Choose sides. The tug of war on the fall/winter ’98 runways is between minimalism and romanticism, between pared-down and gussied up.
Both camps have armories full of such luxe fabrics as cashmere, satin, double-faced wool, matte jersey, beaded chiffon, silk taffeta and hand-painted velvet.
Both sides are firing shots in gray, powder blue and brick red. There are reserves of winter white, taupe and loden green.
And on almost every catwalk are knee-length skirts, ankle-grazing dresses and full, fluid trousers. Melrose Place miniskirts and skinny flat-front trousers from last year are almost gone. Designers are mixing it up, combining their tailored looks with an athletic edge: hooded pullovers, quilted parkas and gauzy T-shirts.
Ralph Lauren is dressier with short, sporty sometimes sweaterlike jackets over long weightless wools or cashmere knits.
“This collection is about purity–clean lines, minimal detail–carried out with a sense of sophistication and romance,” Lauren writes in his program.
This season Susan Lazar joins him on top of the honed-down heap. The former bridge-level designer has upped the stakes with more expensive fabrics that will increase her prices to the designer-collection level this fall. She showed cashmere crewnecks over angora pants and skirts; long pleated wool wrap skirts with eight-ply cashmere funnel-neck tops and wool jersey crepe dresses with high cowls.
Randolph Duke for Halston is also looking toward expanding his stores for the future. For the first time, he showed daywear on the runway in a blockbuster show previously known for long, lean eveningwear looks. This time there were hooded cashmere sweaters with matching skirts and double-face wool suits with chiffon tops or cashmere T-shirts cut on the bias. Then Duke hunkered down with the Halston signature evening wear: silk chiffon beaded gowns, a mink sweatshirt over a cashmere skirt and wool jersey dresses and gowns.
Going instead for ornamentation, puckered fabrics and gathers with plenty of jewelry and accessories were younger guns such as Cynthia Rowley, Anna Sui, the design duo of Badgley Mischka, Carmen Marc Valvo and Nicole Miller.
Miller put leopard-print pumps and handbags with her paprika-hued sheath dresses, pantsuits and bustiers. Inspired by the hues of Morocco, Miller dipped her palette in cinnamon, sandalwood, copper, olive, cobalt and the omnipresent gray. But it was her grape heather leopard fitted suits and dresses that rocked.
Rock music has always been the muse for designer Anna Sui. This time Sui seemed to prefer a storybook fantasy world with richly embroidered vests trimmed in faux fur over stained-glass print tops and studded skirts. Heady stuff, but the velvet dresses at the end of the show were more approachable.
Carmen Marc Valvo also hit the velvet hard. Valvo has always turned out elegant and romantic collections–usually with a little beading and a lot of lace. This time he was inspired by the pre-Raphaelite movement.
And if you want something jazzier, there were chain-mail lace “Jean d’Arc” gowns, copper chain-mail cocktail dresses and black beaded lace surcoats with moire pants.
Cynthia Rowley continues to dip heavily in the romance well with her ladylike, but thoroughly modern, collection of cardigans, pleated skirts and coats with magnetic closures. Rowley’s other winners included a Teflon long skirt with a gray cashmere twin set and a sleeveless knit dress made of patches. There were, of course, those beaded silk chiffon or tulle evening dresses with embroidery or tiny pompoms.
The Oscars’ favorite design team of Badgley Mischka had no time for such confections. They opened with ’40s-inspired herringbone suits before moving into the silk georgette gowns with metallic-colored glass beading and pleated lace cocktail dresses. The cashmere sweaters paired with satin evening pants looked new on their runway.
Of course, there are collections that do not easily fit into any fashion front. Among them are Daryl K’s body-conscious wool/cashmere pantsuits or moleskin jackets and work pants. There were also leather wraparound skirts over tight, tight boot-cut pants before the show settled into stretchy nylon ski pants and bomber jackets in black — sometimes with a slash of red or purple across the chest.
Norma Kamali’s line, shown on mannequins in her West 56th Street store, defied categorization. The colors were mostly taupes, grays, turquoise with a mustard or pink wool coat peaking out here and there from the sea of black dresses and suits. They were cut with such dramatic flourishes as high collars, ruched and gathered skirts, cascading back detail on long dresses that resembled a Victorian bustle. Bold colors and patterns would have made the collection overwrought, but this luxe collection was anything but minimal.
