Rising Up From the Ranks
The protege is back in fashion.
Young new designers have taken over the design duties at Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro and Chloe, invigorating the spring season with a sense of new beginnings at the established houses.
Even if the newcomers’ collections weren’t revolutionary, the circumstances of their appointment may be. Two of the three were assistants who were promoted, a practice that had long fallen out of favor as many companies preferred to import talent for a jolt of newness. Putting young designers into a top job with virtually no experience has caused several to wither from the pressure and customers to revolt from the uneven collections. Now with a few proteges rising from the ranks, maybe fashion’s revolving doors can slow their kinetic spinning.
At Ungaro, founder Emanuel Ungaro handed the ready-to-wear line to his assistant, Giambattista Valli, 34, while retaining creative control of the haute couture collection. At the show Wednesday, the now-gray-haired Ungaro huddled quietly in the corner backstage while Valli fielded a relentless onslaught of press interviews. Valli said the collection paid homage to his mentor and to the man who mentored Ungaro--Cristobal Balenciaga.
“All the history that he built at Balenciaga was like a soundtrack to me,” Valli said, apologizing for his English. “I try to work in the roots, the tradition.” He said two of his themes were the full, swingy jackets at Balenciaga, and Ungaro’s hallmark “diva” collection of delicately pleated and draped dresses.
Though Valli’s jaunty jersey versions of the diva had a nicely casual air, a few looked like the sort of gathered dress that was prominent a year ago. Others were more current with unusual, asymmetric twists and drapes. He edged the collection forward with a pleated-waist, low-riding pant that narrowed at the ankle, much like the “baggies” of the 1980s. They didn’t show their age when he topped them with a slenderizing bustier and bolero jacket. Valli’s color palette of sand, peach, red, plum and black quieted the riot of patterns and colors that defined his predecessor.
Givenchy owner LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton looked to Britain yet again for a new designer for one of its many fashion houses. They found Julien Macdonald, 28, who maintains a signature collection in London and a reputation for innovative knitwear. He left the sweaters behind and moved forward with several main themes, including pants under tunics, frock coats with bustle-like petticoats, leather and rope coil trim and pastel, abstract prints. Though the construction was sometimes complex, Macdonald kept to simple fabrics and basic colors to quell potential overload.
Phoebe Philo, 27, on the other hand, poured every kind of disjointed idea out onto the Chloe runway Wednesday. The former assistant to McCartney seemed intent on claiming some Chloe signatures as her inventions, notably the pineapple prints of last year. This was quite a cheeky show, what with the cutouts on the rump of pants and ruffled minis cut way into Maidenform territory. A sense of balance and ease were missing from fabric tiers that hung off T-shirt sleeves like lampshades and multi-buckled cargo jodhpurs. Several of her lacy, not-quite-so-racy peasant blouses held promise as good sellers to her hot-young-thing audience.
