THE FALL COLLECTIONS / NEW YORK : Class Actions
The American woman will not slouch toward the millennium.
Dressed by the best and most celebrated American designers, she will glide into the 21st century on a river of soft cashmere and suede. Here is ‘90s style, in the hands of the aristocrats of American design: the turtleneck is the new jacket, aubergine is the next black, and no-frills pants and slim long skirts replace the mini.
Shows by Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein and Isaac Mizrahi last week closed the fall fashion previews in New York. Their presentations were so enticing that an an embargo could be placed on European imports and lovers of fashion wouldn’t feel deprived.
Lauren triumphed with a style that was polished, pulled-together and still completely current, no mean feat in a time when the just-thrown-together look rules the runways. He secured his status as the king of classicists by creating the best suede safari jacket, the ideal velvet jean, the most desirable cashmere turtleneck. Lauren used the ordinary vocabulary of American sportswear, then pronounced “pea coat” and “blazer” more elegantly than anyone else.
In addition to combining luxurious interpretations of timeless sportswear pieces in soothing monotones, Lauren offered the spare, slinky gowns that have become his after-dark signature, this time in charcoal stretch jersey, cobalt blue cashmere or black silk crepe suspended from straps of gilded leather. A new suit with a collarless, body-hugging short jacket and long, narrow skirt has the mark of a future classic.
When Karan is at the top of her form, her clothes have the power to transport women to style nirvana, a place where buttons never fall off, waistbands don’t bind and clothes never miss. The lean, long-sleeved navy zip-front stretch wool dress that commanded the runway in Karan’s serene show wasn’t just a fabulous dress, it was convincing as the only garment a woman would ever want or need. Sleek jumpsuits that similarly combined sheer backs or sleeves with opaque bodices blurred the line between day and evening. Karan worked with cashmere, suede, leather, shearling, soft stretch wool and velvet in rich tones of sapphire, citrine, hunter green, mahogany, camel and henna, creating unfussy clothes so beautiful and smart that you could look forward to getting up in the morning just to put them on.
Kors is like the good child who suffers neglect while his obstreperous siblings get all the attention. Not only does he produce consistently fine collections, but he just celebrated his 15th year designing for his own label. His philosophy seems to be that sportswear isn’t really worth having unless it’s in the most luscious fabrics on earth. The innovation he added to flawless boot-cut trousers, buttonless white silk shirts, fitted cashmere sweaters and long, chocolate leather wrap skirts was a wide, contoured belt made in the same color and texture as the pants or skirts it clung to, with an off-center buckle.
With Mizrahi’s new less expensive line, ISAAC, a hit in the stores, the expectation was that he’d be free to tailor his collection for a more sophisticated, grown-up customer. An ankle-length wrap coat of cafe au lait leather, trimmed with Mongolian lamb on collar and cuffs, fulfilled that promise. Mizrahi experimented with the jumpsuit for day and evening; the former was cut like a shirt in gray wool and paired with a long camel coat, and the latter was strapless pink satin, sheltered by a fuzzy olive-green boy coat. A number of high-waisted, dressy jumpsuits were cut so full they nearly masqueraded as gowns.
If the clothes of the ‘70s were as racy and glamorous as they are in Klein’s strobe-lit memory, why do the pictures in old photo albums look so silly? Scratch reality. Klein resurrected the sort of sexy, skinny ‘70s cuts then favored by party girls too busy discoing to eat and married them to sober modern minimalism. He did color for women who’d really prefer to stay with black. For the shopper who feels she can’t buy one more black thing, Klein offered deep eggplant, dusky plum, midnight blue and gunmetal gray that in a dimly lit restaurant will appear as dark as Poe’s raven. On asymmetrically cut matte jersey dresses, the tones were mixed--a calf-length skirt of slate with a parallelogram of pewter was cut into a bodice of coffee. Klein’s boxy jackets have been displaced by more slender versions, lanky sweater coats and dresses that shun the pollution of accessories.
In the ‘80s, overdressed style icons like Ivana Trump and Alexis Carrington flaunted their good fortune. There is still a fashion class system, but today’s expensive clothes are disarmingly simple, as understated as a trench coat with a mink lining.
