Raf Simons’ hotly anticipated debut fall 2017 collection for Calvin Klein was a love letter to America: “It is the coming together of different characters and different individuals, just like America itself,” stated Simons in the show notes. “It is the unique beauty and emotion of America.” The show was set to David Bowie’s “This Is Not America,” the theme song of the 1985 movie The Falcon & The Snowman, which tells the story of a man who becomes disillusioned by corruption within the American government. The collection somehow managed to honor our blue-collar history, our white-collar ambitions, our folk roots, and our cultural flexibility, but also our blue-collar future, our white-collar cynicism, our dying folk values, and our political inflexibility. It was America at its most beautiful, which it is, even when it’s marred. Take, for example, the coats made of marabou feathers, golden fur, wallpaper florals, and woolen plaid — and then covered in a transparent plastic. To anyone who grew up covering their nice things — the family couch, television, car seats, pillows — in plastic knows what a uniquely American habit it is. It’s sacrificing your ability to really enjoy something in a quest to preserve it. In many ways, it’s the complete opposite of luxury, which asks you to indulge, without any reservations or fear of consequence. It’s an impulse that many people in America have experienced, and many people in fashion have not. Simons grew up modestly in Belgium, with a mother who cleaned houses and a father who was a soldier. It’s not impossible to imagine he sees the parallels between his rags-to-riches story and the American Dream.