If you had landed in the middle of Fashion Week yesterday, as the whole thing was kicking off, and if you had asked anyone what show they were really looking forward to, there's every chance they would have told you, "Raf Simon's Calvin Klein" debut.

The Belgium-born, former Dior designer's stateside arrival is one of the most anticipated fashion developments of recent memory. We were all waiting to see what such a sensitive, thoughtful, and visionary European creative director would do at the head of such a storied and iconic American brand-just as nostalgia and hunger for the CK golden years hovers at fever pitch.

Despite the excitement, the mood on Friday morning at the brand's midtown headquarters, where the runway show was staged, was relatively quiet and somewhat subdued. Tricia Smith, our executive vice president of women's and designer apparel, reported a clean-slate white-in-white vibe in the room-which, she said, went well with all the white bandanas. (You've heard of Business of Fashion's #TiedTogether movement? It's a fashion industry initiative to band together and support basic human rights; white bandanas are the effort's calling card.)

Tricia's strongest impression was what she called Raf's "bold color and American interpretation." He's often thought of as a minimalist, despite seeming to argue against that tag in the 2014 biopic and Calvin Klein itself all but defines this country's stylistic minimalism. So the primary colors and punctuations of cut-out, peek-through silhouettes felt like active yet polite refusals to be too boxed in.

And fashion loved it all. His swirling, dynamic riffs on classic uptown prep and sporty stripes-set most memorably to a version of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" -were strong, confident, and full of ambition. In other words, exactly what we want and need in 2017.

Nordstrom is excited to offer Calvin Klein's designer collections by Raf Simons for men and women in the following stores: Seattle, Fashion Valley, Palo Alto, Vancouver, and For now, our slideshow shows some of the stand-out looks.

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-Laura Cassidy