Another Spring Fling : Fashion: If the latest West Coast shows are any indication, it’s too soon to say goodby to some hallmarks of the ‘60s.
Don’t give up your Ivana Trump hairdo, your hatbox-shaped handbag or your metallic sandals yet. They should come in handy next spring, judging from the latest round of fashion shows in Los Angeles.
During two weekend forecasts, models hit the runways yet again in ‘60s falls and hairpieces to accent chemises and tank dresses that smacked of Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot and Jacqueline Kennedy. And although the warm-weather options fell into two camps--’60s-inspired or modern comfort--the beehive hairdos and hard little handbags traveled with just about everything.
A show Saturday night at the New Mart Building--opposite the California Mart but unrelated to it--was so fast-paced it was unwise to blink. The pell-mell presentation included 28 designers from the West Coast, two from New York and one from Paris.
Diane Freis, who designs and manufactures in Hong Kong but traces her roots to Los Angeles, is considered a Californian on such occasions. Her brunch-bunch dresses in Hermes-inspired prints--shown midway through the parade of mini-dresses, leggings and cat suits so tight that even the models seemed to be in trouble--gave women with a few more years and a few more pounds some hope.
The same is true of Jennifer Joanou, owner of Jennifer Joanou on La Brea Avenue, who is now selling her designs to other stores. Her collection featured a white jacket with cuffs banded in black and decorated with metallic dots. It was worn with black, wide-legged pants. A cream jacket circled in black and worn over a short knife-pleated skirt, by Yasuko Bloom for Antony Moorcroft, also fell into the more wearable category.
On the wilder side was Candace Walter’s lingerie-look silk vest and Fortuny-pleated shorts, layered over white fishnet leggings. Van Buren’s designers Maggie Barry and Stephen Walker, who just can’t give up the ‘60s flower-power concept, splashed a Lycra romper with leather appliques of sunflowers, peace signs and the word Love .
Sunday evening, in a pretty show at the Embassy Theatre, the California Mart featured 10 designers from the West Coast and two from New York. Los-Angeles-based Gene Ewing showed the kind of clothing people expect from California, but rarely find. Easygoing dresses and full, cropped pants in brightly printed silk charmeuse were layered under silk chiffon cocoon tops or oversized button-front shirts in solid shades of coral and electric blue.
Robin Piccone, who designs swimwear for Body Glove, made an equally strong California statement with her new sportswear label. Her stretch-fabric evening wear--including a black cat suit worn under an open-front chiffon skirt and a long, sleek dress with a bra top that looked glued in place--was the highlight of the collection.
Virtually every designer, including Piccone, offered shorts for summer. Saelee showed very short shorts and a fitted jacket in black cotton lace. But the best pieces in his collection were the color-spliced trapeze dresses and a suit with a short accordion-pleated skirt.
L. Bates combined a linen bustier with a “skort” (a skirt-shorts combination). Holly Sharp paired flared black shorts with a black-and-white flower-decorated swing jacket. She also had narrow, lace-trimmed shorts peeking from the hem of a fresh white swing dress. And her collection was memorable for the bags used with it: miniature suitcases hand-painted with flowers by Thornby-Ward.
In addition to clever handbags, the show featured long chiffon scarfs tied around the neck in lieu of necklaces. But Lisa Ann took a different approach, creating various scarf shapes from vanilla-colored chiffon fabric to match her dresses and suits. She decorated the edges with gold droplets or made a stronger statement with a hand-woven gold lace scarf. She took the open-work concept one step further with a gold-lace cardigan coat worn over a strapless cocktail dress.
