Big end to anything-goes week
Fashion Week ended here over the weekend with collections from a flurry of big names including Lanvin, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton. But it was John Galliano who made the most lasting impression with a show that wasn’t even about clothes. For an industry that feeds off the rich, young and thin, and rarely features a nonwhite face, he offered a lesson in tolerance.
He also unwittingly summed up a complicated season with the simple dictum: Anything goes. Donna Karan’s silk jersey bubble skirts, Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein’s ethereal white Empire gowns; Rastafarian-inspired track suits from Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B., Prada’s white dresses with hidden details, Junya Watanabe’s punk rock cutaway jackets and Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga’s Baroque trousers are just a few of the outstanding choices for spring.
But mostly, this round of collections reinforced the idea that fashion has entered the “post-trend” era. What is beautiful now is not in the eyes of the designer or the editor, but the consumer who soaks up style on television, the Internet, the runway, the red carpet and the street.
Galliano staged a kind of latter-day Paris cabaret with a cast of colorful characters. Coming out onto the runway in pairs, his models were height-challenged, obese and gray-haired. There were fat women, twins, cross-dressers, men with handlebar mustaches and all-over body tattoos, each fitted with a Galliano look. Of course, none was more freakish than the 6-foot-tall, 100-pound teenagers who get paid thousands of dollars to walk the runways, or the editors in dangerously vertiginous shoes, miniature plastic top hats and fur coats in 70-degree heat.
But besides commenting on fashion’s tunnel vision, Galliano may have been addressing the gay marriage debate that has divided France and the U.S. Copies of Ray Stevens’ ballad “Everything is Beautiful” were distributed to the audience. And one gay fashion editor who attended the show said he was moved to tears.
As for the clothes, well, they weren’t really the point. There was a top coat in the Galliano Gazette newspaper print, a pair of jeans with floral embroidery and a fuchsia gown with petal-like ruffles reaching diagonally from shoulder to floor. But what ends up in stores will have to be a surprise.
The fashion crowd was waiting to see what Yves Saint Laurent’s Stefano Pilati would do, since his belted, tulip-skirted look was the news for fall. That silhouette was a dramatic departure, one that most women are just now beginning to notice, much less imitate. So wisely, Pilati continued in the same language, except with a Spanish accent.
Ruffles were the foundation of this collection, like so many others this season. But Pilati’s were razor-sharp, layered on the bibs of blouses in shades of cinnamon, red and purple, or in bands running down the fronts of narrow khaki skirts. The wide belt was done over in straw or black-and-white embroidery. High-waist matador pants were trimmed in pompoms and worn with block-heeled platform metallic shoes, or embroidered velvet clogs. Bags were exquisite -- a gold filigree box for evening, and the now-classic Saint Laurent hobo trimmed in pompoms, for day.
The bolero -- in black lace or white satin with black embroidery -- looked smart. (Celebrity stylist L’Wren Scott, in her own, gold embroidered version in the front row, must have had advance warning.) But cardigans, worn over the shoulders with the sleeves wrapped around the front and tied, would only work for those willing to sacrifice freedom of arm movement. The workmanship was exquisite on a white shift dress trimmed with wavy ribbons of black chiffon, jet beads and pompoms, and on a tiered white gown with micro-thin ruffles.
Some industry insiders complain that Pilati’s look is a throwback. And indeed, there isn’t much that’s modern (or practical) about the hobble skirts and waist-cinching belts he proposed for spring, or the platform shoes that so many editors are already clomping around on now. But Pilati has succeeded in bringing Saint Laurent’s signatures up to date, allowing a new generation to experience them. This collection was another bold statement, one that will only build on the frenzy gathering around the brand.
Over the last few years, Alber Elbaz’s fragile decoration for Lanvin (the raw-seamed, tulle-edged satin shift, the lace-wrapped pearls) has dominated cocktail dressing. But this season, he broke from sweet with a brash argument for sexy minimalism. The palette was black, gray, cream, burgundy and mustard yellow, and the foundation still the satin shift. But this season, dresses were embellished sparely with pressed folds at the neckline, suggesting a flattened bow, a visible zipper down the side, or artful sequined flowers and twigs.
High-waist, skinny black trousers, circled with wide black patent belts, were worn with military shirts with neckties or kimono jackets. And last season’s volume was turned way down, save for the rolled hem on a brown ombre swirl of a silk dress.
The entire collection was strong and sharp, down to the conical heels on glossy red, turquoise or yellow patent leather platform shoes. But it was the last look, a red trench coat, in a crinkled taffeta resembling velvet, that epitomized Elbaz’s new siren song.
Only the richest women on Earth can afford Hermes, but oh to be one of them. Designer Jean Paul Gaultier presented his most unfettered collection for the leather goods house yet, without too many cheeky references to brand signatures. Set under white fringed awnings, the show had all the lightness of a summer day on the French Riviera. Colors were soothing shades of ochre, cream, celery and sand. Linen suits and white shirtdresses, silk pajama pants and tunic tops in a toile print etched in palm trees dominated this pitch perfect show, set off by platform sandals with scarf straps.
For evening, Gaultier offered silk pencil skirts, halter dresses and even bikini tops with black lace overlays, echoing the lace ribbons spelling out “Hermes” that were tied around show invitations. There were also goddess gowns in that singular shade of Hermes orange. And the waiting list is probably already forming for the new envelope-shaped Birkin clutch.
Valentino said in his show notes that he wanted to transcend the “fake couture” that has dominated the runways for the last few seasons by imitating the eclecticism of modern dress with clothes that could be souvenirs of a lifetime of adventures. An extraordinary embroidered Chinese-style jacket was paired with today’s ruffle-hem skirt, and a coral satin Indian-style tunic worn over matching trousers. But despite his best efforts, some of what Valentino does continues to look old ladyish. Case in point: pastel pink suede jeans.
For evening, peony print gowns, some inset with crystals around the waist, were lovely. But a black organza dress with enormous white organza sleeves had a forced glamour. One got the same feeling at the Elie Saab and Colette Dinnigan shows, where tiered, ruffled and crystal embellished cocktail frocks were a dime a dozen.
Chloe’s Phoebe Philo has a more nuanced view of femininity. For spring she, like so many others, promoted the white dress (now that everyone has copied her lacy blouse and pants look). Hers came in super-short, voluminous baby-doll shapes. And if they seemed a little bit girlish, the decadent details made up for it. Elaborate smocking, lace cutwork, flower and petal appliques should make Philo’s fans want to spend all summer in these dresses, perched atop the new wood-heeled wedge shoes that tie with a bow over the top of the foot.
Louis Vuitton ended the season on a celebratory note, hosting a party at the Petit Palais in honor of the newly renovated Champs-Elysees store. The outside of the palace was lighted like a jewel with LVs covering its ornate, Beaux-Arts facade.
Inside, Vuitton’s advertising stars Uma Thurman, Winona Ryder, Selma Hayek and Sharon Stone added wattage to the front row. On the runway, Marc Jacobs’ Technicolor vixens wore sassy fuchsia mini-dresses, jeweled T-shirts, Mondrian-like, color blocked chemise dresses and bike shorts. Bags came in a scarf print plastic with chunky chain straps, or in leather with Takashi Murakami’s colorful logos and a rainbow of fringe.
It was all perfectly in tune with spring’s show-your-true-colors message of individuality. But the real star of the show was Pharell Williams, whose musical stylings had toes tapping even as the long European season wound to a close.
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Common threads
With more than 200 shows over three weeks, top designers showed a wide variety of collections for spring, but in the end, a few things carried over from line to line:
Minimalism
Bubble skirts
Ruffles
White dresses
Lace
Eyelet
Chiffon
Cutaway jackets
Cardigan sweaters
Nude fabric tones
Shirtdresses
High-waist pants
Platform shoes
Belts -- wide, leathern ribbon
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On the Web
To view more of the Spring 2006 collection, presented by Givenchy, Yamamoto and other designers in Paris over the last week, see our online photo gallery at latimes.com/fashion.
