Outerwear Is a Cool Necessity for Stylish
What was once the outerwear preferred only by duck hunters and forest rangers is now the latest in urbanized necessities for the fashion-forward among us. Step into a coat department these days, and you’ll think you’ve landed on the pages of an L.L. Bean catalogue. Parkas, anoraks and duffel coats are appearing in stores as fast as the manufacturers can sew on those toggles and trim those hoods with real fur. And people are buying them to wear to work, to weekend events, even to formal evening parties.
If this sounds like the work of Ralph Lauren, the master at mining American folk wear, sure enough, he has produced his share of the rugged outerwear. But Calvin Klein and Donna Karan have heard the call of the wild, too. Even socialite designer Carolyne Roehm and the two newest darlings of Manhattan’s downtown crowd, Isaac Mizrahi and Marc Jacobs (who designs the Perry Ellis collection), have fallen under the influence of four-wheel-drive fashion.
Roehm caters to her blueblood coterie of clients with parkas that boast hoods and cuffs trimmed in sheared mink and tanuki (Japanese raccoon)--perfect for those limousine safaris into the wilds of Rodeo Drive. Mizrahi features a gingham, silk-taffeta park-ette (his word for waist-length parkas) with fur-trimmed hood and cuffs for a Barbie-bags-a-Bambi look. Jacobs plays up the safety angle and opts for glow-in-the-foliage pink for his anoraks and down vests.
When the designers first showed the look in their fall ’89 collections, the idea seemed a bit far-fetched. But the clothes have been in stores for more than a month now, and the public seems to be buying the trailblazing look for every occasion.
At Saks Fifth Avenue, all of the fur-trimmed Calvin Klein anoraks sold out within two days. The silk-plaid Mizrahi park-ettes, however, didn’t move as fast.
“Mainly because people just aren’t used to that particular shape as evening wear.” explained Patricia Fox, director of fashion and marketing for Saks’ Southern California stores.
Actually, the concept of rugged evening wear is not new, said David Cardoza, the director of fashion display for Neiman Marcus’ West Coast stores. He points out that Yves Saint Laurent showed the look years ago.
Neiman Marcus carries the trend-infused toppers from such disparate designers as ladylike knitwear maker, Sonia Rykiel, who favors quilted-silk bomber jackets, and fashion satirist Franco Moschino, who puts pockets that resemble Hermes handbags on his anoraks.
“The beauty of this look is in the contrast,” said Cardoza. “The combination of a simple column-like evening dress with a parka is fabulous.”
Most women’s anoraks are in the designer departments of upscale stores, and prices begin at about $500. Some hover near $2,500.
Men’s-wear versions offer a broader spectrum of prices and stores. The Los Angeles-based company M. Julian is making a $850 lamb-leather parka that is being sold at Robinson’s and Tannery West this fall. It has coyote fur trim that Jules Weinsieder, the president of the company, refers to as “the Ralph Lauren-Rocky Mountain-baronial look.”
The lamb parka is the third in a series of closet-fantasy coats for the company. “We’ve been doing our M. Julian Adventures line for about four years,” Weinsieder said. “It started with the ‘Out of Africa’ safari style. Then along came an aviator craze with ‘Top Gun.’ ”
So what’s next for the armchair adventurer? According to Weinsieder, grade B Western cowboy drag, but done in a very upscale, Santa Fe sort of way.
Surprisingly, the new coats for semi-rugged individualists have been successful all across the United States. They are selling as well in Miami as they are in Denver--anywhere the demographics show high incomes and the customers have vivid imaginations.
“You’re not going to buy these coats to go chop wood. They are not true outdoorsman jackets,” Weinsieder acknowledged. “You’d need something more durable. No one is buying this look because they need it.”
Randy Ronning, merchandise manager for the men’s division of J. C. Penney, sees a lot of his rugged outerwear coats, priced from $80 to $110, being bought by the college crowd. The fashion-conscious students are picking them up because the coats are part of an overall sportswear trend of gentrified country looks, Ronning said. They go hand-in-hand with Fair Isle sweaters, wide-wale corduroy pants and toggle fasteners.
“It’s part of the yuppie thing, like Land Rovers and Suburbans,” Ronning mused. “These people would never think of getting their cars dirty, much less taking them off the freeway.”
It’s just as well because their new duds couldn’t take the off-road stress.
