New Designer Tries a Hand at Reviving Blass

The house of Bill Blass, after sitting out Fashion Week for a few seasons while its new owners retooled the business, introduced a small spring collection Wednesday morning by the designer Jeffrey Monteiro. On a stage in a black tent at Lincoln Center, Mr. Monteiro’s models wore a range of cocktail suits, graphically embroidered vests and a selection of red dresses, one of which was made of a loose knit.

These were perfectly fine clothes for the day-to-evening crowd, but it is hard to imagine that they will spark a Bill Blass revival. Several talented designers (Peter Som, Michael Vollbracht, Lars Nilsson) have tried to revive Blass in the last decade, and none managed to get a pulse. Mr. Monteiro was probably smart to ignore the past. There was not much connection to Blass in his clothes at all — no men’s wear fabrics, no wild floral prints, no brassy sex appeal. His starting point was a book on Southern African tribes, barely evoked in the beaded trims on his jackets.

“I tried to make things effortless and easy,” Mr. Monteiro said.

It was fine for a beginning, but at some point, there needs to be a reason for customers to give Bill Blass another look.