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Fashion: From flowing to form-fitting |
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Written by Sara Glassman, McClatchy-Tribune
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Wednesday, 21 February 2007 |
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The nation's top fashion designers think it's time to take control.
After several seasons of loose silhouettes and layers that float far away from the body, runway shows for New York Fashion Week prominently featured a return to form-fitting apparel, including belts and classic tailoring.
Marc Jacobs went from his spring extreme of flowing, ballooning, light-as-air layers to their opposite - body-hugging, streamlined ensembles. He opened the show with a long belted coat and a brimmed hat. The model looked like a lady instead of the ragamuffins in oversized, waistless dresses he showed last season.
For most designers, the experimentation with volume isn't completely over, but it is being reined in, making big clothes more manageable. Instead of all-over shapelessness, volume shows up in exaggerated or distinctive sleeves, or a drop-waist peplum, while the rest of the body is fitted.
Following spring's neutral colors, fall 2007 palettes were limited as well. The color of the season is non-color. Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein's entire collection was a study in shades of gray, with only a few blue pieces interrupting the parade of dark neutrals.
At Michael Kors, most clothes were completely neutral in black, browns and grays with a few pops of purple, red and teal. Most designers seemed to lump shine and metallics (gold, silver, copper, bronze) into these categories, with satins and sequins. The shine added interest to what might otherwise have been a very monochromatic season.
Monique Lhuillier drew upon the work of architect Frank Gehry to create the lines of her dresses (don't worry - none of them look like the Weisman, a fabulous museum that would be a disaster as a dress), all topped off with gem-encrusted belts.
Carmen Marc Valvo cited architects Isamu Noguchi and Jean-Michel Frank for his collection, which was highly successful, though it felt a bit stiff in some incarnations.
For Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein, architectural inspiration wasn't specified, but pant lines were kept rigidly in check with stirrups (not always visible). Every designer showed coats. Some were belted (Jacobs), but many (Klein, Ellen Tracy) had strong, nearly architectural shapes.
"Women as buildings" feels like a nonhumanist approach to something meant to adorn the flesh. But these interpretations seem intended to maximize assets (belts, waists) and create lines that flatter.
Architecture, like fashion, is a creative field that must work within a set of restrictions: Buildings must be designed to stand and be safe; fashion must fit bodies. Fashion is rebounding from a period when clothes seemed abstract to distraction rather than celebrating the human form.
In times of war and a harshly divided government, it's hard to make room for whimsy. That somber zeitgeist carried over to the runways with primarily dark colors and streamlined designs. Designers seemed determined to work within a set of constraints, but have also signaled that it's time to peel down and simplify the layers.
Vera Wang's serious collection invoked a Russian theme that included as many Bolsheviks (and babushkas) as royalty. Even Betsey Johnson, notorious for her outrageous designs with frills, toned things down. Her "School of Charm" featured dresses that looked more classic, with Peter Pan collars (and the runway drama of white gloves and tights). Almost everything seemed wearable. That's the real buzzword of the season.
Take Diane von Furstenberg, whose collection consisted almost exclusively of dresses, which demonstrated great freedom of expression through style, pattern and hem length. Wearing one piece that instantly creates a pulled-together look frees up the wearer, too - no more standing in front of your closet trying to figure out what to wear with what else.
Despite designers' self-imposed limits, quite a bit of variety emerged. Want a gray dress? You can have form-fitted Calvin Klein or loose Tracy Reese; maxi-length Nicole Miller or mini-length Nanette Lepore; embellished Wang or sleek Kors.
Every designer did gold, but it ranged from a handbag to a fully sequined dress.
In this sense, the real control is in the hands (and wallets) of the consumer. Every woman can choose the best gray dress or the best pants for her without feeling like she has to emulate one specific look to be modern and in style. For fall, it is up to the individual to reclaim her own sense of order. | Only registered users can write comments.
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