Patterns

A Blow for Seventh on Sixth

A fragile coalition from the start, the Bryant Park ready-to-wear shows have developed a new fissure. None of the three global titans of American fashion -- Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan -- will show their signature collections in spaces designated by Seventh on Sixth, the organizers.

Mr. Klein, who gave Mr. Lauren and Ms. Karan a very public dressing down last season when they withdrew from the unified presentations in the park, will show at the Dia Center for the Arts, at 548 West 22d Street. Mr. Lauren and Ms. Karan will again stage runway shows in their showrooms. But Ms. Karan will still present DKNY, her secondary line, in Bryant Park.

As a reparative measure, Seventh on Sixth has created an associate membership, charging designers like Mr. Klein and Mr. Lauren $2,000 to show wherever they please while still considering them part of Seventh on Sixth. Principal members, who show in one of the five sanctioned sites, pay as much as $25,000.

The defection of Mr. Klein is considered a blow. ''It would be less than honest to say we weren't disappointed,'' said Fern Mallis, the executive director of Seventh on Sixth and its sister trade group, the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

But, she added, Seventh on Sixth, now in its third year, is not wanting for designers. ''At the very beginning, we couldn't have done it without Ralph, Donna and Calvin on board,'' she said. ''We now have established New York as a fashion capital, and this makes for the best of both worlds, instead of bickering every season about who's in and who's out of Seventh on Sixth.''

Mr. Klein seemed to be taking pains to explain his abandonment of the ideal of American designer unity, which he so passionately espoused last season. ''This is not in any way to be taken as an indication of his withdrawal from the C.F.D.A.,'' said Robert Triefus, the senior vice president of communications for Calvin Klein Inc. ''Like other top designers, Calvin intends to be very active and very visible at all the industry events during the week.''