French Intelligence
It’s perfectly OK here to be an intellectual in public. That can mean reading the philosophers in smoky cafes and dressing in the ratty tweeds and knotty scarves of the local Bohemians, or choosing instead the cerebrally provocative attire from any of this city’s global community of fashion designers.
As the spring 2001 shows continue this week, it’s clear that the French runways have delivered what was missing in New York, London or Milan: many distinct voices offering intelligent clothes, full of symbolism and new approaches to dressing. Designers from France, Japan, Britain, Belgium, America and points beyond united with one big idea: Wardrobes are no longer bound by season, time of day, or gender.
In this season’s especially innovative atmosphere, a simple, wonderfully executed idea can seem like genius. So imagine a tap-dancing ensemble of Clara Bow look-alikes clippy-clopping to Hollywood show tunes wearing modern remakes of classic suits and tuxedos. My! For their ready-to-wear’s first-ever runway show, Viktor & Rolf designers Viktor Horstig and Rolf Snoeren of the Netherlands entertained with the same daring that’s made them the darlings of haute couture. While Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” blasted from the loudspeaker, the real-life, real-sized dancers illustrated that these clothes are meant for motion.
Glittery silver outlined lapels, pockets and collar ruffles on black, ivory or even faded denim suits, blouses, trench coats and, of course, tap pants. The eureka moment came abruptly during a group of deconstructed, Kelly-inspired white sailor shirts and pants, when the music and choreography shifted into a funky, hip-hop beat. Evidently, in the right hands, even the most old-fashioned Hollywood tune--or traditional attire--can look new if it’s modernized.
With quiet power, Veronique Branquinho abandoned her roots in Gothic dreariness to embrace a lovely, light and versatile set of ivory, powder pink or black separates that, depending on the combination, could look androgynous or sweetly feminine. The Belgian designer expertly touched on most of the season’s trends--masculine tailoring, asymmetry and full, pleated skirts--without looking trendy.
Only in Paris can a designer propose, as Yohji Yamamoto did Sunday, that our clothes and accessories become one piece. Starting with a garment that hasn’t changed much in a century, the men’s suit, Yamamoto built women’s clothes that progressively ignored the suit, the body’s standard proportions and the separation between bag and garment. As he attached a torso-sized, snap-together purse frame to a strapless top, a drawstring across a hood-like flap, or straps onto a boxy pocket, both the bags and the clothes transformed into a new kind of combined garment--some more functional than others. Scoff now, but the knockoff artists will have us snapping shut the pocketbook-pockets on our jean jackets.
Just as rigorously thought-provoking, Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garcons used punk-rock styling with psychedelic and camouflage prints to celebrate the do-it-yourself aesthetics of the home seamstress and vintage clothing fan. Using the amateur’s favorite tailoring shortcuts--adhesive and iron-on tape--Kawakubo cinched in the floppy sides of a too-large men’s suit jacket and refitted it to a slim model. Her message? One size can truly fit all with instant and reversible taped-together alterations.
It’s tougher to sort out what, exactly, John Galliano hopes to sell from his amusing Christian Dior collection. He moved on from the past seasons’ homeless couture and “ghetto fabulous” gear to satirize tough and trashy American stock car races and beauty pageants. Amid shredded denims, camouflage-print bikinis, logos and warmup pants, he mixed STP oil patches, racing stripes and even tiaras and sashes from the pageant queens. For good measure, he took a huge detour to Asia and added Oriental brocades and quilted jackets. As satire, it was crass and hilarious. As clothing, the joke’s on the wearer.
Only hours earlier, Galliano’s antithesis, the Roman couturier Valentino, showed why, after 40 years in business, he’s become a worldwide power: great, achingly elegant clothes that still pack a punch. He harnessed a growling panther theme that showed up in skirt prints, on tall boots and as the jeweled decoration on the bracelet handles of bags. By adding a ruffle here, a chiffon fabric there, Valentino took the swagger out of the few menswear references in the collection, which looked sportier and more casual than in past seasons--and perfect for Los Angeles, where he’ll stage an anniversary celebration on Nov. 17.
The L.A. habit of mixing wintry leathers, jeans or glittery evening wear seems to have inspired every other designer here. Belgium’s Dries Van Noten symbolized the breakdown of formal dressing with a tuxedo broken into its component parts--cummerbund, fancy shirt cuffs and jackets. He combined them with soft, silky and colorful separates more often seen in daytime wear--full, pleated skirts (a major Paris trend), sailor-striped T-shirts and even that ‘80s staple, the boxy boyfriend blazer. As he mixed fall earth tone prints with vivid spring floral hues, Van Noten also erased the distinction between seasons.
American designer Michael Kors worked a similar theme at Celine where a simple white T-shirt anchored a dazzling sequined mini and sporty army jacket. His rich safari travelers packed trunks of tortoise-shell or horn-printed swimwear, oversized “sweatshirts” with their slim, suede pants, sexy shirred skirts and safari shirtdresses. Kors has developed Celine into a reliable source of luscious leathers (here hand painted), rich sweaters (now with golden yarn) and sporty evening wear, such as this season’s bronze-studded or beaded pants with simple tops.
Alexander McQueen for Givenchy is looking like fashion’s fortuneteller now that his sharp-shouldered suits and Tough Chic themes are everywhere. He refined his own message with dangerous but innocent flair for those who are equally attracted to corsets and frothy crinoline skirts or pinstriped pantsuits. The individual groups, particularly his tritone suede separates, were fun, but as a whole, McQueen displayed a jumble of ideas.
Designers here are confident enough to know that interesting clothes don’t have to be somber to be smart. New Yorker Marc Jacobs brought a new playfulness to Louis Vuitton, where Day-Glo colors lit up bags, graffiti scrawled fresh color onto the LV monogrammed totes and a long, skinny toolbox became the witty new bag shape. His fluffy, rose-printed crinolines and shirred knits lightened a set of military jackets and skirts weighted by heavy hardware and some not-so-fresh looking drawstring details.
At Stella McCartney’s Chloe collection, appliques of wild horses galloped across the delicate and pale dresses, shirts and sweaters. Using contrasting imagery of strength and softness, she tamed the Paris season’s androgyny and asymmetry trends. McCartney is in danger of becoming a one-trick pony by relying so heavily on obvious themes each season, such as this spring’s horses and, for a group of swimwear separates, the “ripe fruit” of goofy-sexy, crotch-centered pineapple prints.
Using a blatant interpretation of menswear for women, Ennio Capasa’s Costume National collection looked more at home among his Italian countrymen who in Milan last week showed similar androgynous padded-shoulder suits, pleat-front pants and tailored shirts. His hard-edged glamour turned aggressive with angular leather jackets and clothes so masculine that male models looked appropriate wearing suits identical to the women’s. Ignore the tricks and his many leather jacket styles--cropped, pullover or fitted--look the smartest.
Emanuel Ungaro’s collection dripped with silk corsages and flipper-like chiffon ruffles. It could have been an interesting update of his own ‘80s high point, but Ungaro opted more for decoration instead of his masterful shirring and draping.
With the same trashy ruggedness of Dior, and personalization theme of Van Noten and others, Jean-Paul Gaultier skewered girlish finery with a defiant assortment of sawed-off biker chick leather pants and jackets, fishnet hose and open-looped crocheted skirts. The individual pieces beneath the complicated runway styling weren’t strong enough to retain a Gaultier signature on their own. After showing nearly 100 variations of the sliced-off look, Gaultier’s potential tour de force was instead a tour de farce as long as the Tour de France.
After a 20-year absence from the Paris runways, Cacharel with the British design team Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro staged a light and fun show of Eastern kimono shirts and obi wrap belts mixed with Western cowboy shirts and lively toile prints.
All the new blood that’s circulating around Paris seems to have revived the old masters, who, like Gaultier, are at least getting more daring. And a little friendly competition never hurt anyone, least of all the customer eager for new ideas.
