September 6, 2005
Black is back to sober up fall lines
By Robin Givhan
The Washington Post
A favorite fashion aphorism has it that the designer Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons invented "black." The year was 1981 and she had just debuted a distinctively avant-garde, monochromatic collection in Paris. Given the fashion industry's ability to engage in a breathtaking degree of hyperbole — the word "revolutionary" has been applied to nail polish — one would be forgiven for assuming that the industry meant the designer actually invented the color.
Instead, Kawakubo is credited with transforming black into an aesthetic philosophy of minimalism, intellectualism and refusal. Kawakubo infused black with her thoughtful musings on the nature of attire, the oppressiveness of the fashion machine and its stratification of society. By the time Kawakubo had her way with it, black was heavy with meaning.
For the last few years, though, black has been in remission. Even Kawakubo took a break. A boldly colored, feminine, Bohemian sensibility has dominated the runways, leading to a summer filled with Gypsy skirts, layers of colorful tank tops and Chinese slippers in every imaginable hue.
For fall, however, black has made an auspicious return — not just the color, but much of the attendant attitude.
Kawakubo relied heavily on black in a fall collection ostensibly inspired by weddings. The cornerstone of the collection is a white bridal gown that is twisted and tugged until it is an oddly misshapen garment displaying a charming, scrappy character. The collection builds as the white gown combines chaotically with elements of a black tuxedo. Slowly the incongruous pieces transform into graceful black dresses with melancholy ruffles and a mood that wobbles between celebratory and mournful, masculine and feminine.
Designers have embraced black as more than just another color in which to knit a cashmere turtleneck. Miuccia Prada and Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa use it to underscore the silhouette of a garment and give it a detached sophistication. When Prada presented her fall collection in Milan, the first garment to appear on her dramatically lit runway was a simple, spare black dress. This was the start of a new chapter in fashion. Cleaner, leaner, but no less rich.
These clothes don't deny the need to be frivolous, the desire to be lighthearted or the pleasure of a well-placed frill. But every so often, something in the air just says it's time to sober up.