The weeklong American Spring 1994 fashion collections ended here Friday the way they began-with the sound workmanship and light touch of designer Donna Karan.
During the week, in what generally shaped up as an Emperor’s-New-Clothes kind of season, a lot of what passed for clothes came down the runways under the two, big-top tents pitched in Bryant Park. Much of the action involved a near-criminal abuse of chiffon, a delicate fabric many designers were inspired to pervert into obscenely juvenile, baby doll looks, cut to skimpy lengths and to ridiculously transparent effect.
No one may ever know who told designers that women want to look like semi-naked Lolitas, but fortunately, not all of them listened.
Karan, whose solid, secondary DKNY line kicked off the week Sunday, was one of those who turned a deaf ear and, again, heard nothing but applause after the presentation of her higher-priced, signature collection Friday.
Karan has seen the light-and so did everyone in her audience, including actors Barbra Streisand, Matt Dillon and Ben Gazzara, thanks to the miners’ headlamps provided on each seat. When trained on the runway in Karan’s opening segment, the lights proved that the clothes did indeed glow in the dark.
The point was energy and Karan showed plenty of it. Using subtly reflective fiberglass-coated fabrics and metallic knits, she put together an inventive collection of highly wearable, elegantly-cut clothes that offered a clean, classy, futuristic lightness-and no cheap peek-a-boo.
Tones of soft silver, white, sand, steel, navy and moonstone combined in long, tissue-weight, wool jackets over short wrap skirts or easy pants; breezy silk taffeta trenchcoats; simple matte jersey tankdresses and long, slinky evening dresses in molten satin. Shimmery metallic Lycra tank or racerback-style bodysuits provided the streamlined base for a collection that defined millenium dressing.
Calvin Klein has a quite different vision of the future: one that is austere, languid and cloaked in droopy layers of murky chiffon. It takes a lot to make some of the top models in the world look less than attractive, but somehow the collection Klein showed Friday managed to make them look more like scrubbed recruits into some Zen-like monastery.
Some of the pieces were classic Klein-a shapely ecru linen jacket over a short, flirty skirt or a delicate morning glory print on a long, silk georgette dress. But they were far outnumbered by long, sheer chiffon and gauze shirts hanging out under jackets, sack-like dresses and endless, multiple layers of chiffon tank tops that looked more sloppy than modest.
When it comes to real clothes for real, albeit well-heeled, people, Ralph Lauren stands and delivers. At his show Wednesday, he deftly dished up a spiffy, new, secondary line called Ralph; a dashing capsule of his Polo Sport collection, and his full spring signature line in a three-point tour de force that practically brought the tent down.
All about casual looks, the new Ralph label offers zesty separates, like cream wool crepe suspendered pants, silk T-shirts, cropped sweaters and pinstriped miniskirts, to retail from about $100 to $400.
If Ralph romps, the Ralph Lauren spring collection smolders with simple, sexy styles inspired by colonial Indochina. Done in pale, rice paddy greens and shades of blue, rose and bamboo brown, the collection revolves around loose, washed silk pajama pants; long, narrow, side-slit tunics; long, fitted military-style jackets; short, wrapped skirts and long sarongs.
Isaac Mizrahi went short on the visual gags this season and long on whimsically wearable clothes.
In a tribute to pop Americana, he paid exuberant homage to sharp, glen plaid pantsuits, snappy yellow rainslickers and linen jackets over short matching dresses in country club pastels.
