The looming generation gap
No designer is the object of hero worship like Tom Ford, who reportedly boarded a private jet for three days of Oscar fetes in L.A. after his post-Gucci show bash here Wednesday. But the fashion world does still have a couple of characters, namely kaiser Karl Lagerfeld and prima Donatella Versace, who were caught in a comic gridlock Thursday night.
After presenting his Fendi show and dining (lightly, no doubt) at the Four Seasons, Lagerfeld strode through the hotel, two steps ahead of his design assistants. Wearing his signature dark glasses, white ponytail, Hedi Slimane jacket and a white shirt with a kind of clerical collar, the designer was ushered into the backseat of his black Mercedes, which couldn’t pull out far because of a fur-clad clot of fashionistas blocking the street, waiting to be let into the Versace show at her palazzo two doors down.
“Karl Lagerfeld is going to kill us all with his car,” a woman in the crowd said. There was really no danger of that, but the clash of egos was amusing, as Versace kept everyone in the cold and Lagerfeld’s Mercedes pressed on.
In contrast to the frill and froth of spring, a kind of aggressiveness is taking hold on some of the runways for fall. Versace’s all-black evening gowns were borderline S&M;, slashed from the shoulder to the knee and fastened with silver buckles, or strappy and studded in black leather. With Elizabeth Hurley sitting in the front row, they brought to mind the Gianni Versace gown with safety pins up the sides that made her a fashion star.
Donatella Versace dressed for her show in black leather pants slashed to reveal a backside the exact shade of bottle-bronze as her face. She said her collection was inspired by the kinder, gentler punk movement emerging now in America, so for daytime she crossed the punk with the lady, to varying degrees of success. At times the clothes were awkward, like someone too old trying to dress young and hip. (You see it in Beverly Hills every day.) A red wool NASCAR-babe motocross jacket and a matching pencil skirt were trimmed in silver studs; a wool boucle coat in taxicab yellow and black plaid had shaggy hems at the collar and cuffs; a bold tiger-print kilt was slit to the hipbone; and a zebra-patterned cashmere twinset was revved up in acid green.
It seems lately that the bloom is off the rose at Versace. In June, Allegra Versace, Donatella’s daughter, will turn 18 and inherit 50% of her late uncle’s company, though it’s not known whether she will take an active role in the business. Perhaps it would be a good thing for the debt-ridden fashion house. The younger, lower-priced Versus line, shown alongside the Versace collection, offered more of the same motocross suits in red leather and a gray tweed camouflage, with Medusa-head chain belts.
But none of it was as relevant as the D&G; line. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana set their runway show in a mock vintage clothing store. (Kudos to them for calling a spade a spade; designers have been scouring them for inspiration for years.) Pairing a ‘20s skullcap and a ‘50s pink silk shantung coat with jeans and a hoodie, they gave a snapshot of the way young people dress, mixing vintage and new clothing. Lisa Marie Presley’s 14-year-old daughter, Danielle Riley Keough, made her modeling debut at the show.
At Fendi, Lagerfeld’s clothes appeared hostile -- a black jersey hobble skirt had the added insult of a girdle of elastic across the backside; a brown jersey dress sprouted a knot of fabric, also on the backside; and a plum blouse had an underwire bra on the outside. Lagerfeld may be able to whittle himself down by eating horsemeat and cactus (yes, that’s what he supposedly ate on his recent diet), but women can’t diet their curves away, and this collection wasn’t a celebration of them.
Fendi is also about fur, of course, and this season the focus was mostly on shawls, some that appeared to be crocheted and others with a heathered look, in shades of pink and plum. There were also some fabulous shoes -- pumps with mirrored wedge heels that had an Art Deco fan design.
Although it staged a “die-in” during New York’s fashion week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) hasn’t been a presence in Europe, where fur is more conspicuous on the runways than ever, mostly in the form of fox stoles.
Even at Marni, a label not typically associated with glamourpusses, fur stoles were draped over austere wool dresses that looked as if they were inside-out (or put together with materials bought at the five-and-dime), with exposed zipper plackets and elastic waistbands, worn with ankle socks and cone-heel pumps. Here, fur was supposed to read vintage, as in your mother’s stole, perhaps. In the non-fur category, a white wool coat had a charming winter woodland design etched across the back, and an ethereal smoke gray chiffon empire-waist gown glided across the runway like a memory of frilly seasons past.
Christian Lacroix has found his groove at Emilio Pucci, where he presented his best and most commercial collection yet. Chanel had a hit this spring with a boucle-seamed trench coat, and now Pucci has offered its version in black, with Pucci-print seams. Lacroix also has devised more conservative ways to wear the famous prints, creating a gray, tonal Pucci-print wool, which he tailored into a jacket and skirt that would do for work.
For evening, he kept it simple, beginning with classic silk wrap dresses in the tradition of Diane Von Furstenberg and ending with short, wispy chiffon gowns, draped around the shoulders, all paired with black stockings and shoes.
In her second collection since she resumed control of her company, Jil Sander proved that a black dress with short, quick horizontal slits down the front can be more beautiful in its simplicity than one with an aggressive slash from shoulder to knee. A knife-pleat skirt with silver lame trim was paired with a glittery silver sweater; a black peacoat was so well tailored, it looked as if it could stand on its own; and a cap-sleeved, fuchsia satin dress was stunning in its rumpled imperfection.
No buckles, studs, hobble skirts, bells or whistles were needed here. These were basics one would have in the closet if money were no option. Sander’s show notes included an apt description: It was not “pretend chic.”
