FASHION : Flower Power Is Blooming in Spring Lines
Spring, 1990 will send a strong message about ‘60s style flower power, across the fashion world at least.
Giorgio Armani, who opened the Italian spring-summer ready-to-wear shows on Sunday with his Emporio line, recalled the original hippie dress code with his gypsy skirts and shawls, vests, tattered jeans, oversized shirts and jackets, and clumpy sandals.
And he reminded his audience about the “nature girl” ideal that many a flower child aspired to when he filled his runway with bare-chested women, attended by bare-chested men, all wearing Armani blue jeans.
At this sight a gasp went up among Americans attending the early-morning show in the theater of Armani’s downtown palazzo. Europeans, accustomed to topless bathing, didn’t bat an eyelash.
Still known to some as the blazer king, Armani showed long jackets for spring, this time with curved fronts that recall the tulip petal shape seen several seasons ago in the collection of Italy’s Romeo Gigli.
There was a touch of Gigli, too, in the rounded, uneven hemlines of skirts and dresses. For summer, Armani’s hemlines are hiked way above his demure winter lengths.
Lightweight pantsuits with ample jackets and baggy trousers, and a series of cool cotton jumpsuits were Armani’s answer to city-dweller fashions for the summer.
Franco Moschino, a favorite among the young-at-heart, showed his collection just after Armani. He is known by now for his sense of irony toward the fashion world at large. This time as usual, he tended to hide his own beautiful clothes under exaggerations of other designers’ embellishments.
In past collections, Moschino’s antics have included an entire show based on outrageous headgear--from stovepipes to teddy bear shapes--as a sendup of French designer Christian Lacroix’s extravagant hats. Almost always, he ladens his evening wear with heavy gold chains, to imitate the popular, Parisian Chanel look.
This time, like Armani, Moschino flirted with the hippie idea, in a series of multicolored gypsy skirts, jeans outfits and Mexican-style long vests. But his most astonishing outfit was a three-piece suit--jacket, brassiere and short skirt--in glimmering gold fabric, with lavish gold jewelry and a gold chain belt. (There are bra tops galore in the new spring collections here.) And his most ironic style in the spring show was a floor-length black chiffon gown with the gold letters, VIP , extending from the neckline down the bodice.
In his Sunday night show, Gianni Versace combined a multitude of shades into beautiful silk prints for skirts, pants, jackets and dresses.
The daring shapes of his clothes--his skirts are known to be so short and tight they barely cover the hips--and his penchant for theatrical styles make him a favorite in Hollywood and among rock stars. There is enough gold and glitz in his new collection to satisfy even the most demanding entertainer.
Outfits were adorned with gold balls, tassels and colorful crystals. And he decorated shoes with gold studs.
It is a strong statement, but Versace’s exquisite tailoring and artistic sense make it work.
Dominant in his spring collection are high-waisted silk pants with one leg slit open to the hip, mini lingerie dresses in bright shades of taffeta, bra tops and bustiers encrusted with colorful crystals, silk printed lapels on man-tailored jackets, fringed piano shawls to drape over the shoulders or tie around the hips.
At Missoni, famous for artistic sweaters, the new stitch is a zig-zag crochet. The new jacket is hip length and reversible, with one side in quilted fabric and the other a bulky striped knit.
At Byblos--who showed Monday, as did Missoni--the unusual summer palette is based in rich browns, which appeared in floral prints and solids mixed with white, sienna, amethyst, ruby and violet. A naval theme ran through the collection, with gaily colored nautical flags, gold braiding, exaggerated emblems, and bold red and blue stripes.
