February 16, 2012, 4:19 PM

The Girl With the Front Row Seat

By ERIC WILSON

Hiroko Masuike for The New York TimesBackstage at Calvin Klein, fall 2012.

The girl from “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” was at the show with the models whose hair looked like that of the girl from “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

Did I just blow your mind? If not, the Calvin Klein collection probably will.

But first, the girl. Rooney Mara, the Oscar nominee whom all of fashion wants to dress, was there in a sleeveless black shift with a basket-weave detail at the neckline. She sat next to Emma Stone, in a red sleeveless shift and matching shoes. Last November, Ms. Mara introduced Calvin Klein himself at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund dinner, so you might suspect the house is wooing her.

FAST FASHION

Eric Wilson’s posts on the runway shows.

Stuart Emmrich/The New York TimesRooney Mara (in black dress) at the Calvin Klein show.

Had she made up her mind about what she was wearing to the Oscars, I asked her, as she got up from her seat. She shook her head, a response that could be interpreted either as “Why, no, but thank you for asking, kind sir,” or, “Buzz off, before I get all Lisbeth Sander on you.”

The Calvin Klein company sure seems to be trying. Some of the models wore their hair in severely shorn inky black bobs, kind of a tribute to their honored guest. The crew had spent two days painting every square inch of the show space black, perhaps to make her feel more at home. And Francisco Costa, the designer, personally showed Ms. Mara the collection backstage.

That said, these were probably not Oscar dresses. Mr. Costa showed many dresses and coats that stood away from the body, but there were also some slim looks in black leather and beads that are the closest thing to evening wear he has shown on a runway in some years. There were also coats and jackets held closed with thick silver belts, and a technical wool tweed fabric that looked like bouclé.

Lucas Jackson/Reuters; Kirsten Luce for The New York TimesDespite the Occupy Wall Street protesters antifashion stance, one was wearing a knit owl cap that looked almost identical to the ones that were in Anna Sui’s show last night.

In other news, the reported plans of Occupy Wall Street protesters to disrupt the show turned out to be vastly overstated. It was never really clear why they would target Calvin Klein in the first place, given that the majority of the company’s business, like underwear and T-shirts, is solidly aimed at the 99 percent.

A crowd of two protesters who arrived before the show had swelled to four by the time it was over. And despite their antifashion stance, one of them was wearing a knit owl cap that looked almost identical to the ones that were in Anna Sui’s show last night.