Tweaking the classics
When it comes to fashion, what’s the best way to go back to the future? If it sounds like a riddle, it is. Because for anyone at the helm of a venerable French fashion house, the challenge is how to balance respect with reinvention. As the runway shows continued here, a new generation solved the puzzle with collections that went back to the foundations with strict tailoring and geometry, without a lot of surface embellishment, all perfectly in step with fall’s more aggressive approach.
In a season when so many designers are referencing Cristobal Balenciaga, Nicolas Ghesquiere proved he is the one to make the Spanish master’s work relevant for today’s woman. After his blockbuster rock ‘n’ roll baroque show for spring, Ghesquiere has been spending a lot of time in the archives, pulling together a retrospective at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. All of the historical touchstones were here: boxy jackets in windowpane check with stand-away collars, perfectly rounded coats in creamy white or navy, short skirts with stiff peplums that sat just below the waist and detailed cocktail gowns, one with tiny white beaded flowers on the bodice.
The fabrics had a luxurious heft matched by Ghesquiere’s technical abilities. And he wasn’t afraid to put his own spin on things, elevating his models with domed velvet hats and the kind of clodhopping black shoes that would crush the competition.
Those fabulous boxy jackets were paired with pleated skirts as rigid as tutus, pencil-thin pants or opaque tights, in keeping with today’s top-heavy silhouette. Ghesquiere’s flair for modern sportswear came through in a rounded leather windbreaker, a navy jacket with a curled sheepskin collar (a flourish that is fast becoming a signature) and a chunky ivory cable-knit sweater worn over a barely there silk skirt.
At Yves Saint Laurent, Stefano Pilati glided through the decades with ease. He sampled such 1960s and ‘70s Saint Laurent signatures as tweed suits, chain borders and African motifs, bringing them up to date with edgy black leather and chunky platform ankle boots. The show at the Centre Pompidou, the site of Saint Laurent’s adieu in 2001, was a knockout -- from the first flurry of coats, one cut straight and narrow in a glossy black calf leather, another in charcoal gray wool, cinched at the waist with a patent-leather sash.
Then he moved into boxy, salt-and-pepper tweed jackets edged in gold chains and tulip skirts less exaggerated (and more real world) than those from seasons past. These chic new suits were accessorized with mink scarves tied in pretty bows that should fly off shelves, or bow-tied blouses in soft leather.
Pilati had a new take on the 1960s-era tunic top, fitting it close to the body in all-over matte gold sequins. Another, in black wool, buttoned down the back with a sculpted gold metal bow at the waist. Both were worn with sheer chiffon leggings.
From there he traveled to Africa, showing a blousy halter gown with an ornate gilded collar. Fall’s emphasis on volume came through in a lolling, black popcorn-knit sweater coat and an egg-shaped evening cape covered with rosettes in Saint Laurent shocking pink.
Edwardian aesthetic
It can be just as difficult to create an identity for a house that does not have a rich design vocabulary. At Rochas, Olivier Theyskens didn’t have much more than a wasp waist and a whiff of perfume to work with, but he has made the label his own, built on his favored Edwardian silhouette.
He pushed the aesthetic further for fall, offering skinny jackets and pants in a smoky gray suede, and fitted vests worn over lacy blouses and boyish shorts. The first model came out carrying a miniature ladder, and the theme carried over into headbands and the leather straps of the first Rochas handbag.
Theysken’s designs always have a lightness, so a black, double-lapel suit jacket was paired with pants that seemed to be covered with a second filmy layer of fabric, giving them an ethereal quality. For evening, the Rochas woman climbed the ladder into the clouds while maintaining her down-to-earth decorum. A long skirt in a spidery knit was awash with cloudy shades of gray, while an ombre blue gown was printed with birds on a wire.
In his second season at Givenchy, Riccardo Tischi was more focused, beginning with precision-cut black dresses, one strapless with two tabs at the top, another a three-quarter sleeve shift with slanted patch pockets over the breasts. He went on to reimagine Hubert de Givenchy’s elegant white blouses, adding an aggressive edge with bits of scarlet lace that morphed into red lace prints.
Still, there was almost a militaristic quality to this collection, from the army-green skirted leather coat to the pleated red chiffon dress crisscrossed with bondage-like straps. Add severe braided hair and black eyeglasses, and one half expected Naomi Campbell to brandish a riding crop and bark, “Sit!”
It was a strong statement, but it’s so different from last season’s sweetheart theme that one wonders if Tischi knows where he is going with the brand. And having models carry awkward leather duffels seemed to suggest that his bosses are more interested in selling accessories anyway.
Patrick Robinson, the American in his third season at the helm of Paco Rabanne, has been struggling to take the brand past the revolutionary 1960s-era plastic and chain-mail dresses that made it famous.
“People keep telling me I need to use metal,” Robinson says. “But if I just put metal out there, I feel like it would be dishonest. Besides, playing with metal and plastic is not new anymore. I need to find my metal. And until then, I will keep working in fabric.”
He looked to Rabanne’s 1989 fall-winter collection, which featured exaggerated banding around the collars and cuffs. Robinson felt the look had a hardness and power to it that he wanted to build on. So jackets and coats came in boxy shapes with pronounced epaulettes, and gray jersey shirts with bands that buttoned across the waist.
There was sleek geometry to a herringbone coat with patch pockets, a wide back belt and epaulettes, and a black cowl neck tunic top with rolled up short sleeves worn over leggings. But some pieces were too complicated, such as a gray puffer jacket, belted low, with awkward panels of fur and bushy fur sleeves, and the evening gowns, a hodgepodge of chiffon pleats, puckers and pinwheels.
And the accessories?
After a rocky first season, Ivana Omazic seems to have decided that Celine, another French fashion house with a largely forgotten history, is about the lady. Unfortunately, with fall’s new toughness, her timing couldn’t be worse. She emphasized tidy little skirt suits in crocodile or herringbone. Jackets were nipped at the waist with portrait necklines and paired with pencil skirts. Evening was about floaty chiffon.
None of it was offensive, but it didn’t exactly make you want to max out the AmEx card. And where were the bags? Historically, Celine was an accessories label first and foremost. And there’s no way that lone brown duffel is going to boogie out of stores like the famous Boogie bag of a few years back. Guess it’s back to the drawing board.
