Could These Women Spell Trouble for Casual Friday?
NEW YORK-The glamorous, ladylike message offered for fall 2000 clothes is a balloon begging for a pin.
In an age when even your banker can skip the formal business clothes, promoting dressed-up ensembles worthy of a Beverly Hills matron seems a little disingenuous for the masses. Will we even remember how to put on pantyhose without a snag?
As the last fall previews finished here Friday, it was clear our days of dressing down are endangered. Even the look for casual dressing was built upon pricey cashmere sweaters, silk blouses, sleek leathers and jaunty furs. So much of the new style is about the richness and the texture of the materials. Substitutions, such as simple merino wool for cashmere, or fake fur in place of real, just don’t send the same message. Taken literally, runway fashion this season seems aimed for the new dot-com millionaires.
Where’s the reality? In your own hands. Even though the majority of designers here are telling a story about matching head-to-toe ensembles, stores may offer an alternative that allows for mixing it up.
“It’s a season when how you put it together makes the difference,” said Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director for Neiman Marcus. That could mean adding a leather jacket, shirt or skirt to your wardrobe, or pairing a charmeuse blouse with a tweed skirt.
“Fashion has had no options for too many seasons--it was a little black dress and nothing else. Now it comes down to styling. It means you’re going to have to think about what you’re wearing,” she said.
Not everyone is a natural-born stylist, and the task of looking good gets particularly challenging when dressing is about elegance. It’s not easy to make elegance credible because it, like hipness or edginess, loses its authenticity when it’s forced (and a lot looked forced last week).
Perhaps that is why Anna Sui’s bohemians seemed so fresh against the backdrop of uptight society-lady clothes. Sui’s girls layered on the goods: studded corduroy jean jackets with matching boots and paisley tops; a purple leather skirt suit with a lime floral shirt; a fuzzy fedora worn with a stocking cap; and too many oddly asymmetrical hemlines. Sui, who is often fond of retro dressing, mixed it up to create disco flappers and ‘90s flower children, but made the mix modern enough to look completely natural.
Even though Donna Karan has lately been accused of trying too hard to be arty, spiritual or simply different, this time she seemed to relax and just make good clothes, the kind that made her the idol of stylish working women. It was her best show in years. Too bad all but the house photographers walked out in protest of bad shooting conditions. Karan created simple but dramatic ensembles that suggested power and gentle sex appeal. She gave a frisky flare to her skirt suits with jackets shaped to the bust, skirts that swung with the hips, and bodysuits that flattered the curves. The sculpted shapes looked fresh, not ripped from a history book or some fantasy sketchbook. Karan’s years of fabric experimentation paid off in creating the previously impossible, a crisp, accordion-pleated leather skirt.
Calvin Klein displayed a bit too much control on his runway. The balance of his collection, especially the tight, straight skirts, seemed neither free nor relaxed. He softened up at night, when jersey dresses with full, swinging skirts arrived. He recast a few sportswear ideas by copying the look of a turtleneck sweater in leather or sheer chiffon. Klein also gave capri pants one more shot--in tailored suits. He made the cropped pants easier to like by pairing them with high-heeled tall boots and a small-proportioned jacket. His ensembles that mixed colors (soft pink with red), textures (pebbly alligator with cashmere) and genres (a dressy metallic camisole with sporty stretch pants) were a vote toward the more modern-feeling mixed separates.
John Bartlett took a shortcut to elegance with his supper club theme--crystal chandeliers hung above men in white-tie tuxedos and top hats surrounding the golden runway. His show was meant to be an ironic commentary on the trappings of wealth--the pin that pricked the balloon.
Bartlett often sends editors flying to the reference books to decode his far-reaching inspirations. This time, he invoked a 1976 documentary, “Grey Gardens,” about a pair of dissolute East Hampton women. Only a wicked mind could envision a woman walking into a high-society setting wearing a lacy-looking opera coat crafted from pieced-together felt marijuana leaves. Or a sweater fronted with hamster fur. (At last, a way to honor one’s departed pets.) His was a collection of great items, not great ensembles. To die for? Slim pants pieced from black-and-white chevron shapes, a windowpane intarsia coat or any of the oversized herringbone patterns put onto pants or blouses.
Thinking too hard about fashion is about as bad as thinking too hard about love. Helmut Lang’s clothes often seem unwilling to have a passionate fling. It’s difficult to imagine how a woman can feel sexy, or merely not strange, wearing skirts that look like bloomers and leather collars padded like those inflatable travel pillows (an idea he’s shown in previous collections). For a guy who is trying really hard to be original, debuting an accessory collection with a concept that Halston originated--the paper-bag purse--seems a bad step. At least his customers can feel correct in his always-precise slim pants and neatly tailored coats and jackets, which this season came in hot pink.
Getting intellectual about something as superficial as fashion has its obvious hazards--unless you’re a master of design. Then the challenge of wrapping a body with cloth becomes interesting. Geoffrey Beene’s trademark geometric cuts don’t get in the way of the clothes or the person wearing them. He’s branching out into younger-feeling looks, with a mini-dress banded with colorful organza and a gown rhinestoned in a ‘20s motif.
Beene, said Jaqueline Lividini, vice president for communications at Saks Fifth Avenue, “makes the intellectual pretty.” Ralph Rucci of Chado makes it modern and intriguing. His spiraling, DNA-inspired seams are novel and rival Beene’s cutting expertise, but Rucci has a finger on the quicker pulse of today’s fashion.
Richard Tyler’s Collection line of tailored sportswear was balanced between the dramatic and the tailored. He blended his trademarks--shaped suits, high collars and rich fabrics--with new touches, such as tunnel belt loops and patent leather in olive and other unusual colors.
Watching the Halston and Randolph Duke shows brings to mind the unstated rivalry between the two houses (Duke is formerly of Halston). But new Halston designer Craig Natiello quickly put his signature on the line in his debut for the house. He peppered the collection with a lot of ideas: an Ultrasuede ball gown here, a crystal-sprinkled fisherman’s sweater there, and an interesting twist on the halter top--wear it backward. An air of luxury mingled with a feeling of restraint.
Duke took glitz up several notches with his signature beaded gowns (a few looked a bit familiar), fox stoles and fancy, beaded pants. Granted, he’s interested in dressing megawatt stars for their red-carpet appearances, but he was occasionally heavy-handed with the opulence, with, for example, a herringbone-patterned mink cape and shaved herringbone fur pants with huge, furry fox cuffs.
That’s the problem with dressing glamorously. Too much of a good thing can fly like a lead balloon.
Valli Herman-Cohen can be reached at valli.herman-cohen@latimes.com.
