MILAN : Floppy or Tailored Trousers? A Question Inspired by Milan’s Spring Collections and American Designer Bill Blass
While Milan designers were putting frantic finishing touches on spring clothes that they’ll show next week, the unflappable Bill Blass leaned back in a limo on Wilshire Boulevard and laughed. He’d heard the Italians still favor baggy, two-legged garments instead of skirts, a concept he found amusing.
Indeed, Blass said he’d read the recent “Cathy” comic strips, which for two weeks derided floppy pants, and he was in total agreement. This is not to say he doesn’t have a few pajama-type outfits in his own spring collection, which he showed at a benefit luncheon in the Beverly Hilton. But most Blass trousers are trimly tailored, and the spring lineup features more shapely dresses than pants.
The luncheon’s “A” table gave ample testimony to just how important Los Angeles has become to the bon vivant designer and to retailers who sell his and other pricey clothes. Blass was seated with Macy’s chairman of the board, Edward S. Finkelstein, and his wife, Myra. The three had flown here in Macy’s corporate jet to attend the show.
In from San Francisco was Rose-Marie Bravo, chairman and chief executive officer of I. Magnin and Bullocks Wilshire, both now owned by Macy’s. (I. Magnin is the third largest purveyor of Bill Blass clothes in the country, behind Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.)
Also at the table were local Blass fans Betsy Bloomingdale and Ceil Moore, chairman of the Los Angeles Pops Orchestra benefit group which sponsored the show.
Afterwards, Blass’ limo inched toward Magnin’s, where the designer awaited women who came straight from the luncheon. Moore arrived, waving the paper on which she’d listed her favorite outfits. She sat, while Blass rummaged through racks to find her choices and bring them to her for a closer look. A designer’s life is not as cushy as it sometimes sounds. In fact, Blass looked a bit tired, as if he could use a dose of California sun.
Does he like Los Angeles?
“I’m sure I would, if I could spend any time. I flew in last night, I leave tomorrow, and today I work.”
The Macy’s people are on tight schedules too. Finkelstein and Bravo are both off to Europe this week for the spring collections, where Bravo said they expect to buy lots of pants.
“We’re selling them like crazy in our stores right now,” she explained, citing Giorgio Armani and Claude Montana as best-selling labels. Of course both labels, Armani from Milan and Montana from Paris, are affordable only to the upper financial crust.
And, according to Cathy Guisewite, the hard-working, thirty-something, Hollywood-based author of the “Cathy” comic strip, they’re not worth a nickel if they’re baggy--no matter which designer label they bear.
“I went shopping recently. I tried on pants. I came home and wrote the comic strips,” Guisewite said in a telephone interview.
“I mean it’s not pants I’m against. It’s those big, billowy, baggy pants,” she continued. “They are not flattering to women, especially short women. I’m 5 feet, 2 inches tall and a Size 5. I look like a little tanker truck in those things. To make matters worse, stores aren’t promoting subtle patterns like those men wear. For women, it’s houndstooth checks and dazzling, gem-tone plaids. Any woman with a weight problem knows gem-tone plaids are not for her. Particularly big, gem-tone plaids with very short jackets. I think skirts do more to conceal a woman’s problem areas. I also think designers are doing this to make up for the major mistake of the miniskirt, which women also couldn’t wear.”
Judging from the exclusive advance photos of Milan spring fashions on the opposite page, Guisewite needn’t worry. Solid colors seem to dominate, many of the trousers are suitably slim and most Italian designers will probably show a slew of dress styles that even the petite artist couldn’t find anything to joke about.
