are these same beautifully draped dresses that flatter a woman whether she’s a petite person or a tall woman, or anywhere in between. Regardless of her size, Costello Talgiapietra make a woman feel as if she is wearing fashion, not just clothes.