When the enigmatic and stoic Rei Kawakubo was designing her Comme des Garcons collection for fall ’89, she made a startling discovery: There was a color other than black.
Kawakubo, along with several other Japanese designers who had started showing their fashions in Paris in the early ’80s, had heretofore concentrated almost totally on black.
But in that momentous last year of the ’80s, Kawakubo found red. “Red is black,” she told her acolytes, who went out to spread the gospel that “Red is the new black.”
Since then, fashion pros have-jocularly or seriously-taken liberties with Kawakubo’s statement whenever a particular color gains some importance. This past fall, for example, it was: “Brown is the new black.”
For spring, the message is clearly, singularly and ubiquitously: “White is the new black.”
Even though there are some pastels, even though there are many natural ecru-through-beigey shades, white is by far in the lead (followed by ivory, cream and-Kawakubo’s own favorite-muslin). In Paris and Milan, and especially in New York, designers often opened and closed their spring collections (previewed for press and buyers in October and November) with pure-as-snow angelic babydoll dresses or tailored pantsuits, casual bare midriff tops with shorts or filmy chiffon gowns. Name a trend for the warm months ahead and somebody somewhere has interpreted it in white.
“It’s like starting the year with a clean slate,” says Ultimo’s president, Joan Weinstein. “I adore black, but there’s been just too much of it. After all that black, the purity of white has special appeal.”
Bloomingdale’s senior vice president in charge of fashion direction, Kal Ruttenstein, believes that white was almost inevitable for spring “simply because it’s the opposite of black.”
Ruttenstein thinks that white is the only way to go because “brights don’t look right quite yet.” He believes it’s too soon to return to “the flamboyant colors of the ’80s, which look passe now.” His forecast: White for spring, followed by the beiges and very soft pastels will gradually pave the way for brights, possibly by summer.
Giorgio Armani “had a lot to do with the importance of white,” Ruttenstein adds. “He had major groups for spring in whites and beiges, often mixed together. The looks were extremely sophisticated, very beautiful,” and, he believes, had a great influence on how retailers and other designers reacted to-i.e., accepted-white.
Sarah Davies, corporate fashion director for Nordstrom stores, offers a philosophical bent to the white scene. “Fashion in the ’90s is very reactionary to the ’80s, with its opulence and garish color. Designers reacted with a sea of somber black. Now I believe designers have reacted to the outcry of `too much black’ by presenting a very pure and serene palette-the whites, the parchments and, yet to come, the filtered, faded pales like rose and sage.
“There was a certain spirituality in fall fashion with its minimalism and dark colors. Now, for spring, the mood is peaceful, serene.”
