Designers Go to Many Great Lengths in Neutrals Territory
The fall season’s melange of choices was on parade recently during an hourlong fashion show at Neiman Marcus in Fashion Island Newport Beach. Under the banner “It’s All About You,” the store presented wares from 11 designers who seem intent on pleasing every woman by offering a variety of hemlines and fabrics and a plethora of jackets, pants, skirts and dresses.
“This is the best of the best,” NM spokeswoman Billur Wallerich told the crowd of about 350. “This is an unusual season of choices. It’s up to you how you want to do it.”
That is, of course, as long as you’ve adopted the organic, neutral palettes of the ‘90s and abandoned the screaming brights and heavy accessories of the excess ‘80s--something not all of the invitees have managed to do.
Fall teeters between cool and warm with collections colored in smoke, steel and black on one end of the hue spectrum and skipping to the other end with chocolate, plum, cognac and wheat. Suits, leg wear and shoes were paired monochromatically.
Leading the show (and the season) was Jil Sander, whose minimalist approach to fashion translates into dressing that focuses on the woman and not the clothes. Somber, simple and very modern, Sander’s clean silhouettes emphasize sleek pants, jackets and dresses.
Sander is joined by Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani, who continue to pare down their clothes to fit fashion’s new sensibility.
For those who prefer some details, via trims or prints, Escada, Thierry Mugler, Valentino and Moschino came through with wit, whimsy and occasional wildness. There was Escada’s ode to the Arctic with a powder blue line featuring polar bears and penguins printed onto silk, knitted into sweaters and mixed with an argyle pattern.
Moschino nodded to the ‘50s party dress with lattice and bows and to the Flintstones with a skirt hem crookedly angled up the thigh. Mugler added leather to his futuristic diva suits.
And for evening there were plenty of crowd-pleasing, poufy, ankle-skimming gowns trimmed with bugle bead trims and with snug bodices of lace, sequins and beads in royal blues, opalescent pink and olive under the Neiman Marcus label.
What to look for? Skirts were mostly long and fitted. But for the leggy woman there were some promising contenders at the knee on up. The white shirt is essential.
Pants rule this season with full cut trousers, others just comfortably loose, still others cigarette slim. There were no obvious bell-bottoms, although a silhouette or two flared slightly. Most of the flares ended the sleeves of long, monastic dresses.
Almost everything was shown with a jacket. The shape, details and fabrics are up to the wearer. There were clean-cut, ‘40s-inspired jackets; military coats with velvet detailing, some organically tailored in soft fabrics, others with narrow lapels and gorges raised from the six-button line-up.
Shoes lose the extra heavy lug sole, and heels slim down into stilettos. The required footwear trotting the catwalk: granny boots with heels of varying heights and flat, suede loafers.
And the accessory of the season: necklaces with crosses and other pendants worn over a shoulder and hanging waist- to thigh-length.
