FASHION / THE CALIFORNIA COLLECTIONS : Letting Loose for Spring
Spring and summer fashions wafted through Los Angeles this past week when the California designers showed their collections for next year. Tina Hagan mounted her own show, and 17 other designers ganged up for two others downtown.
The winds of change brought light-as-a-summer-breeze, flowing clothes. The garments look comfortable, the colors are pretty, and the shapes will flatter a variety of body types. A nice change from the past few seasons of second-skin styles and serious suits.
The wholesale-showroom owners have noted another refreshing change: sales, and lots of them. “I don’t know if it’s because of the election or because of the fresh creative design energy, but our sales have been substantially better than last year at this time. I think people have been wanting a big change,” says wholesale-showroom owner Miriana Ojeda.
So, what changes will the summer winds bring?
* More pants than skirts: Even though every imaginable kind of skirt was sent down the runways, from thigh-high short to ankle-grazing long, most designers chose to show pants. There were bell-bottoms, wide-legged pajama pants and some slim styles worn like leggings as an under layer. Long skirts are still being shown, but in diminished numbers.
* Loose and layered: This is good news for all the customers who were disenfranchised by the body-conscious dressing of the past. Soft layers are the most noticeable change in spring clothing. Wide-legged pants with drawstring waistbands teamed with midriff-baring shirts, and long vests were a common sight. Also prevalent were short full skirts with softly constructed jackets.
The most adept layering options were crafted by Jennifer Barclay, Andrea Vincent, who used a featherweight pique knit for her sportswear separates that bear the A.K.A. label, and a tissue-weight rayon jersey that was used in the Van Buren line designed by Maggie Barry and Ty Moore. Their hip-hugging, wide pants had slits up the side for a bit-of-leg show and were topped with a waist-baring long-sleeved T-shirt and an ankle-length, sleeveless duster.
* Peek-a-boo body parts: Second-skin spandex-infused clothes are still around, but they are losing ground to loose-fitting layered dressing. The tight-is-right versions will probably alienate some of their audience, because now they’re nearly transparent. The only thing that prevents them from getting an X-rating is a G-string. That was the only concession to modesty that Robin Piccone used when she showed her ankle-length lace dresses and saucy, lacy bell-bottoms with tiny tops. And, as with other entries in this field, the G-string is very visible thanks to the sheerness of the fabrics.
* Restrained retro: The ‘70s influence that pervaded so many of the European collections was little more than a rattle of the love beads on the L.A. runways. True, there were a number of bell-bottoms and platform shoes, but, quite frankly, with shoulder pads removed, bells and platforms are the most logical balancing tools for the “hip problem.”
Robin Piccone and Van Buren were able to inject bell-bottoms into their collections without looking like Woodstock revivalists. Piccone paired her high-waist black bells with ribbed T-shirt tank tops and large gold-buckled belts for a sophisticated, lean look, while Van Buren put rainbow-striped bell-bottoms with a flower-appliqued leather jacket.
Hagan combined loose-fitting pajama pants with an off-the-shoulder cropped blouse in a chambray-blue color. She loaded the whole thing down with beads and a huge embroidered belt and still managed to look more now than then.
* Into the future: Vivenne Tam trotted out crocheted tops, a popular retro device, but hers had straggly string hems that put them more in the deconstructivist mode. Wallace Muroya also dabbled in deconstructivism with a saggy old cardigan sweater that looked as if it were made of burlap; it was, in fact, a soft, loosely woven fabric. His, too, had a shredded stringy hem, but there were brown suede patch pockets that made the garment very reminiscent of a favorite wardrobe piece from “Father Knows Best.” The visual combination of old and new made it all the more accessible.
* Suitable for the dress code: Still wondering what you’ll wear to the office? Fear not, there were legions of suits. Jackets with shorts, skirts of all lengths and pants of all widths. They came, volley after volley, down the runways in sugar-coated gumdrop pastels. The suits were completely unremarkable except for their numbers. They came in a variety of colors and shapes, were perfectly serviceable and filled the office-wear void that was left by many of the international designers.
Some designers chose to show long vests instead of jackets, many worn without blouses, but Celia Tejada put an off-the-shoulder blouse under her long vest and presented a bare-shoulder alternative that still covered more than it showed. Which seems to be the direction the winds are blowing--covered in layers or blatantly bare.
