Mothballs Come to Mind
By ERIC WILSON
Published: September 15, 2005
AT the conclusion of Fashion Week tomorrow night, when several extravagant events are planned to celebrate the Herculean feat of making it through some 180 runway shows over 10 days, the real partying should be taking place at the European fabric mills that specialize in silk chiffon. From the looks of the many collections that made liberal use of the breezy, gauzy fabric that evokes memories of grandmother's closet, their proverbial ship will be coming in.
There was the chiffon blouse painted with blue and yellow flowers at Tuleh; the sheer shirts trimmed with bibs of chiffon tissues from the newcomer Brian Reyes; petals of butter chiffon stitched into floaty dresses at Cynthia Steffe; and Kenneth Cole's finale of crinkle chiffon, light as air in magenta, olive, scarlet and topaz. Even Kimora Lee Simmons, who, in her sex-kitten romps at Baby Phat, is not one to dote on such a classical ideal of feminine beauty, found herself layering a chiffon accordion skirt beneath a zebra-print toga or two.
Many editors and retailers must have found themselves writing the same thing in their diaries: "granny." Had the ladylike fashions so prevalent in the early part of the decade already been replaced by old-lady-like fashion?
Besides chiffon there were other signs of a shift in the fashion winds toward looks conventionally thought of as matronly, which are sure to challenge retailers when the clothes arrive in stores next spring. There were dresses that fell awkwardly at the calf (Tuleh), white cotton gauze dresses that looked like flannel nightgowns (Proenza Schouler), silk blouses with working-girl bow ties (Oscar de la Renta) and pesky slips peeking out from beneath skirt hems, not to mention knee-high stockings (Marc Jacobs). Perhaps the most convincing call to the elderly citizen set came from Max Azria, the designer of BCBG, who trimmed his chiffon gowns - caftans really - with macramé.
"We support all kinds of chiffon," Kal Ruttenstein, the fashion director of Bloomingdale's, said, putting a positive spin on the matronly look of things. "It seems to be a very 'wanted' fabric in a lot of ways." Mr. Ruttenstein was speaking on Monday night as he waited for the Marc Jacobs show to begin, which, in the view of many, is the real start of the fashion season, following the annual regurgitation from younger upstart designers still reacting to Mr. Jacobs's designs of the previous seasons. But chiffon was already on Mr. Ruttenstein's mind, and he didn't see anything old about it.
"Nothing looks prettier than pale chiffon wafting down the street on an attractive woman," he said. Another image that came to mind, at least when Behnaz Sarafpour showed her version of the drawstring chiffon top on Tuesday, was the cast of "Mama's Family," the 1980's sitcom about a crotchety widow in rolled stockings. A silk animal print sundress worn off the shoulder had Mama's daughter-in-law Naomi Oates Harper written all over it; the lace doilies draped over other models' shoulders and the dickeys around their necks looked as if they were borrowed from the wardrobe of a preacher's wife.
This little wrinkle, or crinkle, in style may not be the most appealing way to describe a fashion direction that is at once an evolution of the trend toward dressier clothes inspired by the luxury boom, and also a reaction against the bohemian looks born in recent seasons on the street. No designer wants to hear his or her collection described as matronly.
The use of such old-fashioned fabrics has a lot to do with the success of a band of designers working in Paris: Alber Elbaz at Lanvin, Phoebe Philo at Chloé and Olivier Theyskens at Rochas. Elements of their recent collections have evolved into a regular formula of ingredients for some of those now working in New York, the world capital for giving artistic fashion a commercial appeal.
The more appealing, and youthful, of these Paris-inspired designs are the ones in which the designers have experimented with new shapes and proportions, with ballooning skirts and cocooning coats and waistlines that are as high as those of the Empire or low as a flapper's, now reinvented with a drawstring at the hem and neckline to create a circular silhouette.
But some designers who showed this week seem to have prepared their collections with a standardized list before them: the shirtwaist dress, the gauzy blouse, the dresses with capped sleeves and inset with bits of antique lace, the pleated skirt with raw edges and a grosgrain waistband, and the ruffled jacket. Check, check, check, check and a big old check.
"Maybe it's a reaction from that whole Fortuny moment, all that finely pleated silk that was so big at Lanvin," said Julie Gilhart, the fashion director for Barneys New York. Fortuny was the early 20th-century designer whose pleating technique has been carried on by a number of designers, its most famous champion being Mary McFadden.
"I think that designers loved the history of the look, but they wanted to mess it up a bit and make it more casual and more fine," Ms. Gilhart said.
Designers are nothing if not mindful of the past, and this season they are tearing through the decades, beginning with Carolina Herrera, who found inspiration in the 20's. At Imitation of Christ, Tara Subkoff interpreted denim as it appeared in different decades, with the actress Scarlett Johansson done up as a modern Marilyn Monroe. Other references included the cotton piqué and cloque influence of Courrèges and Cardin in the 60's, which could be found in collections from Mr. Cole, Ms. Sarafpour and Maria Cornejo, and the jersey wrap dresses of the 70's seen at Esteban Cortazar and Liz McClean.
Added to such bold historical references is the recent undertone of minimalism in fashion. After so much embellishment in the early part of the decade, designers have now turned toward a more somber and neutral palette of black and white, with tonal embroideries that play to a more subtle effect. When executed in a vintage silhouette or fabric, it can run the risk of looking, well, old-fashioned.
"There seems to be a danger in the heavy application of embellishments," said Luca Orlandi after he presented his Luca Luca collection, which included coats embroidered with strawberries. "We all have to learn how to restrain ourselves."
Charles Nolan found as much inspiration in a picture of his grandmother on her wedding day as one he took of a niece on the day of her first Communion, so he cast models from three generations, including his mother, in his show on Monday. The age of the woman he had in mind as he designed was not the point, he said; rather it was the idea of dressing for an occasion in a determined and thoughtful way.
"Right now what we're responding to is more of the unbelievably casual and bohemian way of dressing," Mr. Nolan said. "Everyone is wanting to look tidier and more organized, and this is the next step, less decoration and more refined clothes. It's part of this constant shift where we're living in a world that is messy and sloppy, so we have the urge to tidy it up."
From Ms. Gilhart's perspective, the constant mantra of vintage has itself become dated, so she was glad to see designers working in another direction, even if they are reaching back farther into history.
"It's not so much the 50's, 60's and 70's, but going back to gauzy materials, when things looked antique, rather than from the second half of the last century," she said. "It refers to a historic period, rather than repeating once again, 'I got it at the flea market.' "
But retailers are aware that describing the new look as "old" is not exactly a winning sales formula. "I don't want to say that to the buyers," Ms. Gilhart said. "I want them to be able to think more intelligently about the clothes."
Ronald Frasch, the chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, described the beginnings of the spring look as a cleaned-up "palette cleanser" to the bohemian styles that reached their denouement with this summer's tiered broom skirts.
"There is a degree of classicism coming in fashion that is very nice and very appropriate," Mr. Frasch said. "We saw it in the men's wear that was shown in June, when all the designers were showing a jacket and a collared shirt. It's a really clean look."
But is it old?
"I don't want to say it's an older moment," he said. "It's classic."
[font=Arial, Helvetica, San Serif][size=-1]CAROLINA HERRERA
