12 International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Lacroix:
men are in
merry mix
From Page 11
lapping the torso. Not a straight line —
unless you count pinstripes on a narrow
pantsuit — broke the curving geometry.
But Gigli brought his particular aes-
thetic up-to-date, by fluffing sweaters
with angora, adding Mongolian lamb
fur trims and copper hose with the
thick-heeled pumps.
‘‘Cher Michel Klein’’ is the name of
the designer’s new collection and
whether that is a pun on the French
word for ‘‘expensive’’ or an affirmation
that the French fashion world loves him
‘‘dearly,’’ the clothes were definitely up-
scale. Taking couture and an attenuated
silhouette as his template, Klein sent
out luxurious leather, worked on its
smooth surface, a pale suede trench
CHER MICHEL KLEIN
coat worn in a casual way with jeans.
Bright green and shocking pink fur
boleros and a polka dot coat brightened
the black palette. As the models walked
round ancient cloisters with faux snow
creating a wintry scene, Klein showed a
sense of elegance, romanced with his
use of satin, cashmere, lace and fur. It
made a fine collection.
Why is this the fashion season of the
horse? The Ann Demeulemeester col-
lection was filled with equestrian refer-
ences from the jodhpur effects created
by pocket flaps on pants through the
photo prints of gleaming horse flanks
to the tan riding boots.
‘‘I’ve loved horses since I was a child.
I think they are most beautiful anim-
als,’’ said Demeulemeester. ‘‘I particular
like their strength and beauty and the
shine of the skin.’’
In the showroom, the designer ex-
plained how she had treated calfskin to
give it the gleaming of pony and had
softened goatskin, mixed with
cashmere, to create her dramatically
hairy riding gloves. The horse flank
photo prints on simple tops added light
and shade, as did skirts and accessories
made of metallic chains or of se-
quinned metal effects. De-
meulemeester also understands anoth-
er modern trend: morphing. Her riding
coats could be buttoned round the body
as skirts, goatskin capes tied round the
shoulders, or where you will and even if
that creates more visible traps than you
would need to rein in a horse, the de-
signer proved that her aesthetic is trot-
ting ahead.
Suzy Menkes is the fashion editor of
the International Herald Tribune.
S
PUFFA
Junya Watanabe
PANT
S
Louis Vuitton
Click! Trends on demand
By Jessica Michault
PARIS
ith a click of the mouse, the
W once exclusive internation-
al fashion season is now
available to any fashion fan
with Internet access and a desire to surf.
And the trends of the winter 2004 sea-
son are even more visible without the
razzmatazz of the show — its setting,
music and front row buzz .
When the cold weather rolls around
again at the end of the year, there will be
some interesting new additions to a
fashion follower’s wardrobe. The most
noteworthy of these is one of the most
prevalent trends: the cape.
There were short and sweet capelets
like those seen at the Marc Jacobs show
made from fur with velvet bow ties to
help keep out the bitter cold. Casual
capes for everyday like Missoni’s multi-
colored creation worn with hot pants or
Pollini’s high-collar tweed cape that
would work with a favorite pair of jeans.
More sophisticated looks came from
Behnaz Sarafpour with her heather
gray cape edged with a silver coins and
Christian Lacroix’s military style,
knee-grazing cape for Pucci in black. It
perfectly offset the famous prints peek-
ing through on the arms of a long sleeve
top. Even Marni’s retro 1950s inspired
fur capes looked modern when matched
with chiffon dresses and waists
wrapped in an obi sash.
One trend that needs no introduction
is f ur. Over the past few seasons, the fur
revival has been well documented with
the arrival of summer furs and new fur
techniques. Therefore it comes as no
surprise that it dominated the collec-
tions in all four fashion cities. But the
use of fur ran the gamut from subtle —
as seen at the Carolina Herrera show
where fur was used to create a textured
front to a familiar white shirt; to Gucci’s
poison green fox wrap that was nothing
if not a show stopper. In between there
were fur collars, cuffs, scarves, shoes
and bags that all prove the once ban-
ished pelts are back in from the cold.
FASHION
TWEE
DS
Versace
BOYS
Valentino
For those who don’t do fur — not to
worry: puffa jackets were still a popu-
lar choice at Stella McCartney. Her
earth-tone, down-filled coats looked
like they had just been swiped off the
bed and cinched at the waist with a belt
(another big trend). Or for a more color-
ful choice go with Junya Watanabe’s to-
mato-red duffel jacket.
Another usual suspect on the run-
ways was tweed. It was sexy at Julien
Macdonald, whose black leather inserts
emphasizing the curves of the body and
Versace’s canary yellow oversized
houndstooth jackets gave a modern
twist to the traditional fabric. But tweed
was also shown in a refined old school
style on tailored jackets at Nicole Farhi
and easy coats at Perry Ellis. At Chanel
the ubiquitous nubby tweed was worn
from head to toe and Dolce & Gabanna
dressed their tweed up with a jeweled
trim and oversized buttons.
Velvet was another favorite fabric for
designers. A striking contrast to the tex-
ture of tweed, the smooth look of velvet
was used to great effect to warm up slip
dresses like the ones seen at Betty Jack-
son and Cacharel. The plush cotton vel-
vet cranberry red dress by Anna Sui and
the golden boat neck velvet dress by
Derek Lam were both winners. One of
the most memorable uses of velvet this
season was on the Hermès runway
where Jean Paul Gaultier used the
devoré technique to create the Hermès
logo on the back of an oversized red vel-
vet track jacket.
The rage for pattern and print took
an interesting turn this season with the
use of piping and contrasting colors and
fabrics to create an unusual and graphic
alternative. For example Narciso
Rodriguez used differently textured
fabrics to create intriguing sporty jack-
ets and piping to outline a silhouette.
Olivier Theyskens at Rochas was also in
fine form, using tulle to hold together
panels of a jacket giving it the appear-
ance of a moving blueprint for an unfin-
ished work.
And Stella McCartney snaked differ-
ent colored silk slices down the fronts
*
PATTE
RN S
TS
VELVE
Anna Sui Hermes Stella McCartney
BOWS
Emanuel Ungaro
Photos by Christopher Moore/Andrew Thomas
of otherwise straight forward dresses.
A surprising trend for the fall/winter
season is cropped pants. They were
wide legged at Catherine Malandrino
and Giorgio Armani. At Chloé they
came down the runways with buttoned
cuffs, at Céline it was a retro Audrey
Hepburn moment and at Louis Vuitton,
they appeared as velvet knickerbockers.
FURS
Not the most flattering style for most
women, this trend will at least give a
pair of fabulous boots or spiky heels
center stage.
This ready-to-wear season also saw
the return of mannish tailoring that
will have women getting in touch with
their inner male. A number of shows
had men walking down runways nor-
mally dedicated to womenswear. But
more importantly, it had women taking
their cues from what their boyfriends
have hanging in the closet. At Balen-
ciaga, men and women wore almost
identical outfits deliberately blurring Gucci
the genders. At Comme des Garçons
there were pinstriped suits and tails —
while the remains of a red-lipped kiss
on the mouths of the models added to
the ambiguity. And it looks like a wom-
an will have to add a man’s necktie to
her wardrobe. Made popular by singer CAPES
Avril Lavigne, ties warmed the necks at
Valentino, Paul Smith woman, and La-
gerfeld Gallery.
For the woman who wants to keep
the lines between the sexes clear, all she
will have to do is tie them up in a bow. A
popular trend last season, bows have
their place in the dark days of winter.
Emanuel Ungaro had them em-
broidered on dresses. Marc Jacobs used
black velvet bows to draw the eye to the
waist of his form-fitting sweaters. At
Lanvin a pink silk bow tied at the back
of a deceptively simple black dress was
both feminine and sexy.
So for those who want to get a jump
on next season’s fashion, log onto the
internet and use thumbnail images to
imprint your own style.
Jessica Michault is on the staff of the
International Herald Tribune. Mi ssoni Pollini
www.gucci.com