The Lady Is Back
Just a few days into the fall 2000 shows here, fashion designers have resoundingly hailed the charms of the lady--the kind of polished woman who wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without a totally coordinated outfit, high heels and maybe a fur coat.
Fashion enthusiasts may credit the return to dressing up to a strong economy, or even a celebration of womanly clothes for womanly figures. But it’s the cynics who usually have the more accurate take: Matched suits, coordinated accessories and fancy clothes are a more demanding and costly way to dress.
Historically, they have often sold well because women understand that way of dressing. It’s fashion that’s good for business, because getting the right look means stocking up on the new accessories: leather totes, tall boots, fur stoles, clutch bags and skinny belts.
If the season is about the return of the suit and accessories, it’s also about building a wardrobe with fabulous separates. Multiple collections were built upon ensembles that featured one great piece--an embroidered coat, a beaded skirt, a leather shirt--mixed with tamer items, like a classic cashmere turtleneck or a simple A-line skirt.
The big ideas for fall 2000:
* Flirty skirts (mostly at or above the knee), slim pants and soft blouses with flared hems or cuffs.
* Leather and exotic skins, such as alligator, for daytime or night time.
* Opulent evening wear that includes beaded dresses, sequined pants and metallic yarns, as well as luxurious takes on sportswear.
* Furs (fake and real) in stoles, coats, bags and trim.
* Tall, high-heeled boots in leather, fabric or pony skin.
Cashmere Equals Big-City Glamour
Luxurious, opulent and polished dressing gets no better cheerleader than Michael Kors. He called his fall look “big city glamour,” for the Chrysler Building Art Deco patterns; the big, fluffy ostrich suit collars that would stand out in a crowd of 12 million; and the preponderance of cashmere, “the denim of 10021.” His ultra-sophisticated ladies wear multiple strands of enormous pearls with their matched herringbone suits and charmeuse blouses (with requisite 15-carat cuff buttons). They’re rich and confident enough to wear silver pumps, enormous raccoon coats, bright red leather jackets and beaded gowns that cost more than your new car.
One of the week’s outstanding shows came from Oscar de la Renta, who has long dressed the most famous and wealthy ladies-who-lunch. With old-guard socialites and “new guard” stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker in the audience, De la Renta delivered sumptuous and younger-feeling daytime and evening clothes appropriate for ladies of all ages. He gave couture-level workmanship to rustic, crewel-embroidered jackets; skirts trimmed with scallops of fur; and suede pants cuffed with sable. He cut whipstitched leather into supple skirts, trim pants, chevron-pieced skirts and pailettes laid over a tank top like tiny shingles.
The Marc Jacobs lady looks like a baby boomer’s childhood memory of mom, or maybe even grandma. Jacobs once again stood slightly apart from the fashion pack here, though in line with Prada’s spring show. He featured squarish plaid shift dresses, boxy jackets and stiff dresses that recalled Courreges from the early 1960s. It wasn’t sexy, but on his young models, it evoked a kind of boarding school charm. It’s not a look to gain fast popularity, but at least the many cashmere sweaters could find a following. And a set of fluffy tiered prom gowns with pinked edges and a suit of giant wool eyelet will keep his reputation safe for another season.
Diane von Furstenberg has rarely lost sight of the lady, even if she’s more Cosmopolitan magazine than the Economist. Her famous printed wrap dresses coexist with slinky slip skirts, jumpsuits, sweaters, fur vests and leather coats. The designer said she gleaned inspiration for her prints from the pattern of a fox fur, the splatters of paint on a Nepalese painter’s palette and Picasso’s harlequin patterns. Her daughter-in-law and design director, Alexandra von Furstenberg, explained the company’s success on its understanding of women.
“Women are coming back to getting glammed up,” she said at a presentation in the studio. “It’s the best way to be a woman.”
Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren looked to a more tomboyish woman for their inspiration. Hilfiger presented unisex ensembles: a man and woman wearing the same red cashmere turtleneck and cashmere jeans, or the same two-pattern plaid pants or white metallic leather jeans. Hilfiger explained his collection’s emphasis on plaid as the result of a trip to his ancestral home in Scotland (conveniently, plaid has been a big trend on runways here). The collection was unusually pared down, a reflection of the company’s recent and stunning downscaling.
Lauren’s silk blouses with jewel-buttons and man-tailored pants had the feel of feminized menswear. Lauren, who in recent seasons had championed color, this season gave hope to women who won’t give up their all-black wardrobes. He offered sleek variations on the black pants, skirts, dresses and sweaters that may already be in their closets. Lauren’s woman also may choose from his luxurious sportswear in forest tones: moss alpaca jackets, brown crocodile jackets, heather cashmere sweaters and taupe suede pants.
Finding a single fabulous piece on which to build an ensemble won’t be difficult next fall. Deciding which one to begin with will be. Several Los Angeles designers added intriguing options to the mix.
A Bit Over-the-Top With BCBG Mixes
Max Azria’s BCBG offered gold leather shirt jackets and silver leather coats; faux mink vests and faux raccoon stoles; hugely furry Tibetan lamb chubby jackets and even furrier and bigger tote bags, the kind that have been in and out of vogue over the last few seasons. His wide-ranging collection occasionally overloaded the options--embroidered mohair shells and pinstriped trousers with a fuzzy metallic coat and silver stiletto boots. Whoa!
Jonathan Meizler and German Valdivia of JonValdi staged the first New York show of their careers “to see what kind of exposure we can get.” It was an expensive proposition: “It was either a down payment on a house or a show in New York,” Meizler said.
The risk paid off for one of their strongest collections. Their Melrose boutique may be a good source next fall for some interesting items in leather: neatly cut black leather shirts with three-quarter sleeves; race-car driver zippered jackets; and some fun metallic blue jackets, skirts and pants. Other winners: dresses, jackets and shirts made of perforated dove gray wool that revealed a hint of the lavender, mint or navy lining underneath. The effect was sort of 3-D polka-dots.
Badgley Mischka has long been known for elaborately beaded gowns. This season, designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka added less formal items in leather and perfectly cut cashmere to their line. Their cashmere jackets tied with leather obi-sash belts, vivid red leather jackets or leather shirts not only paired easily with velvet pants, beaded skirts and sequined pants, but they might also see the light of day with a pair of plain wool trousers.
Victor Alfaro returned to New York this season to debut the lower-priced collection he calls vic. It had a younger, sportier feel that veered toward the ‘70s with its brown, orange, green, purple and red palette and its upholstery inspired “couch print” velvet pants and miniskirts. Alfaro devoted his signature collection to matched ensembles in vivid colors and feminine silhouettes. His controlled tailoring keeps the message subdued, so that wearing a pink cashmere turtleneck with pink suede pants might not require an extrovert’s personality. But the grape fur motorcycle jacket with rough-hewn edges over a wine chiffon beaded dress? Extroverts.
Now that she’s become a well-known designer with a bankable talent, Vivienne Tam can pack the house. But the hundreds who turned out for her latest show saw many familiar themes. Tam has always been a good resource for more affordable evening wear and her streak continues for fall with cut and painted velvet dresses, skirts and T-shirts, colorful leathers (purple leather pants, anyone?) and skirts and tank tops crocheted with gold yarn and weighted at the hem with thick, flat chains.
Tam skewed her collection toward evening clothes, a direction that puts her into an ever-more-crowded field that includes lesser-known but more upscale designers such as Christina Perrin, Angel Sanchez, Douglas Hannant and Louis DiCarlo. Of the four, DiCarlo may have the hardest time finding new customers. It’s difficult to imagine the person who wants to wear an apron made of an uncut pelt of animal fur laced to the body or a scrap of reptile skin worn as a halter top.
Perrin, a 30-year-old former management consultant in Chicago, is likely destined for the most immediate success. She spared no extravagance for her evening-wear collection.
Letting Feathers, Fur and Skins Fly
Sanchez experimented with black feathers, putting them on miniskirts, bustiers, halter tops and dresses and pairing them with black leather. The feathers, furs and skins he used, often in black, gave the collection an unintended gothic feel. His clothes were far livelier in colors, such as an orange mink halter, fuchsia and orange chiffon gowns and red beaded mini-dresses.
Douglas Hannant, a Hollywood-handsome guy, makes clothing that’s dramatic on the runway but could translate fairly well to real life. His red beaded halter top with brown leather pants or a satin motorcycle jacket with a tweed skirt showed how he balanced the bold with the not-quite-so-bold.
Finding what works in real life for working women has always been Linda Allard’s specialty. The Ellen Tracy designer’s formula for fall revolves around color--mango, red, pink, turquoise--and legs.
“I’ve been wearing pants forever,” Allard said. ‘I’m ready to show off my legs again.”
She delivered miniskirts, flared knee-length skirts, and skirts in leather, tweed, herringbone and beads.
She cut everything to flatter a woman’s curves, giving jackets a defined waist and putting stretch in silk charmeuse bow blouses, because she wants women to be comfortable and pretty but in an understandable way.
“The whole theatricality of fashion is a turnoff to people,” she said. “Who’s going to wear a corset?”
Valli Herman-Cohen can be reached at valli.herman-cohen@latimes.com.
