A Suggestion of Nostalgia in New York : Fashion: World War II looks, pea coats and circle skirts pop up in the fall collections. Designers lose interest in loud colors and psychedelic patterns.
When yuppies start aping rap fashions and vamps switch to combat boots, there could be cause for alarm. These and other early warning signs of fashion confusion were part of in the first days of New York’s ready-to-wear fall shows.
Charlotte Neuville’s quarter-pounder gold pendants, similar to those worn by M.C. Hammer, didn’t make her tame, controlled collections feel funkier. They just made the clothes feel off-kilter. Perfectly nice pink plaid suits or quilted gold minis with matching parkas simply refused to go along with the gold-link necklaces--thick as tire chains--that Neuville used as her main accessories.
Her circle-skirted minidress in chrome-yellow was the first of many such skirts to appear in the fall shows, which started last week and continue through Friday. But hers wasn’t cut out for the bold, paisley-printed unitard she showed underneath. Pale wool suits with appliques on the jackets or skirts seemed more like the real Neuville. At heart, her style is closer to the Connecticut suburbs than the South Bronx. Trying to disguise it with jewelry fit for “New Jack City” was a reach, to say the least.
Norma Kamali’s taste in combat boots runs from black leather to canvas, with tire-tread soles. She showed them with storm coats, man-tailored pantsuits and coat dresses with regimental details in air force shades of gray-brown. Her choice of tough tootsies may have suggested more social consciousness than a carload of yellow ribbons, but they didn’t do much for the gracefully cut clothes.
Menswear looks with a distinctly World War II feeling weren’t the only bit of nostalgia. There were “Lois Lane” peplum jackets in black and white tweed that extended well over the hips in a fresh proportion. And Kamali’s short, sleeping-bag coat in fuzzy, fawn-colored pile was a nice remake of the down-filled, floor-sweeping version she first showed in the 1970s.
Things went better at the Bill Blass show. His navy-blue knit caps and pea jackets topped pleated plaid skirts and debutante, mid-heel suede pumps in a nod to the Persian Gulf turmoil as well as to the financially secure women who are his main customers.
He made warm-colored plaids a theme. For day, suits in Black Watch colors (the regimental tartan of the British army) were teamed with horizontal-striped jersey tops. For night, deep-red plaid wool pants were topped by a plaid velvet jacket appliqued with flowers.
Tall, flat-heel suede boots, skirts above the knee, rib-knit turtleneck sweaters and short, swing coats were a uniform. Sheer, leopard-print hosiery was a nutty novelty that Blass mixed with alligator-print skirts or velvet evening jackets. If leopard legs are the relatively inexpensive sort of fashion fling Blass recommends for tough financial times, no wonder women say that he understands them.
Carolina Herrera’s bold, blue and orange plaid suits had short skirts and matching coats. Boucle dresses with jewel necklines fit like the gloves she showed with almost every outfit. Among her best evening styles were a black velvet suit with white satin piping and a white lace shirttail tunic over a short black velvet skirt.
Like Herrera and Blass, Arnold Scaasi stayed with what he knows. The best looks in his show were for evening: gowns with off-the-shoulder necklines, long, fitted sleeves and fitted bodices that curved into full skirts somewhere around the hips. One in emerald green satin, another in black velvet printed with violets, had the simple but not somber look that seemed right for a season when the recession and global politics are serious matters. There was nothing here for the First Lady, a regular customer, but he did show enough Bush blue for day so that even she could find something to buy.
Two new designers for Isani, Jun and Soyon Kim, attracted a crowd with their second collection. The brother and sister, both under age 25, are Korean-born, Brazilian-bred and Coco-Loco in their Chanel-like sense of style. Their moderate prices have helped make them successful “interpreters” of the look. This time at Isani was like two seasons ago at Chanel: Bright pastels, especially melon and green, held the stage. Short, full-cut coats and shift dresses, lean pantsuits, short, circle skirts and matching fabric bags, all styled up with engraved gold buttons, could be just the thing for Coco on a budget.
For Perry Ellis, designer Marc Jacobs tossed a red and silver reindeer sweater over red and white check voile pants cut as full as a floor-length skirt. As an afterthought, he added a narrow, brown leather belt. More leather belts went over ivory cardigans and chocolate-brown sequined pants or with buttoned-up cardigans tucked into boxy, pleated skirts. Coat dresses had narrow leather belts, and pleats from the shoulders to the hem, with only the last few inches free to swing loose.
A steady stream of day and night fabrics, hitched together with a belt made for blue jeans, gave everything an informal look that didn’t always quite work. But that seemed to be exactly Jacobs’ point. This is the way privileged schoolgirls with fashion-plate mothers tend to dress down. And it certainly is a contrast to the high-gloss, put-together style that has become standard fare in fashion magazines. The timing might be a little early, but the idea is intriguing.
As full as this week’s schedule of shows may be, it was originally scheduled to be even busier. But belt-tightening has forced a number of designers, including Ronaldus Shamask and Murray Moss, among others, to cancel shows. Rebecca Moses gave up a formal show for informal modeling in her showroom. And Patricia Clyne has gone out of business, at least temporarily.
Even Carolyne Roehm, whose backer is her financier husband, Henry Kravis, scaled back from a show in the grand ballroom of the Plaza to a smaller room in the hotel.
“The obvious reason for all of this is economics,” she said, noting that it costs about $150,000 to stage a Plaza ballroom show. That doesn’t include the cost of producing the collection.
“With a recession there to substantiate my decision, and then the war, I decided to do what I’ve talked about doing for some time. I wanted to try a more intimate show.”
Retail analyst Alan Millstein, who publishes the New York-based Fashion Network Report, said the small- and medium-sized businesses are having a disastrous time this season. Traditionally considered high risks by bank lenders in the best of times, they now face additional problems.
“The big stores are playing it safe, buying narrow and deep,” Millstein said. In other words, they are putting their money on established, financially secure designers they know can deliver the goods.
Retailers insist this isn’t the case. At Saks Fifth Avenue, fashion director Susan Hughes said, “Perhaps young designers’ expectations are unrealistic. But we are not just depending on the tried and true designers for fall. The young talents are the future.”
