Four designers with totally different fashion attitudes closed the fall collections here last week with some knockout clothes for women who have perfect bodies.
For inspiration, Bob Mackie looked to Davy Crockett and John Philip Sousa and all manner of Americana, Isaac Mizrahi thought about Imperial China and ice cream vendors, Geoffrey Beene went back to his archives and Donna Karan went on a diet.
Each did make a few things that will fit women other than models, but the best from each is destined for the reed-thin with great legs.
Mackie, probably best known for the glamor wardrobes and wispy nothings he has designed for Cher, will certainly become America`s fashion folk hero with his collection that was inspired by an exhibit of American folk art at the New York Historical Society.
The results? Fun things like Davy Crockett hats and feathered headdresses, drum majorette dresses and a bevy of black dresses with American- eagle-embroidered bodices that didn`t look kitschy. Mackie`s show-the best for pure theater, music and upbeat mood-also did score with some real clothes: wonderful patchwork patterns inspired by Amish quilts, appliqued in greens and caramels and burgundy on black dresses and coats; and sleek white suits or black dresses with discreet feather beading, just one or two feathers at a time.
Since Mackie knows more than most designers about hiding faults and bringing out the best of a woman`s body, even some of his skinniest things could work magic on normal figures. Chicagoans will get a first chance to see his historic collection on May 23 when Saks Fifth Avenue hosts a benefit with Mackie in attendance at the Chicago Hilton and Towers.
Mizrahi, who makes great big coats and easy jackets, turned out the shortest skirts of the season, about as big as a fingertip towel wrapped around the waist and buttoned at the side, exposing a great deal of hip, covered by `60s white bodysuits with back seams.
His colors were the brightest, lightest and most mixed, teaming Creamsicle and raspberry ice and blueberry ice cream shades, all types of pinks and reds. He did great ombre coats, with the greenish blues deepening from top to bottom, and then used some of the same type of fabric-subtly striped and ranging from light to dark in the brown to rust family-for some of his men`s jackets.
His first collection for men reflects some of his own tastes-drawstring pajama pants, square oversized jackets-but also included quilted skinny jeans in a silk foulard, a brocade jacket with skinny gray pants and a pale lavender alpaca jacket, which may be a bit too forward for most men.
Mizrahi closed his show with Mandarin-inspired coats in deep red ottoman, worn over bouffant full, long skirts in a range of bronze to red iridescent taffeta. The skirts had a `50s prom feel; the coats will make wonderful evening wraps.
Much of what Geoffrey Beene does for evening will require a certain dash to carry off: his usual array of cutout and backless dresses, skinny black gowns with turquoise or green long apron effects, plus long pyramid dresses that flow out from small shoulders to form a triangle.
His tiny jackets that just cover the shoulders, his impeccably cut jumpsuits, his long zip-front jackets and almost-nothing skirts will delight his fans, as well as the audience that will see the collection early next September when Marshall Field & Co. brings Beene and his clothes to Chicago.
Like Beene, who concentrated on black and favored neutrals, Donna Karan closed with a black finale that included velvet leggings, unitards and bodysuits that put an emphasis on long, lean bodies. The reason was obvious when a newly svelte Karan, with hair shorn as well, took her bows in skinny basic black.
Her collection is in anthracite, steel, oyster, smoke, espresso, tortoise and sienna, which means it`s in neutrals ranging from gray to ivory and on to brown and black. She concedes to color only with a few coats in garnet.
Karan`s terrific pieces include a grooved sheared mink anorak and scarf that look like really lush corduroy; a circular coat with a cape collar that resembles a double cape; alpaca blazers that reach to mid-thigh; and ”dance dresses,” with short dirndl skirts that look adorable, but very young.
Word was going around that Ivana Trump may join the designer lineup one of these days. A spokesman verified that Trump has indeed been approached by a major international licensing company to do whatever she would like to do. As a first venture as early as 1992, she may come out with some things for the home, because she does consider herself a good hostess, and might do some things a woman would wear at home for entertaining or relaxing. That she would compete with an Ungaro or Lacroix or a De la Renta was said to be unlikely.
”She knows how hard those people work,” said her representative.
