The Fall Collections / Paris : To Choose or Not to Choose Color
Harper’s Bazaar eloquently made the case for color a few months ago (time for a change, let’s be brave, etc.), but editor in chief Elizabeth Tilberis is not among the convinced. She’s brought an all-black wardrobe to the European shows, occasionally varying it with a white jacket.
The Vogue crowd is less funereal. Editor in chief Anna Wintour favors white, camel and beige, and will spice up her pales with an orange sweater. European editor at large Hamish Bowles has assumed the mantle of best-dressed dandy on the scene. He combines classic British tailoring with touches of whimsy, such as a chartreuse tie or his brown and white Diego Della Valle pony-skin moccasins, which he wears with just about everything, even his bespoke suits.
Wearing Color, Part Two: Barbara Atkin, fashion director for Holt Renfrew, the most elegant stores in Canada, explained that although designers are presenting their second season of bright colors, neither stores nor shoppers are necessarily in agreement. “Color sells at the moderate level,” she said. “The more expensive the clothing, the more sophisticated the customer, the harder it is to sell color. Will the Armani customer go for color? I don’t know. I’ve been dressing in black for 20 years. Now, I’ll go as far as camel.”
Wearing Color, Part Three:
My friend Stanley took a nasty fall here that earned him 10 stitches in his forehead and landed him in the American Hospital. Stanley appreciates women the way a gourmand does food, so I thought a visit, especially from a fellow Californian, might be welcome.
What to wear on my mission of mercy? Well, there’s the black pantsuit, or the navy suit or the black suit with the short skirt. (Knowing Stanley, a flash of leg might lift his spirits.) But all the dark clothes that feel so apropos around the fashion biz seemed simply depressing in the context of spreading cheer.
Before I stood in front of my hotel room closet in black tights thinking about Stanley’s mental and physical state, I had treated color with benign neglect. It looked nice enough on the runway, was fine for other people, but experience had taught me that it doesn’t provide the mileage a black, navy and beige wardrobe does. Black cashmere goes with black gabardine and with black leather and black satin. The possibilities are endless, and easy.
The first time you wear a pink suit you receive a deluge of compliments: “What a cheerful color!” “You look great in that color.” The next time, it’s “There she is in that pink suit again.”
Ah, but there are times, places and situations that call for the warmth of color. Between a morning of fashion shows and a trip to the hospital, I bought a lilac sweater. “You’re a sight for sore eyes,” Stanley said, as I walked into his room. Mission accomplished.
Steal This Look: A woman in a matching green sweater, belt, skirt, tights and shoes runs the risk of looking like the Jolly Green Giant or a leprechaun, depending on her size. Dries Van Noten juxtaposed different shades in the same color family, to great effect. For instance, a baby pink blouse with electric pink pants and a short red coat. Or orange slacks with a rust blouse and a cherry coat. He approached the combinations with the it-works-if-I-say-it-does attitude of the fashion adventurous.
