Timeless Basics With a New Flash
Lightning has struck twice for Isaac Mizrahi. The curly-haired, Brooklyn-born designer offered his second collection Thursday night to the same fashion critics who, after his first showing seven months ago, dubbed him the natural successor to Calvin Klein.
This time, predictions of greatness waned as the crowd waited a half-hour outside in the cold and another inside a cramped loft for the festivities. The critics were feeling grumpy. But from the first outfits--brilliant red, yellow and blue slickers over jumpsuits styled like overalls--to the last bronze satin tent-blouse over beige raw silk evening jeans--the clothes were irresistible.
Among the 73 outfits presented were joyous renditions of the spring season’s major fashion scenes. Mizrahi’s baggy pants weren’t all that baggy and had fabric bunched above the tunnel belts to resemble paper sacks tied with string. Above these, models wore a variety of free-form jackets, shirts and rain cloaks in shapes as simple as monks’ robes.
Skinny pants, one-piece shorts suits with overskirts, long slim wrap skirts and short, hang-loose dresses were teamed with satin tunics, see-through shirts, and hooded jackets in opulent fabrics of brilliant colors, unless they were navy or white.
The designer, at age 27, has a special talent for transforming basic shapes, often of ancient derivation, into stunningly modern clothes by executing them in unexpected fabrics and shades.
Oriental prayer coats, Oshkosh overalls, classic men’s bathrobes, baseball jackets, jeans and Greek togas all become high-flying styles for the ‘80s in this designer’s hands. A traditional short duffle coat and strapless toga with smocked bosom, for example, become an Academy Award-night outfit when Mizrahi turns out the duffle in sheer white gazar fabric and the toga-jumpsuit in white marocain silk.
At show’s end, the designer bounced out on the runway to thunderous applause.
On Friday morning, Geoffrey Beene continued the winning streak that has marked the end of this spring fashion week in New York. Beene’s way with clothes is so artful and dramatic that his outfits often become collector’s items as soon as they are minted.
The designer’s perennial favorite jumpsuits are still body-sculpted and have small, curvaceous jackets. But his newer-looking suits are topped by elongated jackets that bell out over the hip line above slim skirts that hit the knee.
Beene’s evening wear, the standout portion of the show, has the delicacy of christening gowns and the grace of ballet dresses. Built of sheer silk net or lace embellished with embroidery or tiny sequins and beads, they have waistlines that soar high in front and dip low in back, with skirts falling in tiny gathers to just above the ankles. Some dress backs are bare or of see-through net.
A series of short, brilliantly sequined jackets topped black crepe jumpsuits with low necklines, bare shoulders and bare backs.
Also new from Beene were the body-wrap styles for day and evening. One of these featured a bodice wrapped in silky, bronzed gauze above a slim black skirt. Another applause winner was a floor-length strapless column dress that looked like liquid silver, with a slim cage of net from just under the bosom to the floor.
There were tailored evening styles amid the flamboyant ones in a show that brought the audience to its feet.
Donna Karan’s show immediately afterward was themed to pale shades of celadon, bamboo, ivory and blush pink, along with the obligatory black. Karan continues doing body blouses for spring, in white silk for daytime or soft pale chiffons for evening. Her jackets in the new, powder-puffed shades, are cut gently this season, as are skirts, many of which come to just above the ankle.
The new Karan skirt--described in the program as mid-calf, although it was shown longer--has no waistband. It is horizontally gathered around the body and anchors with three covered buttons in front.
A pale, sueded silk gabardine trench-coat dress was Karan’s homage to the safari look, with its self-fabric belt and long, flaring skirt. For dressier occasions, Karan teamed sheer black and white printed pajama pants with loose jackets or sheer, knife-pleated, ankle-length skirts with classic blazers.
For all-out formal occasions, delicate silk chiffon pajama pants, in powdery pastel, were teamed with matching chiffon blouses with shimmering crystal beads on the lapels and cuffs. Other chiffon pajamas with matching body blouses were sprinkled from top to toe in what some might call stardust.
Karan’s show was the last of the week and the audience loved it.
