EVENING SHADE : Elegant Dresses Lighten Up the Night With Fewer Beads and Baubles and More Focus on the Subtle Styling of Clever Silhouettes and Fine Fabrics

As if suffering from an overdose of sequins, fashion designers are cleaning up their act and taking a no-frills approach to evening wear.

They’re getting away from the excesses of the ‘80s, when a night at the ball for many women meant donning a shimmering, skintight sheath that made them look like Little Mermaids.

Those glitzy Ivana Trump gowns no longer rule the night. In their place are understated but elegant evening dresses that focus less on ornate beads and baubles and more on clever silhouettes and fine fabrics.

That doesn’t mean that evening wear has lost its sparkle.

Designers are still using beading, but most have stopped piling every square inch of material with glitter. Rather, they’re using beads and sequins as accents that draw the eye to the neckline or bodice. Some designers are adding matte beads in the same color as the fabric so they don’t stand out from the dress.

“A lot of gowns, even beaded gowns, are cleaner with simpler silhouettes,” says Becky Casenhiser, owner of La Galleria in Tustin.

“Instead of having three or four different colored beads on a gown, there’s tone-on-tone beading that matches the material. Some gowns have no beads. It’s just gorgeous fabrics and styles. The drama’s still there.”

Designer Sherri Hill used strategically placed rhinestones to add just the right amount of sparkle to her dramatic evening gowns. She added a simple rhinestone collar to a black velvet gown, but the rest of the dress’s appeal comes from its open back, lace sleeves and short train with lace insets ($1,249 at La Galleria).

Hill’s theatrical halter gown has a front V covered in rhinestones, with a sheer scarf that drapes down the back, in royal blue or black chiffon ($945 at La Galleria).

“Simpler things tend to complement a woman, whereas the wilder outfits take over,” Casenhiser says. “Are you seeing the woman’s face and features, or are you seeing the wildness of the beaded dress?”

Heavy glitter was also missing from a recent showing of couture evening wear from Nordstrom, held at the Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center in Costa Mesa. Before 150 or so invited guests, models took turns posing on pedestals showing off gowns that were short on glitz but long on interesting style details such as pleated cascades and side drapes.

One crowd-pleaser was Michael Casey’s garnet-colored silk chiffon halter gown that crisscrossed around the torso ($3,360). Casey wisely limited the gown’s ornamentation to a sprinkling of gems--its shapely silhouette needed nothing more.

“There’s less glitter. We still have some beautiful bead work, but it’s the richness of the fabric that counts,” says Dorothy Maas, corporate couture director for Nordstrom.

Designers are paying more mind to fine fabrics such as sheer chiffon, velvet, taffeta and satin, preferably in toned-down, muted colors. Flaming red has been replaced by deeper garnet and ruby tones.

Black has always been a strong color for night, but this season it’s especially dominant. Givenchy’s black velvet gown with sheer moire sleeves ($6,750) was just one of the many black-as-night creations at Nordstrom’s couture show. Other earthy hues such as hunter green and brown--in rich shades of cognac and bronze--have not been seen much at night until this season.

“Colors are very different than in the past. We’re very unaccustomed to seeing brown in evening wear, but this year it’s been phenomenal,” says Dianne Starnes, gallery special occasion buyer for Nordstrom at South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, Brea Mall and MainPlace/Santa Ana.

Gold is another favorite, but it’s lost some of its harsh shine. Instead it’s turning up in muted tones, as in Nordstrom’s gold-on-gold beaded silk slim skirt with a front slit and fly-away tunic top by Judith Ann ($400).

The subdued colors match many of the gowns’ softer, draping silhouettes, a fresh look after years of slinky styles. Oleg Cassini took a breather from his all-over beaded sheaths to introduce a line of flowing, sheer chiffon dresses with dropped waists and light beading, available at Devon Becke in Fashion Island Newport Beach and MainPlace.

“It’s reminiscent of the late ‘20s and ‘30s,” says Ramin Hajipour, manager of Devon Becke in Fashion Island. “Last year things looked more ‘40s, with the tight dresses and the slits. This year it’s flowy. We’re seeing a lot of sheer drop-waist dresses with simple spaghetti straps.”

Among the stand-outs in Oleg Cassini’s Black Tie collection: an eggplant-colored chiffon dress with a drop waist and flowing, sheer bodice decorated with matching iridescent seed pearls ($478) and a draping bronze dress with a floral pattern of bronze beading and an asymmetrical hem trimmed in beaded fringe ($790).

“It’s fully beaded, but there’s no sparkle,” Hajipour says.

Why the dressing down for evening wear? Starnes speculates that the subtler styles are due to economics.

“A lot of customers say they want something they can wear again. They’re not going out as much,” she says.

Then again, many people just got tired of all that glitter.

“The eye gets weary from looking at all those colors on so many dresses,” Starnes says.