Winter Brights : Exotic Fashions and Unusual Fabrics Change the Look of This Season’s Ski Wear.

THIS IS THE WINTER of the Ski Costume, a season when Asian princesses, astronauts, Nordic bikers and other fantasy characters will be schussing down the slopes.

Fabrics with satin, leather, suede, velvet, brocade, metallic, iridescent and multi-crossprint surfaces would seem to defy conventional wisdom about what’s suitable for the sport. But these, too, are great pretenders with high-tech roots. The major technical breakthrough this year is a Japanese fabric called Solar Alpha, which absorbs solar energy and converts it to thermal energy. It’s the first active heat source ever to be built into ski wear, and this year it’s being used in Bogner clothing and the men’s Kaelin Tech collection.

Bogner, the perpetual quality classic of ski-wear design, offers one of the most exotic looks on the slopes with its Topkapi collection, a rich melange of embossed florals, satin prints, opulent embroideries and a “1001” tapestry with 16 colors. The silhouette is evocative of the harem with loose pants and turbanned headgear. Asian opulence crops up again in Stefan Kaelin’s Skiing Finesse line, a gorgeous mixture of richly textured fabrics, jewel-tone Jacquards, silvered satins and splash-print nylons with fuchsias and reds, marine blues and emerald greens set off by a range of neutrals.

For women, the new cinch-waist pant, high-waisted, belted stretch pant, and fuller bodices play up the curves of well-toned bodies.

Overall, there is a trend toward mix-and-match pieces--ski vests, jackets, warm-up pants, stretch pants, ski blouses--that can be layered to suit ski and weather conditions and to create different looks. That means matching sets of suits, socks, mittens, headbands, scarfs and T-necks are out this year, along with ski sweaters. This season’s ubiquitous neons are being replaced, at least on the slopes in Europe, with a muted palette of maroon, brown, olive, navy and black.