That “something in the air” that designers refer to when discussing the source of their inspiration permeated all three fashion capitals as designers in Milan, Paris and New York showed fall collections with strikingly similar common denominators.
They all, for example, seemed smitten with romance as they looked over their shoulders and saw only the pretty sides of the past. They also were unified in visualizing women strutting as dandies; smoldering in clingy knits; preferring pants; opting for black both night and day and wearing boots-even with their evening gowns.
While there were such common threads, designers in each of the cities put their own spin on their fall fashions.
Milan
Italian designers-the first to show in the four-week marathon of fall fashion shows and battered by a seemingly never-ending national corruption scandal and an economy in crisis-gladly joined the fall season’s great escape into epic romance. They filled their runways with Edwardian dandies, pre-Raphaelite maidens and Scottish lassies-but presented them with a slightly grungy, odd-lot nonchalance rather than opulence.
-The Message: Attic chic, also known as recession chic, is in: You can dress up as long as you always dress it down.
-The Looks: Dandies swaggered in slim-fitting, three-piece pantsuits with frothy lace collars and cuffs. Dreamy Ophelias turned up in long, nubbly sweater tunics over sheer chiffon skirts. Most modern: Crisp, double-breasted jackets with loose, cuffed pants in tweeds and plaids; ribbed-knit tube skirts with matching sweater tunics.
-Hot Items: Shirts with oversize lace cuffs or French cuffs worn undone; military greatcoats with gold buttons and flared maxi-skirts; flat boots in all sizes and styles.
-Best in Show: Giorgio Armani, Krizia and Dolce & Gabbana.
-Best News: The revival of knitwear in dresses and separates.
-Worst News: The rise of wan, vulnerable, anorexic-looking New Waif models.
-Biggest Surprise: Gianni Versace devoting nearly his entire show to slinky knitwear.
-Trend-for-a-Day Award: Bell-bottom pants and platform shoes-already history, again.
-Top Colors: Smoky, medieval tones of spruce, gray, navy and claret.
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-Hair and Makeup: Disheveled hair worn loose or in a braid. Barely-there makeup focusing on wide eyes, hollow cheeks and a general Little Matchstick Girl fragility.
Paris
Accessories ranged from close-fitting wigs made of aluminum foil to sequined yarmulkes based on centuries-old skullcaps worn by Jewish men; from futuristic moon boots to laced-up granny boots with curvy high heels-so aptly/quickly nicknamed “the suffragette.”
In between the quirky headgear and the scene-stealing footgear, the French/British/Japanese/Belgian/Italian/American designers who show in Paris put models in everything from body-hugging knits to limpid and languid layers; from down-filled parkas to flea market finds re-stitched and transformed into patchwork dresses; from frock coats to-voila!-even streamlined jacket/pants/coat ensembles that shocked because they looked so sensibly, chicly wearable.
-The Message: Recycle. Three different worlds: Designers literally dug back into history as inspiration for their medieval helmets, monastic robes and other costumey clothing; they actually re-used old clothes; they pulled out favorites from their own collections, added or subtracted a few inches, re-introduced them as new.
-The Subliminal Message: Almost anything goes if you wear it with Attitude.
-The Common Denominators: White shirts. Pants, everything but knickers and bell-bottoms. Boots. Long jackets, often frock coats, but not always. Big coats, flyaways or nipped at the waist then flared. Knits. Black.
-Winners: Claude Montana for teaming structured and soft; Romeo Gigli for romantic, whimsical, artistic coats; the Karl Lagerfeld collection for the best jackets.
-One Singular Sensation: Karl Lagerfeld for doing three distinct collections, Chloe, Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld; for doing the most outlandish accessories for Chanel (sunglasses with eyelashes, hot water bottle handbag, moon boots and monkey fur boots) and for being the Great Mix Master in the same collection, tossing stuff together with tongue in cheek; for his sheer skirt that appeared in innumerable versions on many runways.
-Favorite Fabrics: Velvet, crushed and smooth; brocades; tapestries. – Most Charming Debut: Former Chanel model Ines de la Fressange’s witty classics.
-Working Women’s Best Friends: Sonia Rykiel’s knits.
-Get to the Point: Jackets, ponchos, skirts, dresses come to points fore and aft, at both sides or just one. One waif model even had her hair shaped in bangs that came to a center point on her forehead.
-Wildest Headgear: Rei Kawakubo’s silvery foil cap/coif for Comme des Garcons.
-Biggest Surprises: Some of the deconstructivists’ clothes with their frayed edges, seams out, opened darts, on-purpose wrinkles are starting to look not only feasible but even appealing. Martin Margiela’s influence and staying power.
-We Hate To See You Go: Big earrings.
New York
By the time the Americans showed their fall collections, the trends were pretty well established; nevertheless, the home team did its best to make sure nobody missed the messages and turned out a flurry of frock coats, ruffle-trimmed blouses, narrow and wide pants, along with enough flappers, Napoleonic and medieval costumes to outfit two epic movies and a Broadway musical.
But the best fashions were not the carnival clothes. They were the clean-lined, modern things, especially from the three stars of the season-Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, all native New Yorkers-with collections totally different from one another’s.
Karan’s clothes-which she calls “antiquey modern”-were long and soft, made of the breeziest wools ever created. Lauren did an elegantly executed Russian-themed collection with some classics lurking beneath those Cossack hats. Klein skipped layers and historic time frames and just showed unadorned, understated clothes.
-Stars of Sleek: King Calvin, plus: Louis Dell’Olio’s collection for Anne Klein (severely black, great for minimalists); Michael Kors’ beautifully carved jackets, plus some rubber shirts and bodysuits (if they breathe, they’ll be a terrific alternative to leather, if not-it’s sweatsville).
-Reality Check: Adrienne Vittadini’s knits-tube dresses, skirts, tunics, vests, coats-are answers to the prayers of women who need something to wear to work that’s reasonably priced.
-Favorite Fabrics: Did we mention knits? Also strong: velvet, crushed velvet, cut velvet, hand-painted velvet, tapestries, brocades.
-Return of the Dean: Bill Blass turned out a collection strong on jackets and pretty velvet dresses, zippier and more up-to-date than clothes he’s done in recent seasons-proving that Establishment doesn’t mean over-the-hill.
-Worst makeup: Anna Sui’s kewpie doll faces-with cheeks sporting circles of bright red rouge-to accent her nannies and babydoll clothes.
-Most successful debut: Richard Tyler, beautifully tailored jackets, rich red velvets, tapestries.
-Best production, funniest accessory: Both by Byron Lars, whose Heidi/Swiss Miss collection (lots of loden green, laced-up jumpers, embroidered suspenders, pigtailed hair, ski-type clothes) were shown by models emerging from a giant cuckoo clock. After the schussing scene, one model limped onstage using a crutch, her leg encased in a high-heeled, platform-soled cast.
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-Forget It: By the final show in New York, the unkempt shirt with tails flapping and cuffs undone looked totally tired. Find some cufflinks. –