Colors, catsuits and conservative cuts. This is fall's fashion
message.
Not all three together, but combinations are strong for the new
season. Especially worth noting are colors offered in strikingly bright
contrasts as part of the same garment or else as layered separates and the bold
plaids and checks that seem never to go out of style.
Standouts for the
new season are:
* Jackets worn alone as a dress or coat or else worn
with a short skirt or shorts.
* The catsuit - in previous fashion years
known as the bodysuit or unitard - is teamed with a jacket.
Dresses at
night are a little slip of nothing worn with heavy bracelets or long earrings to
personalize the classic look.
The fun of these clothes is seeing how
familiar shapes and fabrics are used in fresh ways: Blankets become coats,
sweaters become dresses; parkas become evening coats - latex
underwear or just as easily a raincoat of black quilted velvet.
The
exotica revealed in the spring's American and European designer collections is
refined in the manufacturing process to be palatable for practical
Americans.
Few famous names revealed any revolutionary design ideas:
There was more a revival of the old than stirrings of the new. But for the
women who can afford them, the fabrics and cut of the clothes are outstanding
and luscious.
There is the usual sentimental journey among designers
such as Ralph Lauren who rely on old West, Americana, and American Indian
themes.
With retail sales in turmoil, U.S. designers are playing it
safe and sane - and salable. At home, the conservatively tailored jacket is
paramount, with color the chief surprise. The pairings can be pink and red,
brown and green, gold and black.
Traditional fall colors return to match
leaves on the trees, but there is also an ample supply of red and black - and
camel.
Maybe buyers and shoppers don't trust innovation. There is more
nostalgia than usual.
The surprises are the accessories, such as the
colorful gloves worn by the models when the clothes debuted in the spring. They
may speak for nostalgia or be the harbinger of a trend.
KARL Lagerfeld, the creator of the high-fashion catsuit, has now cast it
in bronze and gold. At the show of his own-label line in Paris yesterday, he set
out to prove that a woman can wear anything, however
skimpy and sheer, as
long as it is slipped over a second skin of metallic gold.
From the
first colourful coats that reverse from shocking pink to red or red to yellow,
through to the gossamer drapes of black chiffon for evening, the new Lagerfeld
line is worn over high-necked or low-scooped catsuits that look as though every
curve of the body is painted in metallic bronze, silver or gold. The theme music
was, latex
uniforms, of course, from the James Bond film Goldfinger.
As well as
being a prolific and talented designer, Karl Lagerfeld is a masterly showman. He
has already rejuvenated the classic Chanel jacket by dispensing with the
matching skirt and showing it worn over leggings alone. The theatrical impact of
his shimmering Goldfinger catsuits is not lost on the designer, who has been
working concurrently on more than 100 costumes for the Puccini opera La Rondine
(The Swallow), which opens in Monte Carlo on Wednesday.
However, there is
more to the new Lagerfeld collection than just gold bodysuits. His new curvy
jackets are worn over skirts slit at the sides. Jackets that come with three
pairs of pockets or two sets of lapels seem typical of a designer whose life and
work is conducted at high speed and encompasses many collections each year for
three big fashion labels: his own, Chanel and Fendi in Rome.
On a trip to Paris a year ago, Neiman Marcus buyer Barbara Stanfield
discovered a cache of high fashion in latex clothing. No, it was not the latest
sexy rubber catsuit from Karl Lagerfeld. These bulbous pots and vessels are the
latest innovations from a French design collaborative called "O." Creators
Francis Fevre and Charlotte Arnal reinterpret familiar containers in unexpected
materials such as lowly Rubber latex
tops, concrete and stone. The collection includes rounded vases and trash
cans shaped like garden gourds . This spring, Neimans will carry a selection in
matte white.
"They're the first people I've seen in decorative arts doing
real 20th-century things," says Stanfield, who buys gifts for 27 Neiman Marcus
stores. She hails the "O" line as being design oriented as well as affordable.
"Most people keep going back to the classics rather than looking forward. This
is a fresh approach."
As 'chameleon,' phillips is ready for tight spotThe
things actors go through for a role.
Take actress Bobbie Phillips, for
example. For her leading part in UPN's movie "Chameleon III," Phillips had to be
doused with powder and have the help of a wardrobe consultant just to get on the
rubber catsuit she wears throughout the project.
"We had to take it off
during lunch; it's that fitted," Phillips said. "I would literally lose a pound
a day, a pile of water would just drain out when we were done. it was
disgusting. it was awful. But it looks great once it's on."
Phillips, who
appeared as a recurring character on ABC's "Two Guys and A Girl" this season, is
finding the "Chameleon" role hard to shake. The movie series is built around her
chameleon-like agent at the futuristic International Bureau of Investigation.
She's a gun-toting, motorcycle-riding crimefighter who has captured the hearts
of UPN's primarily male audience.
Both "Chameleon" and "Chameleon II" did
well for UPN in the Nielsen department, although Phillips wasn't very happy with
the way the second installment turned out. In fact, she nearly didn't return for
a third go-round."Even with the problems of the second one, I think everyone
still realized, 'Look, this is one of those things that happen. Let's not throw
out the baby with the bathwater.' "
Despite her reservations about the second
movie, Phillips said tonight's show returns to the original concept."It's got a
really great look and, as far as storywise, I think it has a nice mix, a few
comedic moments and some intrigue," she said.
Phillips' character is a mix of
ruggedness with a dose of sexy, as borne out by the skintight uniform. Like the
earlier shows, there is a love scene, though one dramatically toned down from
the eye-popping bedrumble of "Chameleon II."
"I know we want it to be sexy,
but I don't want it to be the Spice Channel," she said. "The catsuit is made out
of Rubber clothing and latex clothing. I've also got the gun belt. But I don't
have my breasts hiked up to my chin. It's still becoming, but not over the
top."It's definitely sexy, but it's not to the point where kids can't watch,"
she added. "Hopefully, it will appeal to a wide range of people."
And should
tonight's telecast do well in the Nielsen department, there's been some
preliminary talk of turning the "Chameleon" franchise into a series."I would
love more than anything for 'Chamelon' to go to series," she said.
WHAT will it be for you madam? A Finnish opera coat in loft insulation
fabric? Or perhaps a flared latex catsuit and parasol made from string sat-suma
bags?
Such was the level of wrong-headedness at last night's Smirnoff
International Fashion Awards, where 28 students were competing for the world
title.
The winners of national competitions were gathered at the
Business Design Centre in N1 to show off their "decadent" designs for the new
millennium. In Croatia, decadence is a bilious yellow skirt hanging with fresh
slabs of steak; in Canada, it's a velvet stole that makes the model look as
though she has been engulfed by a mutant slug. The winners, however, shone out.
Third prize went to John Boddy of England for his slick designs; second was won
by Bulgaria's Tatiana Popova, whose Lurex mini-dresses won the admiration of the
judges,pvc
dress, including Alexander McQueen, Nicole Farhi and Antonio
Berardi.
The winner was in a class of his own. Declan Kearney of
Northern Ireland produced two delicately wrought dresses of fine black leather.
For his decadent work, Kearney won £10,000 and a bursary to study for an MA at
Central Saint Martins College.
Blonde babe Pamela Anderson has always been up front about where her
talents lie.
And now the former Baywatch star is trying to boost her
career by boosting her boobs - again.
Pam looked as if she had gone up
a good few bra sizes when she appeared in a bright pink figure-hugging catsuit
during filming of her new television series, VIP.
In the show due to be
shown in Britain later this year, she plays a Jaguar- driving private eye going
undercover to crack crime in Los Angeles.
So if the latex catsuit is her
idea of going under cover - what's she going to do to get noticed?
One
possibility was the T-shirt she was wearing when she stopped off in London
yesterday.
The word "Girl" was emblazoned across her expanding chest -
as if anyone was in any doubt about her gender.
Pamela stepped from her
Virgin Atlantic flight in the middle of a group of half a dozen minders and
assistants.
Wearing tight blue jeans, she said she didn't plan to stay
for long. She added: "I'm on my way to Germany. I'm going to launch my new TV
show, VIP."
At Heathrow, the airline naturally made sure Pamela received
VIP treatment. She was escorted from the jet to a luxury lounge, where she
waited for her onward flight.
The star stayed silent about estranged
husband Tommy Lee, latex
stockings, who was released this week after being jailed for battering her.
But she said recently she still loves him.
Pamela was travelling without
children Brandon and baby Dylan.
But luckily, she showed off her other
two prize assets.