Because Haute Couture is somewhat less driven by direct financial concerns than is Ready-to-Wear, designers have more room to toy with ideas - making it an insightful barometer of which trends have legs.
HAUTE COUTURE: At the recent couture shows, there was a definite feel of girding up for battle, along with a simultaneous vein of escapism. As Neal Gabler pointed out in Life: The Movie – How Entertainment Conquered Reality (Vintage Press), people now act as if their life is a film in which they are starring. So it makes sense that the catwalks reflect this fact, borrowing from various eras of history – Napoleon, the Roman Empire, the Jazz Age – to produce everything a star could need in the way of wardrobe.
The Top 10 Haute Couture Fall 2007 trends:
- Clothing as armour
- Costume history
- Controlled olume
- "Done" hair & makeup
- Defined waist
- Fur
- Ruffles & lace
- Huge heels
- Shades of grey & silver
- Prints & surface embellishment
READY-TO-WEAR: Generous silhouettes engulfed the models in a cozy, protective set of fabric armor. There was also fur, ladylike hats, metallics (still!), crayon-bright colors, prominent prints, slouchy-chic trousers, sky-high heels, and menswear-inspired gray dresses. However, the most interesting trend was a strain of lightweight, seasonless dressing – a parade of diaphanous fabrics, bare limbs, and non-wintery colors. "I couldn't bring myself to do heavy coats and heavy sweaters,” noted Isaac Mizrahi in an interview about his Frozen Spring collection. “Even though there are sweaters and coats in the collection that will keep you warm, I feel like they're year round and seasonless."
New York: Some -60s Space-Age silhouettes and necklines persisted, as did '80s Crayola bright tights, fur and metallics. The predominance of beautiful-to-gorgeous grown-up clothes for ladies was most welcome, as were hats and timeless menswear-chic. Most surprising: seasonless dressing; the conspicuous lack of jewelry.
London: The feeling of clothing as armor (knits like chainmail, Tudoresque puffer jackets), and even a PVC-clad Robocop. Fabric cocoons swaddled, wrapped, and encircled the models. Also: seasonless dressing, along with menswear chic, gray dresses, lipstick red, bold prints, shiny metallics, and large, eyecatching hats and headgear – the more voluminous, the better.
Milan: Fur, fur and more fur, oversized silhouettes, bright hues and prints, menswear-inspired pants and dresses, and seasonless dressing. In marked contrast to the Crayola-bright ruby, cobalt and emerald hues so evident in many collections, Prada helped set a new course with coats missing sleeves, and muted, dip-dyed earth- and fruit-tones.
Paris: La Ville lumière delivered the expected gorgeous theatricality, with interesting presentations, risks in terms of the clothes themselves, and evidence of forward-thinking. Merci, Paree, for putting the fun-fun-fun back in fashion again!
The Top 10 Most Interesting Ready-to-Wear Trends:
- PROTECTION Body Armor & Clothing Cocoons (Paris, London), Oversize Shapes (Milan
- SEASONLESS DRESSING New York, London, Paris, Milan
- BLACK Femme Fatale (New York); Bag Lady Chic (London); High Glam (Milan)
- FUR New York, Milan, Paris
- GRAY DRESSES
- MENSWEAR CHIC Slouchy, Highwaisted Trousers (New York, London, Paris); a la Garbo (Milan)
- METALLICS New York, London, Milan, Paris
- BRIGHT COLORS & PRINTS Crayon hues & wearable prints (New York, Paris); Brash Prints (London); Rainbow bright coats & furs (Milan)
- LADY IN RED Accents of Red (New York); Woman in Red (London, Paris); Sexy, Look-at-Me Red Dresses (Milan)
- HUGE HATS & HEELS Hats & Hair Adornment (New York, London, Paris); Sky-High Heels
Lesley Scott - Fashion & Lifestyle expert Lesley Scott is the New York City-based Editor-in-Chief of the Fashiontribes.com magazines. Her ...
