Ready-to-Wear Inspired by the Fitness Circuit
Calvin Klein’s mother, Flore Klein, sat in the front row at her son’s show and remarked that sportswear is all she has ever really liked to wear. But that may be about to change, for Klein and a lot of other American women.
Consider active sportswear--parkas, hooded sweat shirts and ponchos--but in velvet, lame, wool tweed and gabardine. Calvin Klein did. As did Michael Kors, who presented his fall collection not long after Klein’s this week. In fact, a number of New York’s young-spirited designers have been watching the fitness circuit for their latest ready-to-wear fashion inspirations. (Now we know where their minds wander while they’re riding the exercise bike.)
The idea has been tried before, with degrees of success. But the timing feels right now, since workout wear itself is a status symbol these days. And with so many designers showing active wear items for fall, the sheer numbers are enough to persuade anybody. These clothes can climb corporate ladders and even make it to the top, especially in Los Angeles where casual, comfortable fashion ideas always get ahead.
Klein’s outdoorsy attitude turned up in an evening parka of quilted brown velvet that he showed with narrow, velvet pants. It was the last item in his collection--most designers end their show with a wedding gown--and one of several unconventional ideas in his evening wear collection.
The other was a simple mousseline T-shirt, sheer and undecorated, worn underneath a silky, man-tailored gabardine pant suit. It was Klein’s answer to the dinner dress, and it had a startling elegance about it.
For day, he returned to his earlier Italian fashion phase, showing Milanese menswear shapes and fabrics for his office styles. His weekend wear featured cashmere crew-neck sweaters tied over the shoulders of other cashmere crew necks, in quiet, herb or spice colors. They went with narrow suede jeans, or even narrower twill pants.
Dressed-Up Sweats
Kors made more of the active wear idea, showing sweat shirt minidresses with drawstring hoods in wool herringbone with a flat-heel suede boot that almost touched the knee, floor-sweeping ponchos over pants, and for evening, hooded lame sweat shirts in warm colors such as old gold. He teamed the sweat shirts with very short skirts or wide-leg shorts. Other Kors creations were coats, in lightweight wool, that resembled prizefighter robes. He mixed them with rich satin skirts or pajama pants in midnight blue or rose.
Mary Ann Restivo, said to be the biggest crowd-pleaser on all of Seventh Avenue, specializes in executive women’s wear. This season her tailored gray flannel pants reappeared in day and evening outfits. For day, she showed them with a red plaid bathrobe-style jacket. For evening she matched them with a burgundy-colored lace tunic and shawl. Iridescent taffeta cloaks and black velvet jumpsuits were other examples of her executive evening wear. The audience approved and gave her a standing ovation.
One of First Lady Barbara Bush’s favorite design houses, Adele Simpson, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by launching the first fall collection of its new house designer, Wayne Kastning. And the buzz around the showroom is that Mrs. Bush will be in to see it at the end of the month.
First Lady’s Colors
Bush Blue, a teal shade the First Lady wears often, made its presence felt in a chiffon column dress for evening. There were plenty of unmatched suits with easy jackets, in subtle shades of cream and beige for afternoons. And a red wool crepe pant suit dotted with tiny rhinestones looked like the sort of flag-waver that might go to certain political parties.
Bob Mackie, one of the wittiest designers to show in the New York ready-to-wear marathon, consulted the zodiac for this season’s fashion answer. He came up with a series of evening outfits emblazoned with archers, water bearers and other astrological images.
He does best when his ready-to-wear designs stay close to the show-stopping, one-of-a-kind outfits he has created for Cher, Goldie Hawn, Bernadette Peters and other glamorous Hollywood private clients. This time his collection borrowed from ethnic themes. Unfortunately, his foray into folkloric was not very successful. What it did best was demonstrate where his true talent lies--clothes for extravagant special occasions.
