Prediction of Death of Haute Couture Proves Premature
A few seasons ago, fashion watchers were predicting the demise of haute couture as an elitist way of dressing that was frankly old-fashioned.
Given the turnout of private clients at the fall-winter couture collections here this week, they were wrong. Among the international clientele were Betsy Bloomingdale of Los Angeles, Lynn Wyatt of Houston, Nan Kempner of New York, the Begum Aga Khan, and the former First Lady of France, Claude Pompidou. Plus row upon row of countesses and other titled women from around the world.
More importantly, for the first time in several years, three major American stores sent their fashion directors: Sonia Caproni of I. Magnin, Ellin Saltzman of Saks Fifth Avenue and Kal Ruttenstein of Bloomingdale’s. And if they were looking for direction to pass along to their American customers, they got some strong messages at Christian Dior, where designer Marc Bohan backed the big-shouldered, oversize coat layered over a small-shouldered, narrow silhouette. Both coat and skirt reveal a good two-inch flash of knee. Bohan has always loved the look of a man-tailored jacket on women. For this new collection, he cuts his jacket almost as long as his short skirt. His new jacket, inspired by an 18th-Century frock coat, is another major theme, day through evening.
Instead of a blouse, he shows all his jackets on skinny black jersey turtleneck tops stretched to tunic length and worn out over the skirt. His dress, almost always in wool jersey, is an extension of that turtleneck collared top, often with a trompe l’oeil white collar at the neck or seaming outlining trompe l’oeil vest or belt.
While Bohan threw in a few longer lengths and a handful of narrow-legged pleated pants, his story for winter is short.
The daytime part of the collection is simple and straightforward with splashes of curry, fire engine red and violet adding dash to a basically black and gray color story.
Contrast in Evening Colors
For evening, Bohan gets a little carried away with dresses with bodices that look like body molding, long line strapless bras that are appliqued, beaded or worked in colors or fabrics that contrast with the skirt. This might have been fun once or twice maybe, but not more than 20 times. It worked best on one of the few grande soiree dresses of the collection, where it was beaded onto a black velvet sheath.
Sunday night at Nina Ricci, designer Gerard Pipart maintained a knee-clearing length throughout the day part of the collection, refusing to confuse the issue with either pants or mid-calf lengths. His winter woman comes wrapped up on fur-trimmed hoods and with huge fur cuffs edging the sleeves of long-jacketed, slim-skirted suits.
As at Dior, the colors were calm with occasional outbursts of red or African violet. For evening, black velvet stars. One of the prettiest black velvet sheaths is designed with bursts of taffeta pleating at the knees and wrists.
Andre Courreges Cancels
One of the victims of this season’s showings is Andre Courreges, who canceled his show last week, citing differences with his Japanese owners, Itokin. Word has it that the Japanese clothing giant did not want to mount a costly high fashion production (most haute couture presentations cost roughly $350,000) at a time when Courreges ready-to-wear sales are down. Courreges’ managing director Koichi Tsojimura said there would be no haute couture presentations until at least next season.
Any mental images of the couture as a safe haven for rich women who can’t squeeze into ready-to-wear was bounced off the runways in the fall-winter collections Emanuel Ungaro and Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. Instead, both men offered homage to the woman who is disciplined enough to hone her body to lightning-rod thinness.
Ungaro, who is celebrating his 20th anniversary in the couture, differs with other designers here when it comes to length. He is not in love with the knee.
Most of his day look just clears the ankle, whether as the dramatic flare of a coachman’s coat or his suit--peplum jackets topping long, long skirts. “I can’t see me wearing that length out to lunch,” Lynn Wyatt said after the show.
New Day Looks
Other day looks included Mao-collared velvet body-hugging jackets with vaguely Indian inspired draped trousers. And Ungaro’s signature color and pattern mixes include such meldings as red and black floral print jackets lined in green and black over a yellow-and-black short dress with a turban and shoes in yet other color mixes.
And if Marc Bohan at Dior showed an anatomical obsession with his appliqued long-line strapless bras on just about everything, Ungaro was equally obsessed with the derriere, using it to anchor free-floating panels on sheath dresses, outlining it with paneling, draping it or decorating it with saucy bows.
Two long derriere dresses brought the house down: One was a decollete black-velvet top scooped to outline the hips, which were sheathed in white satin, and another paired aqua satin and black velvet.
Most Beautiful Group
Perhaps the most beautiful group in the show, and the one private customers all singled out afterward, was the quintet of floor-length dresses in aquamarine, apricot, blush, wisteria and apple green satin: masterfully simple and simply wonderful.
Now in his sixth season at Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld has kept the Chanel aura but stamped it with his own personality. Mademoiselle most certainly would not have been amused at the bride that ended the collection. The house’s signature model Ines de la Fressange appeared in a white vinyl Twiggy wig and a white satin Chanel suit in Lagerfeld’s new knee-baring Chanel length, wearing white lace stockings and flat shoes. Mademoiselle would also have probably found the taffeta tights a little strange, but despite the collection’s excesses--and in the glory days of the couture in the 1950s, no show was complete without its jokes--there were lots of beautiful clothes.
Take the classic suit: Lagerfeld enlivens it by cutting the armholes deep and squared off. The blouson is another fresh looking jacket shape at Chanel. Everything buttons up with the new Chanel button decorated with an embossed motif. Skirts are mainly well above the knees except for a few long day dresses.
Important Dress Shape
The important dress shape is the sheath done in wool jersey and pulled in tightly with the new quilted leather Chanel belt. While most of these dresses cling desperately to the body, the few that were slightly easier cut are a strong direction, especially the jewel-collared one in navy wool jersey.
Couture embroiderer Francois Lesage said before the show that he has been working around the clock and on weekends for the past nine weeks to get ready for the couture and those beaded embroideries that look like miniature kilim tapestries are some of the high pluses of the collection. They are sure to become museum pieces.
Another great evening look: the short black sheath with a bodice that is a mass of bottle green ostrich plumes.
Long hair is definitely back in a big way on the Paris runways and Lagerfeld showed some of his best numbers on a Rita Hayworth look-alike, Texas-born Rochelle Redfield.
Earlier in the day, Phillipe Venet presented a simple, well-focused collection filled with “buy me” clothes that ranged from his celebrated coats to color-block wool jersey dresses and beautifully draped long evening dresses.
