For Spring, It’s Fabric Combinations : New York Designers Display Subtle but Clear Changes in Their Ready-to-Wear Collections

As designers continue to show their spring ready-to-wear collections this week, the clothes on the runways don’t look all that unusual, yet fashion is subtly changing.

There were clear indications of it from Oscar de la Renta and Carolyne Roehm in their Wednesday shows.

Fabric combinations are what it’s all about. Roehm styled strapless evening dresses in formal silk crepe, topped with sporty linen pea coats. And others in silk chiffon with linen. De la Renta showed dinner suits with silk Charmeuse blouses, with more casual, light wool jackets and sweater knit skirts.

As usual, he didn’t skimp on the ball gowns. This time, they had enormous soft skirts in palest pink or peach taffeta and beaded, pastel tapestry jackets. Roehm’s formal wear featured gold lace sheaths with sheer gold tulle wraps.

Most other collections have played with fabric mixes as well.

Ronaldus Shamask, a young, spirited designer, tossed dressy washed-silk blazers over industrial-strength khaki pants. He showed elongated washed-silk jackets over leggings cropped at mid-calf, in colors such as salmon with rose.

There were few mistakes in this collection but the wide-weave fishnet sweaters were one. Shown over bare, very visible breasts, they looked too nude. One model wrapped her arms across her chest as she walked the runway in playful protest. The audience applauded.

This was Shamask’s last collection for the company that carries his name. He and his partner, Murray Moss, split up just before this show. Shamask will start his own company soon; Moss is looking for a new designer. Whether Shamask must leave his name behind is not yet decided. Technically, Moss owns the label.

Michael Kors, whose clothes are close in spirit to Shamask, mixed big seersucker shirts with sequined seersucker pajama pants. He picked up on other trends too, showing bra tops over sarong skirts and long, all-fringe skirts with longer, shaped, linen jackets.

These cross-over clothes, in a mix of evening, daytime and active-wear fabrics, come across like tamed versions of the wild and wacky combinations of Paris-based Christian Lacroix, whose couture collections have been a powerful influence on all of fashion.

Lacroix was showing evening gowns in pony skin and taffeta and suits in tapestry with tartan plaid when most designers were still showing mostly black. Now, the practical, mass-market-minded Americans are translating Lacroix into English.

This isn’t the only trend in town. Adrienne Vittadini’s collection featured several others. She showed long over short, a leading trend for spring. Her red plaid jackets are so long, in fact, that they all but cover the matching shorts underneath. It’s a provocative look. At first glance, it seems there is nothing beneath the jacket.

Gordon Henderson, a promising newcomer, showed long jackets over miniskirts. And in his tribute to the Southwest, Ralph Lauren put serape jackets over short skirts made of white cotton petticoat fabric.

Otherwise, Lauren traveled to his own drum. His best works were his admiral-stripe pants suits, coat dresses and evening sheaths. He showed them in ivory and navy blue, with brass buttons and gold braid on the sleeves or collars. The sparely shaped sheathes had gold braid halter straps.

His ‘30s golf ensembles--linen plus fours, argyle sweater vests and foulard bow ties--missed the mark as street wear. Too costume-y. But since golf has emerged as the unlikely preferred sport among Century City lawyers and Sunset Strip rock ‘n’ rollers alike, there may be a place in Los Angeles for the clothes.

For summer ‘90, almost every designer here has switched from black to white as the color of choice.

Shamask showed skimpy, backless ivory evening dresses with slim strings holding them in place at the neckline. Lauren showed wide-leg trousers and jackets, silk pants suits and Southwestern petticoat dresses in white.

Pants have all but replaced skirts in most collections, and pant suits are the leading look for working women. Long skirts never looked more out of place. Lauren shows mid-calf or longer skirts and dresses as he did for fall and winter. But so far, he is the only big name designer to do so.