A dizzying sense of change
If there were any doubt that fashion is moving faster than a high-speed Internet connection, check this out: On the runway back in February, brooches were everywhere -- pinned to lapels, cardigan sweaters, belts, even shoes. But now that the jeweled lovelies have actually landed in stores for fall, this reporter was shamed into taking hers off. It seems the fashion crowd has decided they’re dead before they even had a chance to live.
“Once it’s in Banana Republic, it’s over,” said Nancy Pearlstein, owner of the Relish boutiques in Georgetown and Chevy Chase, Md. Sure, some of this is industry-centric snobbery. But with runway shots available online immediately after a show ends, it’s inevitable that a season’s trends will be knocked off before the designer versions hit the selling floor. Add to that overexposure in magazines and on celebrities and it’s no wonder women feel as if they’ve consumed an idea by the time it’s actually ready for consumption.
Indeed, the problem with many of the shows this season in New York, London and Milan is that they’ve felt like deja-vu. Now that ladylike circle skirts, fur tippets, jeweled pumps and brooches have reached critical mass at Zara and H&M;, the search is on for something new. It may feel like change for change’s sake, but so the fashion world turns.
The emerging buzzword for spring is sobriety. Out with happy homemakers and in with accidentally chic, brainy college girls. Miuccia Prada and Jil Sander helped usher in 1990s minimalism, jolting fashion out of 1980s excess, and this season they’re laying the foundations for a new direction. Sander’s collection was a breath of fresh air, without the noisy distractions of African beats or excessive ornamentation. From the very first outfit -- a white jacket that looked as if a blue paint roller had had its way with it, a simple cream pencil skirt and flat leather sandals with the ease of Birkenstocks -- the mind drifted to a peaceful place. Perhaps Sander’s woman is an artist who lives and works in a white-walled loft in Venice, Calif. While she labors over her canvases, she wears full seersucker trousers in the L.L. Bean tradition, and a sky blue fitted tank top with the straps knotted at the shoulders. She heads to the farmers market in a slim skirt in vibrant turquoise, or a crisp white jacket splattered with figurative blue stains. A strip of white cotton tied loosely in a bow around the neck is the only scarf she needs. For her, luxury is technique. At night, she chooses a white sundress shaped by gray pin tucks, because it reminds her of the shadows cast by Venetian blinds.
What Sander presented was modern -- a vision of femininity free of the severe, overly intellectualized tendencies that have hampered her in the past. It’s the right thing at the right time.
Over the summer, Donatella Versace checked into an Arizona substance abuse recovery program for six weeks. Looking svelte and happy, she returned with a collection that was focused and refined, less raunchy and more aspirational. Instead of relying on a surfeit of flesh, spiky hardware and celebrity eye candy to keep her audience’s attention, she zeroed in on Versace classics such as silk jersey suits and draped gowns. Liquid silk shirts came in scarf prints that combined fire coral, starfish, shells and seahorses with the house’s signature gold arabesques and Medusa heads. Knee-length silk skirts in shades of peach, pale pink and blue buttoned down the front, gently hugging every curve. Gold buttons on sand-colored silk jersey shirtdresses and shorts suits advanced the nautical theme, while gold python trench coats, gold rope wedge sandals and print terry cloth beach robes spoke to the glitzy, St. Tropez set. For a summer party, Versace proposed fluid silk gowns in apricot, yellow or sand, glistening with crystal straps, ruched at the waist and slit thigh high, or cut low, with a gold Medusa head at the small of the back.
In her lower-priced Miu Miu line, Miuccia Prada cut a swath through the 1960s and ‘70s using the kind of brown, purple and yellow geometric upholstery fabrics that might once have been seen in an airport lounge, while advancing a new, slim silhouette and short hemline. Whimsical sweaters decorated with pear or cloud still lifes paired perfectly with narrow walking shorts in Marimekko-like prints.
A goldenrod waffle-knit polo dress with a belt under the bust, empire-style, conjured images of Ali McGraw and other ‘60s coeds. Plastic chain necklaces and headbands, suede disc belts and orange lipstick added to the peppy, prep picture. Smartly, Prada also offered greatest hits from her signature line modified for a Miu Miu budget: silk shantung shifts and jackets encrusted in crystals as chunky as rock candy.
There are women (particularly in Italy) who believe that fashion exists solely to aid in the hunting, stalking and snaring of male prey. For them, Dolce & Gabbana offered a savanna’s worth of python, leather and leopard, inspired by a summer sojourn to Africa. Safari suits were cut lean and mean, with python patch pockets and belts. A saucy wrap dress in snake print jersey plunged low in front with a red crystal heart at the navel, while a beaded cocktail gown with a fringe skirt and high collar evoked the artistry of the Masai.
French Vogue editor and Tom Ford muse Carine Roitfield is now consulting for MaxMara, which could explain the line’s newfound edge. This collection, too, was rooted in Africa -- was a travel agency running a Milan-Nairobi special? -- with a primitive leaf print in the manner of a woodcut adorning pencil and circle skirts. The bold patterns were balanced with soft white peasant blouses and diamond-eyelet blazers.
A hero to the augmented, injected, lifted and tucked, Roberto Cavalli is usually the go-to guy for in-your-face sex appeal. But the spring collection was refreshingly nonaggressive. The backdrop for the runway re-created the interior of a Tuscan villa, and Cavalli opened with a parade of long peasant skirts in lush prints of lemons, butterflies or botanicals intertwined with serpents. These delightful bohemian skirts were worn low on the hips with braided leather belts, crochet bikini tops and shrunken fur vests. The collection was titled “Fashion Traveler,” and Cavalli visited points east and west with a zebra caftan, a gold embroidered matador jacket, a beaded cocktail sheath in an African mask motif and a red halter gown with chunky sea coral snaking down the bare back.
On the accessories front, look out for thick bangles. Models at Dolce & Gabbana and Cavalli wore them by the armload. Then again, by the winter thaw they’ll probably be dead and buried, right next to the brooch.
