N.Y. Designers: Give Them the Sensible Life
In the latest round of this heavyweight fashion week, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and relative newcomer Carolyne Roehm showed consecutively. None of them pulled any punches. Even outfits intended to knock out the crowd had the look of the long term about them. In fact, the challenge at these shows was to find something a woman couldn’t wear for the next 10 years or more.
Instead of initiating the new, the clothes seemed to be a reaction to what has not worked in fashion lately: miniskirts as well as maxi-skirts for day, poufs and froufrous for night, and the extravagant idea that an expensive outfit should only be worn for one type of occasion.
No Basic Black
De la Renta showed day-into-evening suits with narrow, quilted jackets, or longer, swing shapes, worn with narrow skirts more often than pants. He featured colors, instead of black.
Nobody is showing much black this season, which has encouraged designers to offer some lovely alternatives. De la Renta worked with mulberry, claret and chocolate brown for day.
His best evening dresses were moss green or dove gray chiffon, with enormous chiffon wraps that veiled the entire body or fluttered behind it like a sail. His collector’s items were quilted, velvet swing-coats lined with bold satin stripes, or Lurex-shot floral prints. He put them over shaped, velvet dresses.
Of all the Seventh Avenue conservatives, only De la Renta dared to bare knees for fall. He cut his skirts and even his coats, about 3 inches above the knee.
The women seated in the front row of his show didn’t exactly represent the average American shopper who worries about the price or the life span of a new purchase.
There was Mercedes Kellogg Bass, wife of Texas oil man, Sid, at one end of the runway and Ivana Trump, whose husband, Donald, owns the Plaza Hotel where the show took place, at the other.
In between sat Katherine Graham, who owns the Washington Post, and Barbara Walters, TV interviewer of the rich and famous. But they could relate to De la Renta’s sensible styles. Excess has fallen out of fashion during the past year, even in the highest financial districts.
Ralph Lauren’s clothes also reflect the change. There are no simpler, more conservative, tradition-bound classics to be found in New York right now.
Daytime designs at Lauren consisted of narrow suit jackets over knee-length skirts or slightly wider pants. Weekend looks included American quilt-inspired sweaters, Navajo-blanket print jackets and dark-gray flannel pants.
Evenings invited tuxedos, including pant suits, jackets and skirts, even floor-length tuxedo coatdresses.
There were some lovely versions of all the above. Certain daytime suits in flannel or herringbone tweed had capelet jackets. Some of Lauren’s Navajo-blanket fabric went to a wrap-skirt held fast by a black alligator belt with a silver-disc buckle for a Southhampton-meets-Santa Fe look. And the dazzling details on Lauren’s latest tuxedo suits were the rhinestone studs he used on his crisp, white tuxedo shirts.
Roehm has now cornered a whole other market with her ski-Aspen, fly-Concord style. For fall, she matched spruce-green suede parkas with rich fox-trimmed hoods and sexy ski pants the same color, tucked into tall suede boots.
She tossed cashmere ponchos over matching, aqua-colored turtleneck sweaters. Her glen plaid suits were quilted, for a twist on the super-classic theme.
And for women on the go, even at night, she showed a dress with a split chiffon skirt and beaded bodice, with a matching beaded bolero.
Two other shows that fit into the same day’s events supplied the element of creativity the others missed. Ronaldus Shamask put his name to the most original collection of any “Establishment” designer to launch a collection week.
His most original item was the white, cotton T-shirt dickey he used under fitted, black jackets and tunics with scoop necklines. He showed these close-fitting tops with body-conscious skirts that flared at the hemline or narrow, cropped pants.
Other Shamask specials were the ankle-length dresses he styled in dark shades of wool jersey. Some had the prim, closed-collar silhouette of a Puritan’s frock. But the prize in that group was an off-the-shoulder dress with a bit of white, pleated fabric at the neckline.
As always, Shamask introduced his menswear collection along with his women’s. His men’s suits in unusual shades of deep-cherry red or stone-blue tweed were cut wide, with triple-pleated pants. He showed them with white shirts and cardigan sweaters tucked in at the waist.
Men looking for a way into the world of experimental-dress styles might find the key in Shamask’s lavish brocade or Jacquard vests that peek out from underneath safe, familiar, black flannel jackets. He matched them with faded blue jeans.
Adrienne Vittadini’s collection supplied another type of creative spirit. Her collection looked like fun. Long, skinny, leopard-print dresses and fake leopard wrap coats were playful.
Outfits that blended bright violet, green and citrus for a jacket, short skirt and turtleneck top, were exciting. And her off-white, rib-knit ensembles, fringed with the same, off-white yarn, made the wearers seem stylish yet soft and approachable.
After a dozen or more shows, the themes of the week have come into sharp focus. Suits, especially in gabardine or flannel, look like the main purchase of the season. Jackets are long and shaped or long and swing-away. Pants suits are as much in style as suits with skirts, and narrow, knee-length skirts are the choice silhouette.
Colors, especially deeper shades of olive, rose and orange, look newer than black. Sweater sets, especially twin cashmere crew necks, or cable-stitch turtlenecks and matching, cable-stitch crew necks to tie across the shoulders, are everywhere.
Novelty items include hooded parkas with drawstring waists, in fabrics as far ranging as suede and velvet. And stirrup pants, or ski pants as some designers call them, are the hottest thing for women who like to show off the results of their regular trips to the gym.
