French Designers Sparkle in Paris Shows
Four top French talents--Claude Montana, Jean Paul Gaultier, Hubert de Givenchy and Christian Lacroix--each did with their collections what they do best. Only this week they did it even better.
Ellin Saltzman, senior vice president and fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, summed up her reaction to the shows in one word: “Wow!”
There were near-riot conditions to get into the tent where Montana was showing, and an hour’s wait once inside. But it was all worth it as soon as the first models glided down the runway.
Montana, originally a fashion aggressive, with this collection goes totally soft, shaping chiffon, matte jersey and washed silk into forms that seemed to float on the body.
His new silhouette is built like a pyramid: small on top and flaring from just below the bust, for example, for his riding jacket with the collar a ruche of accordion pleats.
Signature Piece
He showed a similar look in his square-necked, bare-armed coat dresses over the show’s signature piece--what he calls “eye teasers,” ankle-length pants cut so wide and full they look like skirts.
While there were some narrower trousers crushed at the ankle and a handful of wide-legged shorts, Montana largely stuck to big, full pants, topping them with chiffon shirts barely veiling the body or crepe beauties clustered with soft pleats.
He also knows everyone looks to him for color direction (the purple-green combo now all over Europe originated in his collection at least four seasons ago), and for summer he teased his audience with a neutral palette built around smoke, Dover gray, pewter, ivory and clotted cream.
Then in the black-and-navy finale, the stage glowed with combinations of blush, old rose, mango, apricot and face powder pink in chiffon, washed silk or linen layered and mixed, everything trailed with miles of pleated chiffon scarfs.
The piece de resistance was his tuxedo look, totally unconstructed in black matte jersey and with the long jacket and sleeves deeply hemmed in fringe.
“Montana is a truly creative designer,” said Edward S. Finkelstein, R. H. Macy Inc. chairman, at the ready-to-wear shows for the first time along with Rose Marie Bravo, J. Magnin/Bullocks Wilshire chairman. “He’s really an original. A very exciting show.”
There was more excitement from Gaultier, who did what somebody had to: He revived the mini, having fun with top-of-the-thigh denim mini hipster skirts worn with thigh highs and shrunken sleeveless blousons.
His latest Gaultier Junior collection, which in its first season accounted for $3.3 million at retail, provided an abundance of ideas that others no doubt will copy: cropped or tunic-length tank tops slit up the sides; new tailored jackets, again with side slits almost to the bust; fringe-trimmed “cowboy” jackets; hipster pants, wide and floppy or as narrow as drain pipes; wide-legged pants cut out of embroidered kimono satin; short jackets that lace up the back, and mixes of patterns and prints.
All of this was accessorized a la Gaultier--outrageously, with, for example, hair pieces piled on like two headlights on a car and mountains of ethnic jewelry.
De Givenchy, whose first love is his couture collection and who often seems to treat his ready-to-wear as a stepchild, offered a most pleasant surprise, delivering a chic, concise fashion statement.
“A beautiful, ladylike collection and just perfect for the I. Magnin lady,” said Magnin chairman Bravo.
Typical of the appealing looks in his summer ready-to-wear line were dusty pastel coats over long-sleeved crepe de chine blouses and slim skirts in matching colors and worn with a matching big-brimmed straw hat and ladylike white gloves.
Givenchy did not allow himself to be sidetracked on lengths. He stuck to just-above-the-knee (except for evening) for everything from coats to skirts to dresses. For evening, the slim sheath dresses in silk organza with the decolletes a big candy box bow were delicious.
Lacroix served up his own distinctive style, following on the success of his ready-to-wear show last week with a presentation of his more expensive ($5,000 for a suit) Lux line. Here he does a limited group of shapes, each interpreted in a different fabric.
As in the ready-to-wear show, there is a new ease and fluidity to his look with some of the best, the draped matte jersey tops on frothy organza skirts.
