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FASHION : Beads, Beads, Beads by Mackie, Mizrahi

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TIMES FASHION EDITOR

Bob Mackie got a standing ovation for a Las Vegas-themed collection that spoofed everything from fan dancers to fruity cocktail drinks. It was one of the last shows of New York fashion week, which ended Friday, and one of the best.

Mackie’s beaded numbers in particular hit the jackpot. One spelled BINGO across the back while another glowed with beaded dice. A Viva Las Vegas model featured a jazzy melange of casino playing cards, roulette wheels and garish hotel signs, all embroidered in bold colors on a long, black cardigan jacket. He put it over a simple, black sheath with sheer midriff that was a nice alternative to the bare midriff outfits in many designers’ collections for spring.

Mackie gave new meaning to the cocktail dress with his silk, cherry-print ensembles. The matching red straw hats had a stem on top.

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But he cashed in all his chips with a group of Cher-inspired creations (he custom designs many of her award show outfits). Among the stash were glitzy, peek-a-boo body dresses slit to the hip; short, strapless styles worn with feather coats; a memorable harem outfit with billowing, striped pants; and a sheer, lace body suit that Mackie named after the Sahara hotel.

His finale was a long, fringed, shimmy dress and matching silver helmet. A wheel of fortune decorated the accompanying cape, lined in feathers and trimmed with blinking lights.

“I was a little scared it was too far over the top,” Mackie later admitted about the collection. “But there has to be some humor in fashion, or what’s the point?”

Isaac Mizrahi made a strong impression again this season. His shows are getting to be something of a semiannual scene, complete with predictably belated start. The audience waited for more than hour, leaving enough time for some members to solicit a dozen or so signatures for a get-well card made from the show’s program notes. The card was for Patrick Kelly, the Paris designer who canceled his October show due to serious illness.

Mizrahi brainstorms included the beaded madras jackets and body-molded pants that breathed new life into the old sportswear fabric. His personal vision of the sheer clothes so many designers are making for spring was expressed with backless, apron dresses in gauzy linen and chiffon. Mizrahi included matching, generously proportioned panties, since any underwear shows through the dress.

For an individual take on the short trench coats that are one of this season’s fresh-looking silhouettes, Mizrahi styled black-and-white abstract print versions in heavy, cotton pique.

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The bare, strappy shoes in his show, as well as in the shows of Bill Blass, Carolyne Roehm, and several others, were made for Mizrahi by Manolo Blahnik, a London-based designer who has a New York shop. The styles are carried in Los Angeles in specialty stores.

Ready for Spring

His linen sling-backs with mid-height heels--worn with narrow, cropped pants, short, swing skirts and informal evening dresses--are likely to replace low-cut flats for spring.

Donna Karan’s collarless, cuffless, monochrome clothes for spring are true to her established style. Wrap dresses, some with gold charms attached at the hip or on the asymmetric hem, are new. Slip top, blouson dresses are other attractive additions to her repertoire.

More than any other designer, Karan has featured short, body-conscious dresses and matching coats cut to the same or a slightly shorter length. The look is this season’s update to last year’s body-contoured suits.

Perhaps by osmosis, Louis Dell’Olio, Karan’s design partner before she left Anne Klein to start her own business, used similar colors in his monochrome collection, and even a similar, seed-beaded evening fabric.

Dell’Olio mixed plain with fancy fabrics through his collection. Proportions were elongated and shapes were slouchy. The clothes looked wearable and comfortable, if not original.

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Geoffrey Beene traditionally shows his collection on the last day of fashion week, and as usual this one was among the very best of the season. He made the bare-back, bare-midriff effect more graceful, flattering and feminine than other designers, often by backing the cut-outs with sheer silk.

His laces peeked out daintily beneath soft, full evening skirts. His fabric mixes, always stunning, blended silver, channel quilt metallic with navy blue jersey, or abstract floral print with black sequins, in some of the slinkiest evening dresses for spring. And he worked the sheer theme his own way, in navy-and-white or red-and-white striped suits with sheer striped blouses underneath.

Many of the season’s newest twists--unexpected fabric combinations, port holes and peek holes, lingerie lace details--have long been part of Beene’s vocabulary. It only helps strengthen his reputation as the most accomplished designer in American fashion.

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