FASHION : Paris : Gold Rush
In a couture season of rich-is-better, Yves St. Laurent’s new fall/winter fashions look like money in the bank. Money in the bank, not money on your sleeve or a king’s ransom on your back, as is the case with many of the clothes shown here this week.
Without using one single pearl, one karat of gold embroidery or one facet of beaded applique, St. Laurent came up with a jewel of a collection. The press responded with a prolonged ovation. Private customers rushed backstage after the show to touch all those gleaming lame brocades they had seen on the runway.
Brocades appeared as boots worn with a simple prune-colored jersey chemise dress and blue wool cape. Then came a brocade fez and high-tongued brocade shoes worn with violet wool trousers and matching chiffon turtleneck; then, an array of lame brocade suits, dresses and evening gowns that are sure to make this fabric the star of the season.
With this collection, St. Laurent also gives the woman who does not wear couture clothes new ideas for updating her old wardrobe. By accessorizing a simple gray wool pants outfit with a big pink satin stole, pale green chiffon scarf, pink-and-silver brocade shoes and a dark green, wide-brimmed fedora, he puts a new spin to fashion classics.
In addition to using lame brocade as a shoe medium, St. Laurent uses white satin pumps with some of his now-classic daytime suits and dresses.
As if to underscore the lyricism, the clothes were shown to opera music--mainly Mozart. That could also be Yves St. Laurent’s business partner, Pierre Berge, reminding us that he’s also now the president of the Paris Opera.
Earlier in the week, costume themes ruled the runways. The idea seems to be: look sublimely ridiculous. It’s been the biggest message from the Paris haute couture collections for fall/winter.
At Ungaro, the daytime lineup started sanely enough with black-and-white pantsuits in classic glen plaids. But this is the couture, of course, not ready-to-wear, so Ungaro surprised these near-classics with overblouses in purple velvet.
At the finale the runway filled up with models moving like wind-up dolls--the kind of dolls only Ungaro and Bavaria’s mad King Ludwig II might have dreamed up. One wore a blue-and-silver brocade jacket with yellow satin lapels over a full-length petticoated skirt of giant multicolored flowers printed on fuchsia satin. Her hair was covered in a pouf of tulle.
At Chanel, it’s any length, and almost any idea, goes, including quilted gold lame Levi’s and a quilted gold lame jumpsuit with brown chiffon cape. (The music from “Batman” was playing on the sound system at the time, just in case anyone should miss the point.) At the opposite extreme, tweed jackets were a must for day.
There was really only one thing missing at Lagerfeld--model Ines de la Fressange. Often called the Lagerfeld muse, the model recently became even more famous when named as France’s newest Marianne--the official “face of France” and muse of the French Republic, sculpted every five years on busts that grace city halls all over France. That didn’t set right with Lagerfeld, who promptly banned the model from the runway. If Fressange plays her new role well, she may follow previous Mariannes, Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, onto the screen.
Scherrer’s new fashion army of toy soldiers extends from the Ottoman Empire to the Ganges, from Byzantium to Czarist Russia. Angelo Tarlazzi, the Italian-born designer who showed his first collection for Guy Laroche, drew upon his previous couture experience at Jean Patou to bring back some of the magic of the Ballets Russe. (Patou was a key part of the “orientaliste” movement typified by the Diaghilev and Nijinsky.)
Hubert de Givenchy closed the official fall/winter haute couture showings. From his classic knee-baring jersey dresses and woolen suits--new this season with matching capes--to his lady-like brocade dinner suits and perfectly-draped satin gowns, Givenchy gave the Paris couture exactly what it needed--exquisitely crafted, wearable clothes that make women look beautiful.
For the second time in his career, Rome’s Valentino brought his couture collection to Paris after first opening in Rome last week. It was deserving of special recognition if only for the amazing fabrics, inspired by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann and painter Kolo Moser. Their turn-of-the-century geometric graphics may well have occasioned the neo-geo, pop-op explosion of the ‘60s and are still regarded as the epitome of modern. The dramatic Hoffmann/Moser designs ranged from skirts, sweaters and suits for day to magnificent evening extravaganzas.
Another Italian designer, Milan’s Gianni Versace, also invaded the hallowed halls of Paris couture for the second time this year. The Versace message: Truly modern embroideries using metal instead of sequins or jeweled stones. For the most part, the metal-embroidered jackets are worn with very short skirts--many shaped with signature Versace folds and drapes--or sleek pants.
Designer Patrick Kelly’s “wink at couture” (Kelly is a bona fide French ready-to-wear designer--the first American ever to be admitted to the prestigious governing body of French fashion--but he is not a licensed couturier ), shows platinum tube dresses in stretch lame accessorized with silver lame boots.
Grace Jones already owns one version of what he calls his “What’s New, Pussycat?” stretch platinum lame dresses appliqued with real cat-shaped eye masks, complete with whiskers.
Along with plenty of excesses, some down-to-earth ideas emerged this week. Sheer brown stockings are back, high-tongued shoes are the revival of the season, and crosses have now migrated from chest to ears, especially at Givenchy, where golden Maltese crosses cover the lobes.
