Limelight:
Hang on to your chiffon
By Lubna Abdel-Aziz
With rollicking spring, jovially rushing in to shed old winter's staid garments, are we well equipped to cope with the long hot summer ahead? An examination of summer's wardrobe is overdue, and there is precious little time to incorporate what is new, what is in, what is fashionable.
Why are we always chasing Fashion, anyway? Is Fashion not: "Folly's child and guide of fools!" Fashion is also modern and flexible and helps us escape from our daily pressures. It is an expression of what we are, how we feel, what we think. We do it with clothes, shoes, hair, make-up, handbag, but most of all, attitude. Fashion helps us make a statement about ourselves. Designers direct and guide us season upon season, and we follow them, often blindly to whichever way their fair winds may blow. Like seer-sayers they read into the future and tell us what we will like and wear six months to a year ahead of time. They present their collections first to the fashion press, store buyers and to the beautiful people of the planet before the rest of us. The press covers the new trends, the buyers order the styles their customers will buy, and the glitterati bent on being trendsetters, lead us cooing into hallowed temples of sumptuous creations concocted for their pleasure by bold designers.
Clothes on the runway seem outrageous -- even alarming. Are we to dress, or undress in such fashion? The runway is only the designer's canvas, background to his artistic expression. Everything is the exaggeration of an idea, a theme, a mood. Once it is filtered down to us, it is greatly modified, retaining the spirit of the creation minus the shocking element. But the fashionable crowd already knew that. A quick review of the fashion has us dancing with glee at the array of vigorous, vibrant, vivacious garments in every colour with a preponderance of white.
If "Black" is king, "White" is queen. It is what makes "a July day short as December". Weary of wars and politically troubled times, Fashion is looking forward to the Olympic Games with a jaunty sporty look full of hopeful, cheerful, jubilant colours. Variations of oyster, shell and cream marry well with orange and pink tones and every shade of yellow from baby lemon to tea and caramel. Purple is making a comeback after a decade of uninterrupted rule throughout the 80s. Florals are always summer desirables from tropical plants to Out of Africa motifs. For those who do not favour carrying gardens on their backs, stripes and geometrics are excellent alternatives.
New York, the first Fashion capital, found Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera and Oscar de la Renta, amongst others, savouring garden perennials from hot lavenders and fresh lilacs to daffodils and marigolds. Their fabric of choice is sexy silk jersey, but body-hugging chiffon floated freely with flair, perfect for those "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer".
In Milan, at Maison Versace flowers were blossoming again over silk chiffons quenched in purple, while the dynamic duo Dolce and Gabbana's blazing golden florals in floor length goddess dresses seem to cry out "Shall we Dance?"
Paris, considered Fashion's royaume, hosted a disappointing season according to critics, who called it "boring". Rumour has it that the venerable House of Chanel is considering showing in New York instead of Paris in the future. Since 50 per cent of its couture customers are in the US, such a move is sure to enhance the cachet of Chanel with all its offshoot items.
There could be no disagreement that Karl Lagerfeld is the current master tailor of the Fashion World. His tasteful and superbly cut "suits" are simply "to die for" by all women from 18 to 80. His dandy chiffon dresses in succulent chocolate, cocoa or orange are given a twist with shoulder straps and waistbands in sparkling shagreen. A raucous John Galliano sported Marlene Dietrich look-alikes in curvy gunmetal satin suits for his Dior summer collection making the glorious 1940s look new again. His signature print chiffon dresses and his best seller swanky Dior bags were crowd pleasers, but his Latino- inspired flamenco flounces stole the show, contrasting strongly with the pervading elegance of Paris.
Nowadays the fashion press is abuzz with last week's exit of designer extraordinaire Tom Ford, after presenting his winter 2004/5 collection for Gucci and YSL Rive Gauche. For the last 13 years Ford has been Glamour's poster boy with his visionary fashions that have literally revolutionised the industry. He has won all the awards available for both men and women's fashions throughout the 1990s. "He has taken Gucci, the 80 year-old Florentine leather goods company from the brink of bankruptcy to the height of success." In ten years Gucci sales have risen tenfold reaching $2.5 billion in 2002. Every season he has the beautiful people at the edge of their seats in anticipation of his Fashion curtain call. So why is Gucci letting him go? It is the new and regrettable trend in Fashion today. Houses owned by èber star designers like Celine, Bill Blass, Givenchy, Chanel, Fendi, Calvin Klein, and Anne Klein etc, are all being designed by others. It all started in 1957 when post-war fashion doyen Christian Dior died suddenly. Until then the death of a designer marked the closing of his fashion house and the end of the line. But Dior's name was so strong that his partners hired Dior's protégé young Yves Saint Laurent to replace him. Saint Laurent was soon called into military service, and on his return opened his own house in 1962. But another fashion trend had started and now cannot be stopped. Corporate businesses and financiers come calling, buying, hiring young artists to design for the big name brands. The customer buys the brand name rather than the designer's creation.
So it was with Tom Ford and Gucci. Born in Austin Texas in 1965, Ford studied design in New York and Paris and after a turn as designer at Perry Ellis, he took over the helm at Gucci in 1990. Indeed his tenure at Gucci paralleled "a decade-long boom for luxury couture", which now grosses over $100 billion in annual sales. Ford lay claim to certain touches that remain classics in Fashion, from the Gucci clog, bamboo bag handle, velvet hip huggers, to the classic loafer, stiletto heel, and slit skirt, Ford has single- handedly revived the Gucci brand and is recognized as the best designer on Planet Fashion with the world now at his feet. Dashingly handsome and dapper "Mr Cool", has not announced any future plans but his calm demeanour and ready smile make him a sure winner wherever the future may take him.
While the powers that be, may have good reason to present next year's styles this year, we find more rhythm in sailing gracefully from season to season. In reviewing some of the coming season's items of fantasy and luxury, dresses of every hue in chiffon prevail. So hang on to your chiffon pieces or acquire one or more in garden colours, stripes or dots. Satin and satin effect finishes are also favoured, making for a sophisticated effect of an elegant fabric.
Dresses are several centimetres above the knee with drop waist-lines and hip stitched pleated skirts set on a basque 1960s style. Devotées of pants do not despair -- skinny and fitted, cropped and Bermudas are preferred over shorts, but do get rid of your cargo pants -- they are trés passé. Chandelier earrings are longer, flashier, and the bigger the better. Handbags are long and narrow in velvet, snakeskin or printed fabric in ice-cream colours and shoes lace up over the ankle to match your dress and handbag.
Whilst " the apparel oft proclaims the man" it is not what we wear that matters but how we wear it. Designers may sell us the clothes but not the style. Style is what refines us.
One's style is one's signature, always!
-- Oscar Wilde
