No Labels, No Frills, No Fuss : 1994 looks to be the year of our discontent. The trend-watchers say we will shy away from high-ticket picks and opt instead to dress down. And the search is on for quality, accessories and, naturally, deals.
Bet you never thought you’d wear a gold ring through your navel, or platform basketball sneakers. Well, this could be the year. Such fashion novelties aside, ’94 will be more about setting new ground rules than starting major trends.
People are letting it be known that they don’t like the direction fashion is taking. Sheer dresses that look like nighties, waifish blouses that droop to the knee and clothes that endure slashing, scorching and shredding aren’t what they expect of high-ticket items.
“People are so alienated when they see a model dressed in a designer-label suit with her bellybutton showing,” snips Susan Roth of Trims Unlimited, a Los Angeles personal shopping firm.
So consumers--men and women--are taking matters into their own hands. They’ve started a movement of their own, and it’s likely to be the year’s strongest fashion theme: Dressing down is the new status dressing. For some, that will mean a wardrobe of athletic wear--for evenings out as well as weekends. More often, it will translate into traditional versions of the most comfortable, relaxed clothing around.
Experts have been tracking the attitude behind the trend. After years of belt-tightening, people have adjusted to living with less. They’re buying fewer things, choosing more carefully, and holding out for quality and comfort, says Barbara Kaplan of Westport, Conn.-based Yankelovich Partners Inc., which tracks lifestyle trends.
“People realize they don’t need the conspicuous consumption of the ‘80s,” she says. “And they’re finding it’s a wonderful relief.”
It seems the general distrust that people feel toward such institutions as politics and religion has seeped into the shopping arena. One hint of the new attitude has already surfaced. Unhappy mail-order customers returned considerably more of their purchases in 1993 than in recent years, says Katie Muldoon of Muldoon & Bear, catalogue consultants in New York City.
And expectations will only get loftier, Kaplan says. “Consumers are saying, ‘I’m not going to let you get away with it.’ They have become very unforgiving.”
Discontented, yes. Ready to hang up the credit card? Never. The search for value will only help pump up the shopping gene. And the list of what to buy in ‘94--and where to buy it--is as quirky as can be.
Early signs suggest that accessories will boom.
“Our clientele bought very little in the way of outfits last year,” Roth says. “We’ve done extremely well with items .” Cashmere sweaters, gorgeous shoes and alligator bags will be hot tickets among clientele accustomed to luxury goods. Even the wealthy are “taking what they already own and sprucing it up,” she says.
Accessories in all price ranges have been outselling apparel by 5% to 10%, says Karen Alberg, editor of Accessories, a Connecticut-based trade magazine. Hats and delicate items inspired by the early 1900s, as seen in the movie “The Age of Innocence,” will be bestsellers, the magazine recently predicted.
In funkier circles, men and women will continue to put hoop earrings through pierced body parts--especially the navel, once bikini season begins.
Down-to-earth dressers will be stocking up on socks. Short, filmy versions with chunky platform sandals or dressier mules are a sure look for summer. The winter variation is thick, tweedy socks to wear instead of shoes around the house or in the office.
J. Crew homed in on the idea more than a year ago. Now it has trickled up. New York designer Carolyne Roehm wears bulky socks to work, along with jeans and a striped shirt, a recent article in Vogue says.
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If the stylish will dress down, the trendy will dress waaaay down. Athletic wear will be the single trendiest item, replacing such grunge essentials as flannel shirts and cutoffs.
Ski suits, hiking boots, tennis skirts, jogging pants and firefighters’ jackets (active wear of another sort) will mingle with tailored clothes in combinations for the office, evenings out and weekends. It’s one step beyond last year’s groundswell of dressing down on Friday. After four days of buttoning up, even corporate types slip into boots and jeans once a week.
Some New York designers got in on the idea, working active wear into their spring ready-to-wear collections. Isaac Mizrahi’s pairing of striped sweat pants with blazers, Ralph Lauren’s ski-patrol uniforms with leather boots, and Anna Sui’s satin track suits for nightclubbing are just a few takes on the look.
Most Californians will probably look beyond the runway for athletic wear. Authentic items--particularly Puma’s striped basketball sneaker, “The Clyde” (after the nickname of ‘70s basketball star Walt Frazier)--are musts. After Madonna wore her Clydes on a recent night out, the craze was off and running.
What will become of designer labels? With so many designers featuring bare bottoms, peek-a-boo boobs, exposed bellybuttons and clothes that career women cannot wear to work, fashion has joined the list of institutions people no longer trust. Winning back women’s confidence will be the industry’s toughest assignment this year.
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Oddly enough, punk is one designer-driven look that stands a chance of catching on, particularly among teen-agers--who missed its last go-round in the mid ‘70s. Safety-pins through the hems of short skirts and sweaters with embroidery-encircled burn holes seem downright wholesome next to some of the other designer offerings for ’94.
Ethnic themes will also run through spring and summer designer wear; Southeast Asia and ancient Greece inspired collections by Jean Paul Gaultier, Ralph Lauren and Romeo Gigli.
No matter what designers do, shoppers will always love bargains. “Power centers,” malls that include a mix of such stores as Costco, Target, Price Club, TJ Maxx and Wal-Mart, are mall developers’ current delight. California’s list of 50 or so such centers is expected to grow this year, says Robert Kahn, a Lafayette, Calif.-based retail analyst.
He also predicts a good year for the Gap, which recently dropped prices on its basics to keep pace with competitors. The Limited will also be a retailer to watch. “They have been missing the styles for the past year, but they’re out to get their fashion more in step,” Kahn reports.
But the biggest news in stores will come from Beverly Hills, where Barneys New York is scheduled to open on Wilshire Boulevard in March. The retailer’s star wobbled late last year amid newspaper reports of its late-payment practices. Even before that, industry watchers say, its image was shaky. “I get the impression they think they’re smarter than everyone else,” Kahn says. “Their publicity is running against them.”
Still, any serious full-price shoppers out there will have to look and decide for themselves. “People are going to shop Barneys, as they did when we first came to town,” predicts Richard Chilcott, regional manager for Nordstrom. Since the Seattle-based chain opened its first Southern California store in 1978, it has earned a reputation as a local leader. “Barneys’ niche is better merchandise,” Chilcott says. Nordstrom’s strong pull, he adds, is impeccable service.
It sounds like the beginning of what promises to be the best race in all of fashion this year
