The Wise Buys : Fashion: In a season of change and economic concerns, the classics are proving the best bet. Five-pocket jeans, white shirts and blazers can all be stamped with personal style.
Whether or not we’re officially in a recession, one thing is clear: People are watching their wallets more carefully. What’s more, fashion is in a state of flux regarding color, style and point of view. So what do you do with your few fashion dollars?
Investing in classic clothes is one option. And through some lucky alignment of stars in the fashion firmament, wearing a select few of the many basics is hip right now.
The trick is choosing the traditional styles considered “cutting edge” this season, rather than those that look tired and predictable. It’s a bit like solving a brain teaser.
Timeless items that look good again include five-pocket jeans, pristine-white shirts, blazers, loafers and leather boots. Building from there is a matter of personal style.
Annie Leibovitz, a contributing photographer to Vanity Fair, recently took a portrait of Mikhail Baryshnikov and choreographer Mark Morris, both wearing the simplest starched white shirts and dark blazers. Baryshnikov added jeans and an ordinary tie while Morris made his style statement with plain dark pants, no tie and long hair flowing.
“This is absolutely the look today,” says Hal Bosworth, senior vice president and general merchandising manager for men at I. Magnin. Bosworth sees a demand for double-breasted blazers, white shirts, traditional jeans and white socks with loafers. To jazz up these fundamentals, he says, customers are buying floral ties.
Reducing fashion to its essential ingredients with modern results can be done in women’s clothing, too. A little black dress with a very short skirt and a body conscious cut is the current way to wear the look. It can be recycled endlessly with a change of shoes and jewelry.
But why now? “Because dresses are coming back again,” says Leslie Marks, fashion director at Robinson’s. “It looks good to those of us who haven’t worn dresses for a while. Designers are showing the look right now on the runways with a jacket or wrap over it.”
At Polo/Ralph Lauren in Beverly Hills, “fashion items have slowed down and the basics have picked up,” says women’s buyer Jonathan Linhart, referring to hot items in the store. Bestsellers include a straight, tight skirt with no waistband or pockets; long-sleeved cashmere crew-neck sweaters in black, cream, olive or navy, and all sorts of blazers.
Linhart says the recessionary economy has much to do with why updated classics are selling well. “Customers are buying wiser. They want something that lasts longer than a fashion item, something they can wear next fall.”
At The Gap, classics are the bread and butter of the business: white or chambray shirts, white T-shirts, denim jeans and khaki pants. To keep these bestsellers fresh, they are updated every six weeks with subtle changes--such as a little extra stitching here or a button there.
But why do classics look especially appropriate at the moment? There are a number of theories, ranging from normal fashion cycles to the global picture.
“Fashion is getting simpler,” says Marks. “Tortured fashion and head-to-toe ethnic are over. What we’re seeing now is a concentration on color, fabric and simple silhouettes.”
Fashion stylist Raymond Lee sees the need to simplify as a matter of social conscience. In light of such enormous problems as homelessness, AIDS and the threat of war in the Persian Gulf, he says, “It’s in bad taste now to overspend, to be overdone.” Lee’s advice is to spend money on a good tailor to update clothes in the closet and buy a few nice pieces to mix in.
“We see the world in a state of confusion. When there are changes, good or bad, people are frightened. They go back to the things they know,” says Mario Zanotti, the creative director for Verri, a Milan-based store with a Beverly Hills branch that features contemporary classics for men and women. “People go back to classicism because it’s comfortable. You make a custard your mother made, you sit in an old comfortable chair you’ve always had.”
Zanotti says classic clothing can be found at every price level, adding that what makes something just a little newer is a subtle change in color or texture. Whether you’re in the market for a classic Chanel bag at I. Magnin or a T-shirt from The Gap, you can adapt the classic revival to your budget.
Los Angeles jewelry designer Deanna Hamro has an unusual take on the situation: “What can make classic clothes look new is the way you wear your hair. If you’ve got a fluffy hairstyle and you put these clothes on, you look wrong.”
Hamro sees leggings, bodysuits, short skirts, flat boots and high-heel shoes as modern basics likely to be around for some time. In her own wardrobe, she’s found a short trench coat by the French designer Azzedine Alaia to be a good “classic with a twist.”
Elisabetta Rogiani, Los Angeles-based designer for the Nobody label, is now recycling items from her closet and mixing them with new pieces, such as catsuits. She might combine leggings (which she says are becoming classics on the order of jeans) with a thrift store military jacket, a tie-dye scarf from a couple of years ago and a new oversize mock turtleneck shirt from The Gap.
The military jacket, a fashion necessity of the ‘60s that she says looks right again, could also be paired with checked kilt skirts or riding pants.
Basic five-pocket jeans are selling well at Robinson’s, and Leslie Marks says newer colors are olive or wheat, instead of indigo or black, for both men and women.
Other classics the store carries include belts, loafers and pumps in either real or faux alligator and crocodile. They are the kind of accessories, says Marks, that “would be in your wardrobe until they fell apart.”
