Wrapped attention
When “The L Word” debuted on Showtime in January, the first TV series about the lesbian lifestyle was criticized for leaving out butch dykes in favor of their lip-glossed and miniskirted counterparts. The wardrobe department could take inspiration from John Galliano’s show for Dior on Wednesday, the first blockbuster of Fashion Week here. The designer moved beyond the Marlene Dietrich gender-bending of last season into butch, femme, even drag-queen looks, with a nod to Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne and other pop stars who have worn low-belted pants, men’s suspenders, ties and hats, and inspired young fans to follow suit.
Galliano layered humongous, shawl-collared coats in blue plaid and leopard spots over dresses with ruffled hems. A purple satin evening gown was sack-like from the shoulders to the thighs, where it was interrupted by a man’s leather belt before flaring out into a skirt. More leopard graced the collar and cuffs of a pink metallic rockabilly suit with exaggerated shoulders and a dropped waist. Throughout the collection, creepers, the pointy-toed lace-ups with thick rubber soles, came in every color and print. Hair was slicked up into Teddy Boy styles, and Pat McGrath’s makeup had the uncanny ability to make models look like boys made up as girls.
Unfortunately, the clothes were not Galliano’s best. With models swimming in outsize silhouettes, the collection didn’t have an ounce of sex appeal. Still, the as-always colorful concept should be enough to draw customers into stores (half the battle) to take a look at the creepers, which also came with high heels, or the new chain-handled bowling bags with hanging gold “C” and “D” dice.
Whereas there was nary a pair of pants to be found on the runways in Milan, London or New York, some designers here are picking up where they left off last season, continuing to play with masculine and feminine roles. Indeed, Jean-Paul Gaultier, who sponsored the recent “Bravehearts: Men in Skirts” exhibit at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, sent a man in a skirt down the runway, but not in the usual way. He orchestrated a stunt for the fashion record books: Working on a platform high above the catwalk, puppeteers twirled model-sized marionettes among the real mannequins, even managing to get a few to strike vogue-like poses. The collection touched on some of Gaultier’s signature looks, including trompe l’oeil skirts and jackets with skirt and jacket prints on them, a pink pinstripe suit with cuffed trousers, a soft pink leather biker jacket, a red suede pencil skirt with a ruffle cascading down the side, and naked torso-print body suits. It was a triumphant tease for his first show as head designer of Hermes, scheduled for Saturday.
Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquiere mixed masculine and feminine too, in a collection that included oversized black leather aviator jackets with curly goat hair collars paired with low- slung, full-legged pants with tapered ankles, as well as the house’s signature balloon skirts in black or white, with cropped, shrunken jackets. Although some recent collections have been difficult for customers to grasp (not to mention fit into), there were more wearable pieces here, particularly sculptural coatdresses reworked from men’s suit jackets, and black chiffon gowns that clung to the torso with a combination of chunky pink or blue metallic chains, threads and cutouts, as delicately engineered as a suspension bridge. One hopes Gucci Group, Ghesquiere’s backer, gives the designer a little more support, because for the past couple of seasons, with so much else going on, it seems as if he’s been ignored.
Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo also seemed to have commerciality on her mind. Following last season, in which she offered only skirts with the same see-through top -- an entire show of them -- she lighted up the famed Parisian Lido nightclub with elegant black jackets with leg of mutton sleeves and Peter Pan collars. On other pieces, fabric was folded, tucked, pleated or shredded to create huge poufy sleeves, and trench coats were trimmed in back with long black feathers. One of her most charming jackets had sleeves bursting at the seams with bows and tulle. Pants buttoned and zipped in the back instead of the front, and again, long skirts were reworked out of men’s jackets.
Junya Watanabe began her show with a model wrapped in what appeared to be a black quilted duvet cover. But as the rap soundtrack began and the first denim skirts appeared, belted low on the hipbone, the mind drifted to urban streets. There was a porkpie hat, a puffy orange and green plaid stole, and a silver-edged pink crochet sweater atop a ruffled denim short skirt. Then Watanabe got to the point: striped, quilted gowns with draped cowl necks and parkas with a couture quality in the same bedtime fabrics. As the models drew the cozy coats close to their bodies, one couldn’t help but be reminded, as cliche as it is, of how clothing can be a security blanket.
