Fabrics touched by artful technology

This fall, fashion houses rolled out collections featuring materials and techniques that not only demonstrated the technical prowess of the mills, but also the creativity of the designers.

At Calvin Klein, Francisco Costa developed a bonded velvet with a rubberized finish, but softened the techy material by slashing it with laser cuts. "I wanted to see the surface evolve," he explains.

And that evolution, moving from sheer innovation toward more expressive garments, was key for many New York designers.