French, Italian Designers Shed Light on the Future
As the 1990s loom, fashion watchers are searching for the designers who will chart the course for the next decade.
And they may have found two leaders in Christian Lacroix and Romeo Gigli, both playing the same theme--rich decoration--in different keys.
For spring, Paris-based Lacroix’s ready-to-wear collection, shown Sunday, was a tumble of clashing colors, patterns and fabrics.
Brocaded cigarette-leg pants, multicolored leggings, shiny tartan coats, tiger-skin trapeze jackets and daisy-splattered tops sewn with sequins were all included in the melange.
Most of the fabrics had a glossy sheen, but he gave them extra glitter with diamante buttons, Lacroix’s favorite, huge gold crosses and garish baroque brooches.
Lacroix has an instinctive feel for mixing colors that recall his native Southern France. A sunflower-yellow cape coat topped a tight brocade skirt in coral and cherry, with a glittering crimson and yellow jacket in Lacroix’s signature--oversized houndstooth.
Brocaded turquoise Bermuda shorts were matched with a tartan bush jacket. Linen jackets in pinks and greens topped psychedelic skirts, shorts, clinging miniskirts or unitards--also called “cat suits”--in clashing geometric designs.
“I think too much is never enough,” explained the designer after the show. “I like to use big hats, flowers, sunglasses and plenty of jewelry--or nothing at all.”
While that idea worked well in his ready-to-wear line, Lacroix’s more expensive “Luxe” styles were sometimes too much of a good thing. A gingham evening outfit, for example, had frills at the shoulder, rows of bows down the front and a lace-brocaded skirt.
Milan-based Gigli, who by-passed tradition last spring when he decided to show his collections in Paris instead of Italy, presented his new designs to a packed audience Saturday night. There was hardly room to breathe.
It was a fashion fairy tale of a show. Ethereal models wore chain necklaces woven with glass whelks and bells; their hair was spiked with silver periwinkles. Their outfits consisted of such confections as hobble skirts in poufs of chiffon, worn with velvet tops softly wrapped and knotted across the chest. Glossy riding jacket pants suits were cut from glowing shades of red, green and orange.
There were capes in muted gold, dusty ruby or turquoise cut from metallic fabrics that change hue.
Issey Miyake--the Japan-born, Paris-based designer--also showed his collection Saturday night. It spotlighted the sportier side of summer fashion. There were stretchy gymnast suits and harlequin-patterned stretch cotton pant suits worn with boxy jackets.
“Clothes aren’t dangerous, so you might as well aim to shock,” he said after the show.
Claude Montana, who has just been named designer for the haute-couture house of Jeanne Lanvin, showed his own collection on Saturday at noon.
There was hardly a skirt in sight. Instead, he opted for pants, or shorts--a leading choice among many designers here for next summer--with safari style jackets, in spicy shades of cinnamon, clove and curry. He cut daring, V-shaped necklines into the sporty jackets.
Another terrific look was Montana’s version of the opaque-wear that so many Paris shows have featured this season. He paired longer, raw silk or linen jackets with flowing, pleated pants in sheer, silk georgette crepe.
Perhaps frustrated by the more conservative clientele who wear his designs for Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld seemed to be aiming his own label toward much younger customers. He chose adolescent models, ages 14-20 or so, to make the point.
There were floral, petticoated skirts bouncing flirtatiously above the knee, short-skirted suits, including some full miniskirts, worn with matching tights in bold shades of fuchsia, yellow or orange.
Jackets were the designer’s forte in this show, always fitted at the waist and hugging the hips.
One of the best had crescent-shaped lapels--one large, one small--and for an evening version he embroidered the crescents with pearls.
The pony-tailed native of West Germany has been nicknamed “Kaiser Karl” since he banned his one-time favorite model, Ines de la Fressange, from his runway. The rift occurred last summer, when Fressange was named the new “Marianne,” the official face of France. Lagerfeld seemed to think it wasn’t the image he wanted for his muse.
After his show, he acknowledged that some women will find his new collection too body revealing. “You don’t have to have the perfect figure, but you do have to know how to live with your body, just as you live with your face,” he said.
Jean Paul Gaultier, who uses fashion for its shock value, made religion his show’s theme this season. To the meditative sounds of Gregorian chant and Islamic prayers, with the scent of incense in the air, his models appeared wearing nuns’ habits. They retained the sober, black head-dresses, even when their outfits featured bras over T-shirts or boxer shorts over men’s suits.
Hot pants, just about boxer-shorts length, were a strong theme in this collection. But the most extraordinary items may well have been the evening dresses: glistening sheaths that made the models look as if they had been dipped in translucent gel. Gaultier made certain their black underwear showed through from underneath.
Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garcons were among the first designers to show their collections last week. Yamamoto’s new look is softer, slimmer and inspired by lingerie and sleepwear done his way. Among the standouts were his long slips, with unevenly placed straps and uneven hems, in fluorescent colors over black stretch bodysuits.
