FASHION : Taking Sides : Fashion: Fall couture collections go to extremes, from clear plastic biker boots to severely tailored suits.
It’s an all or nothing fall season at the French couture houses: Styles are either totally restrained or utterly unbridled.
Among the restrained are designers Yves Saint Laurent, Dior’s Gianfranco Ferre and Lanvin’s Claude Montana. At the other end are Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld, Emanuel Ungaro and Italy’s Gianni Versace.
The only one to balance the two extremes is Christian Lacroix. His Sunday show was one of the strongest of the fashion week that ended Wednesday.
“I’ve always got folklore touches,” Lacroix said of his style, which sometimes seems closer to costume. This season, “I wanted to make it all closer to reality.”
The biggest news at Lacroix was his emphasis on pants. Most styles were cut just above the ankle, in black leather or tailored pin-stripes. Some wide, floppy variations were made of matte jersey or lace.
He paired his pants with pastel suede cardigans edged in silver curlicues or cropped tulle jackets embroidered with bronze silk thread. Gold straw boaters or black felt “Padre” hats added to the charm.
Another Lacroix standout was a strapless taffeta ball gown in tartan plaid with tiers of contrasting plaid that shaped the back.
Sunday evening, France’s controversial new prime minister, Edith Cresson, sat in the first row at the Torrente show. She often wears the label. Next to her was Yukiko Kiuchi, the wife of the Japanese ambassador, Akitane Kiuchi.
Cresson made international news recently when she criticized Japan’s trade policies and the work habits of its people. But the two women chatted before the show, so the rift doesn’t seem terminal.
Torrente designer Rose Mett welcomed Cresson, who was wearing a dark suit with white lapels from Mett’s summer collection. The fall assortment of softly tailored suits with elongated jackets in shades of gray was exactly the sort that Cresson prefers.
Milan-based Gianni Versace’s atelier collection testified that his theatrical style continues. Hamlet-inspired jackets topped mask-embroidered thigh-high boots. Evening dresses resembled lingerie. Pleated miniskirts with gold studs and metallic coin belts recalled ancient Rome.
Perhaps the newest thing at the Versace show was Linda Evangelista’s red hair. The New York model changes her hair color as often as some women change their dresses; she used to be an icy blonde, before that she was a brunette.
Compared to the subdued mood of the couture shows last January, held during the Persian Gulf War, the atmosphere was festive. Front-row seats were crowded with American clients like Nan Kempner, Susan Gutfreund, Deeda Blair, Blaine Trump and her ex-sister-in-law, Ivana, who attended with her pal Eva O’Neill, a London socialite. Fashion wags looked at the friends’ matching blond bouffant hairdos and nicknamed them “couture’s Twin Peaks.”
American retailers were back in full force, too, including representatives from Neiman Marcus, I. Magnin, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s. And clients from the Middle East also returned. They now account for about 20% of couture sales, according to a poll of major couturiers published in Women’s Wear Daily.
Gianfranco Ferre is in his fourth season as artistic director for Christian Dior, and he’s never done better in imposing his own look. He showed lots of fur, especially golden sable collars and cuffs. He also used sable to line a Chinese-inspired bronze brocade coat edged in bronze ribbon. His collection of daytime suits in luxury fabrics featured severe jackets and knee-length skirts. Colors included beige, cognac and tobacco along with lacquer red.
Yves Saint Laurent’s restrained look for fall included lots of pants, from knickers and jogging styles to tailored shapes cut just above the ankle. Tartan plaid suits and very basic wool jersey dresses rounded out his day wear. There was a bit of late-night madness in his after-dark corset dresses made of see-through wisps of chiffon, tulle and lace.
At Lanvin, the theme was understatement. The biggest surprise was Claude Montana’s sensational evening wear, which is not usually his strength. A number of designers showed pure gold evening gowns this season. Montana’s was short in front and long in back, with narrow straps holding everything together. It was a knockout, as was a siren-like black crepe dress with one long lace sleeve.
At his Chanel show, Karl Lagerfeld evaluated his collection this way: “Sophistication in the middle of the destruction of our society.” Maybe that explains why he pelted the runway with models in clear plastic biker boots studded with gold grommets, see-through plastic shoes and gloves and jackets decorated with clear plastic camellias. But was it sophistication or destruction he touted with his quilted vinyl corsets, feathered “rap” hats blown to gigantic proportions and evening purse of quilted vinyl garter with quilted mini-bag attached? Models wore the purses around their thighs.
More lucid moments produced quilted tulle evening jackets, ravishing dresses in tucked black chiffon, a dripping, sleeveless gold gown and beautiful suits with elongated jackets in geranium, baby-blue or cream over short, easy skirts.
For all the pranks in his runway shows, the Chanel label certainly sells. A ribbon suit from Lagerfeld’s last couture collection hangs in the closets of more than 100 clients, including former first lady of France Claude Pompidou, who wore hers to this week’s show, the designer says. The price? $30,000.
Emanuel Ungaro’s Persian-carpeted runway added one more pattern to his multiprint presentation. There were patterned shawls over tassel-trimmed overalls and bloomers tucked into tall boots, all a blur of color and print. Almost every outfit was wrapped in a huge iridescent taffeta stole.
As at Lacroix and Versace, color blocking was an Ungaro theme. One suit in royal blue had orange lapels, a pumpkin blouse and quilted yellow skirt. For evening, a yellow tartan plaid ball gown with full skirt was a crowd pleaser.
Two veterans, Valentino Garavani, who celebrated his 30th anniversary as a couturier in June, and Hubert de Givenchy, who celebrates his 40th this fall, ended couture week with showings of the sort of collections their clients expect.
Valentino paired short bouncy skirts with bouncier petticoats for his spirited suits. For evening, his runway overflowed with ruffled chiffons and laces. Among the prettiest gowns were some slender columns of hot pink or red crepe.
Givenchy softened up his crisply tailored signature suits. The long jackets and slim skirts seemed all the more gentle as he showed them in shades of old rose, wisteria and lichen. For evening there were, as always, some of the best long dresses in Paris. Standouts were a floor-length violet satin coat over Nile-green satin sheath and a fuchsia silk faille coat, cuffed in sable, that slithered over a blush-pink column dress.
With reports from Associated Press and Reuters.
