Fish Out of Water : Top Designers Take the Plunge With the Wet-Suit Look, Offering Versions of Scuba Gear for Evening, Daytime
Yo, dudettes, surf’s up in the couture salon. Check it out. New York designers Donna Karan and Christian Francis Roth, as well as Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, have done pricey ready-to-wear renditions of wet suits this season.
Theirs are not the neoprene, water-worthy variety, but sequin-spangled, Lycra, cotton or lightweight wool out-to-dinner versions. They all have the requisite oversize center-seam zipper. Details, such as mandarin collars, slash pockets and length, vary. Most are worn with short matching skirts or black bicycle shorts.
How did this surf style wash up on the international fashion runways?
For Lagerfeld it was a natural extension of his fusion of active sportswear and streetwear, says Chanel spokeswoman Arlette Thebault. “Using a scuba jacket was a fun way to introduce a sport motif into an evening look. And the clean graphic lines appealed to him.”
Lagerfeld acknowledged the aquatic roots of the style last October when he sent a model down the Paris runway wearing a blue sequined hip-length scuba jacket over black Lycra bicycle shorts and carrying a surfboard under her arm.
Thebault says the Chanel boutiques are stocking the $4,110 jacket in blue, red, yellow and white and will show it with shorts, full-length Lycra tights or a short black georgette skirt. The Donna Karan line of scuba dresses and jackets had a similar origin--the simplicity of the neoprene wet suits appealed to Karan.
“It’s compelling because of the racy, architectural cleanness,” says Patti Cohen, a spokeswoman for Donna Karan. “Even though the scuba dresses and jackets were only one small part of our spring line, the scuba jacket (in double-faced wool) has proven to be the key element that everyone wants.”
Karan has sold all the $1,390 scuba jackets that she can produce. No reorders of this style are possible. Among the Los Angeles stores that will carry her scuba wear this summer are Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, I. Magnin, Bullock’s and Neiman Marcus.
Roth introduced his scuba suit more than a year ago. Just in case anyone missed his point, he appliqued it with metallic fabric in the shape of an oxygen tank. Special orders for the $1,900, two-piece cotton sateen suit can be placed through Fred Hayman, Beverly Hills.
Not all the scuba suits carry such lofty prices. A New York line called Tapemeasure, available at I. Magnin, makes inexpensive scuba jackets in black Lycra for $94. Another variation by Tapemeasure is covered with blue sequins, priced at $198.
Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer Allen B. Schwartz has stocked his Santa Monica, Brentwood and Tarzana A.B.S. stores with a similar jacket in black Lycra that sells for $272.
