Women finally are wielding clout with top fashion designers. Instead of inflicting unwearable, unreasonably priced designs on cash-crunched consumers, couturiers instead are responding to women`s needs with practical clothing solutions.
The evidence? The momentum of the back-to-basics approach. Designers such as Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan, Norma Kamali and Michael Kors all have introduced their versions of wardrobe building blocks with varying prices.
For instance, Armani A/X stores now offer casual sportswear for under $100, while this year Donna Karan introduced Essentials, a greatest-hits offshoot of her pricey signature collection.
”Tough economic times are causing designers to re-evaluate the way they present fashion,” explains Norma Kamali, whose new line of sportswear basics includes white shirts, bodysuits, jumpsuits and simple dresses and sells for about half the price of her signature line.
”Women care about quality for a price,” she says. ”They want their clothes to be good investments, to be worth it. That`s the bottom line.”
Allison Lurie, author of ”The Language of Clothes” (Random House, $13.95), says women also feel more secure in classic styles during an economic recession. ”There`s less disposable income to buy frivolous pieces. Clothes like those of Ralph Lauren are classic and secure.”
The advantage of buying a designer`s version of a basic is that no matter how fundamental, it will never be ho hum.
”Essentials is a very personal collection for me,” explains Karan.
”These are the pieces I live in and always need to replenish.”
Her line includes jackets, pants, bodysuits and even jewelry, scarves and totes. ”They`re the items my customer has come to rely on, season after season, year after year,” she says. ”They`re like old friends.”
At the forefront of the basics idea was Ralph Lauren, who in 1979 introduced his Classics line. No matter what Lauren may be sending down the runway in a given season, Classics is the place you`re guaranteed to find a navy blazer, white shirt and gray flannel pants.
The good news is such back-to-basics thinking allows you to pare down your wardrobe to just a few pieces that go a long way, much the way Parisian women have been doing for years. But the trick lies in developing a sure-fire strategy to make it work as a stylish whole.
For example, Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, has built her own wardrobe around the color black, a favorite among many fashion executives. ”It`s the most sophisticated neutral and can go to work and to dinner.”
Kaner also suggests updating basics with one trendy piece per season.
”This fall it`s a vest.”
Cynthia Moody, a New York-based image/fashion specialist, says color is a way to update classics. ”Go forward with color. That could mean anything from a red jacket to hosiery,” she says.
Accessories also individualize and modernize classic styles. Peggy Cone, the founder of New York-based Rare Flair, an image consulting company, suggests that offbeat accents can perk up a simple look.
”For instance, this season consider buying a few menswear touches, such as a tie and suspenders, or try one of the new animal print accessories,”
Cone says.
Kamali says that the one area in which a woman never should think basic is how she puts it together. ”That`s the time to be unorthodox and take a unique approach,” she says. ”Maybe it`s a matter of wearing a classic suit with a platform shoe or a white shirt with a men`s tie. Whatever you come up with, make sure it`s personal and unconventional.”
