L.A. Designers Go Their Own Ways in Spring ’86 Collections
Gene Ewing says Indira Gandhi inspired much of her new line. John Murrough was drawn to hazy desert shades. And a car wash on Sunset Boulevard spurred part of Abel Villarreal’s spring collection.
In a city where the fashion crowd doesn’t lunch in packs or fret about the dictates of New York or Paris, Los Angeles designers go their separate ways.
They offer a gamut of lengths and shapes for spring, from Christine Albers’ strict linen dresses to Georges Marciano’s baggy chambray walking shorts that could be taken for men’s boxers. Colors range from bright to neutral. Fabrics may be covered by dots, stripes, Leon Max’s cave drawings or Ewing’s “wildcat” tribute to her five feline pets.
Yet there’s also a consensus in lean silhouettes, unfussy shapes and fabrics that skim the body rather than hug it.
Many collections are spare and urbane, emphasizing wide shoulders, narrow hips and peplumed waists. The long, roomy duster coat makes frequent appearances, often shown over a short slim skirt--a combination that manages to look narrow-bodied.
Ewing still reels from too many baggy seasons: “After being in so many oversize layers, I’m ready to get back in my body,” she says.
She chooses slim tunics over capris and exotic print dresses in a Far Eastern mood for clothes she calls “cleaned up and slick.”
The most feminine strain of the L.A. look springs from designers’ growing taste for rayon. Rayon shows up as bumpy knits, shiny trims or as slinky dress fabrics with a knack for revealing or most kindly disguising the body.
John Murrough, who designs with Anthony Moorcroft for T.J. Boys, says he turned to rayon after tiring of structured, stiff clothes.
“We wanted a soft, floppy fabric, something that would show the body without showing all the bad points as well,” he says.
Carole Little also subscribes to “soft dressing” with rayon. She says she’s used it in past seasons but keeps returning to the fabric for sensual yet ladylike styles.
Wallpaper florals, shoulder pads and peplums give Little’s collection a retro mood: “It just reminds me of an old movie brought up to date,” she says.
Many L.A. designers do little more than hint at past decades--but Abel Villarreal revels in the ‘60s. He advocates clashing brights, angel sleeves and miniskirts that beg to be paired with Courreges boots. He calls this look “conspicuous” and says a woman needs “backbone and character” to wear it.
Villarreal, who has been in business less than three years, named a portion of his line the “car-wash group” because some pieces have a wide rayon fringe--”like the stuff you see in the car wash that swings back and forth.”
L.A. designers have all but abandoned graffiti-laden fabrics for primitive jungle scrawls or animal prints. Brenda French for French Rags creates colorful snakeskin patterns; while Nancy Heller, who introduces her first swimsuit collection this spring, opts for high-contrast polka dots up to six inches wide. For his play wear, George Marciano for Guess? chooses tiny florals and mattress-ticking stripes in shorts, unstructured blazers, skirts and overalls.
But others shun all the pattern play.
“I’m developing a real distaste of prints,” Leon Max says, claiming that he will swear off all prints for summer. He prefers a neutral palette of black, white and beige and seeks an “urban simplicity” for his clothes.
“I don’t do anything that’s not completely relevant to a 25-year-old in L.A., New York or Paris,” he says.
Max sees fashion turning dressier, even in play clothes, and aims much of his line at city dwellers who like to dine out with friends--”the most prevalent pastime beyond work,” he says. He tries unusual shapes, such as a rayon dress with a simulated train and a split-back coat that doesn’t pretend to offer warmth.
Max says he wants to avoid belabored fashion as much as create something new, hence his urge for simplicity.
“An overkill of jewelry by Madonna gave me a real bad feeling about wearing too much,” he notes.
“Anytime I go somewhere with super-hip trendoids, it gives me a bad taste for just about everything.”
