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Material world
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Stiff satins and dramatic taffetas are putting fabric centre stage, says Jess Cartner-Morley [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Saturday February 18, 2006
The Guardian
[/FONT]There are two types of fashion trend. On the one hand, there is the very visible, easy-to-spot kind - the puffball skirt, the wedge shoe, the corsage. Then there is the second type: the kind that swells under the surface of fashion until, quietly, it has changed the fashion landscape. The trends that fall into this category are more difficult to spot; and yet these are the ones that can trip you up, passing you by until you realise, with a jolt, that your wardrobe no longer looks right.
So here's some advance warning. Start thinking about fabric, because textiles and textures are where fashion is at. Ten years ago, a garment would most probably have been given that fashion X-factor by being the new, "in" colour. Five years ago, when the high street began sourcing cheap embroidery from India and China, it would probably have been given the finishing touch with embellishment: a beaded hem or ribbon trim. These days, however, all eyes are on the base fabric itself. A skirt in stiff, unadorned taffeta is much more current than a cotton skirt with a beaded, ribboned hem.
This is, in part, a result of fashion looking forward: the influence of science. Innovations in fabric technology, which have captured the interest of designers (metallic linen, for instance) and led to the development of more economical production techniques, have made fabrics that were once restricted to couture accessible to ready-to-wear designers and, increasingly, the high street.
But it is also a case of fashion looking backwards. There has been a gradual movement over the past two years, strongly influenced by the rapturously received collections by Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, towards clothes that have their own shape, rather than clinging to the body - recalling, often, the work of 1950s couturiers, particularly Cristobal Balenciaga. Fabrics that are decorative in their own right with no need of embellishment and that have a certain stiffness - taffeta and duchesse satin, for instance - bring these shapes to life and, by being clean-lined but not at at all ascetic, look entirely modern.
Real women, you might think, don't wear taffeta, organza, broderie anglaise: the very names sound as if they have been lifted from historical novels. They are fabrics from another era, another world. But fashion is full of surprises and, if the buyers are right, we soon will be wearing them. This season, the look moves beyond the catwalk and hits the high street. There is a red organza dress with shoestring straps at Dorothy Perkins; a mint green duchesse satin strapless dress with an outsize bow at the waist at Coast; and a broderie anglaise blouse at Gap. There is an iridescent taffeta trench at Topshop, shantung silk at Reiss, and metallic linen at River Island. How best to wear the new fabrics? Use colour sparingly. This lets the textures sing out, and prevents you looking like a Bystander photo from a 1980s edition of Tatler. Caramels and creams, lend shimmery fabrics an urban sophistication; alternatively, try muted, Dutch old master shades of blue and brown, used to great effect in Vivienne Westwood's taffeta eveningwear this season. Likewise, accessorise with your tongue in your cheek: rather than matching twinkling diamanté to your shiny dress, try matt accessories such as wooden beads. The matt-on-shimmer effect was used to great effect by Elbaz when he wrapped giant pearls in black net to dull their shine. Play with scale: huge cocktail rings or outsize pendants sit better than chandelier earrings or ornate necklaces, which, however pretty, can quickly render the look fussy and old-fashioned. Show some skin - a little leg, arm or décolleté - and make sure that it is moisturised to a high gleam, so as not to be thrown into unflattering relief by the pretty fabrics framing it. There: you shall go to the ball.
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Stiff satins and dramatic taffetas are putting fabric centre stage, says Jess Cartner-Morley [/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva,Arial,sans-serif]Saturday February 18, 2006
The Guardian
[/FONT]There are two types of fashion trend. On the one hand, there is the very visible, easy-to-spot kind - the puffball skirt, the wedge shoe, the corsage. Then there is the second type: the kind that swells under the surface of fashion until, quietly, it has changed the fashion landscape. The trends that fall into this category are more difficult to spot; and yet these are the ones that can trip you up, passing you by until you realise, with a jolt, that your wardrobe no longer looks right.
So here's some advance warning. Start thinking about fabric, because textiles and textures are where fashion is at. Ten years ago, a garment would most probably have been given that fashion X-factor by being the new, "in" colour. Five years ago, when the high street began sourcing cheap embroidery from India and China, it would probably have been given the finishing touch with embellishment: a beaded hem or ribbon trim. These days, however, all eyes are on the base fabric itself. A skirt in stiff, unadorned taffeta is much more current than a cotton skirt with a beaded, ribboned hem.
This is, in part, a result of fashion looking forward: the influence of science. Innovations in fabric technology, which have captured the interest of designers (metallic linen, for instance) and led to the development of more economical production techniques, have made fabrics that were once restricted to couture accessible to ready-to-wear designers and, increasingly, the high street.
But it is also a case of fashion looking backwards. There has been a gradual movement over the past two years, strongly influenced by the rapturously received collections by Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, towards clothes that have their own shape, rather than clinging to the body - recalling, often, the work of 1950s couturiers, particularly Cristobal Balenciaga. Fabrics that are decorative in their own right with no need of embellishment and that have a certain stiffness - taffeta and duchesse satin, for instance - bring these shapes to life and, by being clean-lined but not at at all ascetic, look entirely modern.
Real women, you might think, don't wear taffeta, organza, broderie anglaise: the very names sound as if they have been lifted from historical novels. They are fabrics from another era, another world. But fashion is full of surprises and, if the buyers are right, we soon will be wearing them. This season, the look moves beyond the catwalk and hits the high street. There is a red organza dress with shoestring straps at Dorothy Perkins; a mint green duchesse satin strapless dress with an outsize bow at the waist at Coast; and a broderie anglaise blouse at Gap. There is an iridescent taffeta trench at Topshop, shantung silk at Reiss, and metallic linen at River Island. How best to wear the new fabrics? Use colour sparingly. This lets the textures sing out, and prevents you looking like a Bystander photo from a 1980s edition of Tatler. Caramels and creams, lend shimmery fabrics an urban sophistication; alternatively, try muted, Dutch old master shades of blue and brown, used to great effect in Vivienne Westwood's taffeta eveningwear this season. Likewise, accessorise with your tongue in your cheek: rather than matching twinkling diamanté to your shiny dress, try matt accessories such as wooden beads. The matt-on-shimmer effect was used to great effect by Elbaz when he wrapped giant pearls in black net to dull their shine. Play with scale: huge cocktail rings or outsize pendants sit better than chandelier earrings or ornate necklaces, which, however pretty, can quickly render the look fussy and old-fashioned. Show some skin - a little leg, arm or décolleté - and make sure that it is moisturised to a high gleam, so as not to be thrown into unflattering relief by the pretty fabrics framing it. There: you shall go to the ball.
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