here it comes 
Suzy Menkes
IHT Tuesday, October 14, 2003
_The quiet death of feminist fashion is the overall message of four weeks of international collections, which close in Paris on Tuesday. The most noteworthy change is the eclipse of the formal pantsuit in which a generation of women fought for equality in the world of work.
Although there are still many variations on pants and even tailored suits with shorts, skirts - and especially dresses - have been given prominence.
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In tune with the softer, more feminine mood, color and pattern are making a comeback with prints either graphic or sweetly floral. The message is for womanly rather than girlie clothes, meaning softly draped fabrics, rather than frills. The mood has been upbeat, despite difficult times for the high fashion industry, but in terms of fashion psyche, there is a gentler, less predatory approach, particularly to female sexuality.
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Three designers, in the closing days of the spring/summer 2004 season, offered their different visions on what it is to dress as a woman today: at Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford continued to push for a strident power woman whose sexiness hangs out- literally in the case of bosoms popping out of bodices or from sharply scissored swimsuits.
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Valentino interpreted the butterfly woman - not as an air head flittering through life, but through the sweet color that suffused the collection, with a focus on the bosom and with prints of butterflies.
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Yet it was Alber Elbaz at Lanvin who caught the changing fashion mood in a faultless collection in which rigorous draping of soft fabrics produced dresses that were artfully simple but with a figurative and literal twist: a loose bow.
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Given the tension between Ford and the umbrella company PPR (Printemps Pinault Redoute) over the terms of renewal of his Gucci Group contract, the fashion crowd was willing the designer to send out a winning collection. But it didn't happen. As the first high-instep shoes stepped out on the zebra printed rugs on the runway, the show seemed the usual heady cocktail of sex and glamour with a hint of retro. That meant a whiff of the 1980's in the pearl gray satin three-piece suits, both pleat-back jacket and vest poised above narrow, hip-slung jodhpur pants that hung from the hips, finished off with buttons or a jogging pant cuff. Then came low-belted coats, suggesting the 1920's and targeting the hips. That focus applied also to a series of dresses wrapped at the hipline leaving a long, flat torso - an unforgiving shape for most women.
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Ford had added pretty touches to his dresses, such as shoulder straps dangling with tiny pompoms, and he sent out elegant accessories, from purses with sculpted flowers to sparkling jewelry. He tinkered with the famous YSL tuxedo, showing it bloused with the 1980's pants. But in his concentration on eveningwear, Ford has not yet confronted the basic problem of the Rive Gauche collection: How to update the masculine daywear that Yves Saint Laurent himself invented in a way that is appropriate for today's woman?
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Valentino's yacht-inspired collection sailed on a sea of pretty, fresh and feminine clothes that moved the collection from the mature donna to her youthful daughter. It opened with fresh-as-a-daisy lingerie looks of broderie anglaise corset and satin skirt, as well as lacy bandeaux inserted at the bosoms, even for sweaters. Before butterfly prints started fluttering on dresses and alighting on shoes and handbags, the collection had a breezy marine message. Navy and white was used to freshen summer tailoring or for the classic, classy look of navy silk sweater and white pants worn by the model Naomi Campbell.
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"I thought of butterflies because I love their colors so much - and when I saw the collection all together I thought - yes! I have caught it,"said Valentino at the after-party attended by Campbell with her partner Matteo Marzotto, of the fashion dynasty which now owns Valentino. The designer was right about the color theme. Vivid turquoise, rose pink, fuchsia and lilac gave a fresh prettiness to liquid evening clothes in a lovely collection.
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The program notes at Lanvin were drawings by Alber Elbaz that showed how, from one piece of cloth - albeit fine satins and crepes in juicy colors - the designer had created his graceful dresses.
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"That was exceptional - and very intelligent," said Pierre Bergι, who knows, as Yves Saint Laurent's partner, what it is to drape a dress to the body. Elbaz has been quietly influential. His idea of dresses with built-in jewelry reverberated around the fashion world and although his lacy face masks, giving a sly mystery to the collection, may not be a winner, his take on the bow is the best we have seen on the fashion circuit. Instead of making bows a decorative attachment, each was an integral part of the dress, joining together the seamless fabric but leaving edges raw to cut the sweetness. The fastenings, which included hooks and eyes, were almost always at the back, giving a soft bustle effect that never seemed like costume.
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"I just want to add a little warmth," said Elbaz, referring to a confluence of simplicity and fantasy. The color palette, from peachy pink through chrome yellow and emerald green to a gold finale, was another way of juicing up a collection of mostly eveningwear that was deftly and delightfully done.
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Martin Margiela's farewell show for Hermθs was as frustratingly whisper quiet as the rest of his six-year tenure at the house.
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"I feel a bit said,"
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This season he spiced up the clothes with pimento red, striking for suede pants worn with a jacket tied at the front and with tomato red sneakers. A touch of pattern appeared as a graphic tomato or black cravat with white. And a double cashmere cardigan, attached at the neck, was a fine piece. The pure canvas of clothing showed off Hermθs sculpted jewelry. But either Margiela has wanted to make the clothes seem snobby and classic - or he never quite fired himself up to take on the challenge before he passes the flame to Jean Paul Gaultier next season.
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The message of "freedom" embroidered in big stitches on stretch jersey is something that any woman can understand. But Romeo Gigli said backstage that the word - along with the "love" and heart symbols that were printed on his own shirt - had a fashion meaning.
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"I wanted to have the freedom to create new shapes and silhouettes," said the designer, who was once known for a slender, narrow-shouldered line. This season, he had fringe swinging from deep-sleeved tops and skirts that spread out in A-line tiers, or "dancing" skirts, as he described them.
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Gigli always has a personal take on fashion, yet he captured some of the themes of the season, including crochet, which came as lacy inserts. He took bronze and old gold colors from his particular Renaissance palette. But slits cut into bodices to open windows on the body and sheer tops showing the breasts, even though they were not vulgar, seemed to belong to an earlier era.
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The seasonal trends can be summed up as color, print, short skirts, draped fabrics and a light dusting of the 1920's, bringing dropped waists and flapper dresses. Fabrics have included broderie
Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune.
great reviews, still i don't fully agree on her wrap, I think 50's and neo-purism were also fresh&strong for ss04, she seems in short attention span
