Tent commandments
The rules for fall 2007: grounded, practical, sturdy, cut from wools, demure, subversively sexy, bows at the neck, boxy cropped jackets, Peter Pan collars, pants with primness.
NEW YORK -- Let the 20-year-olds wear skinny jeans with '80s-reprise accessories, next fall. For the rest of us, there is a far more comfortable and forgiving wardrobe staple on the horizon: dresses.
"The success of the dress is that it's not one style," Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus's fashion director, said after viewing the Halston- and Norell-inspired Bill Blass show. "Designers are addressing various women's body types."
One of the more dominant shapes remains the tent variety. (Do we call those who wear them trapeze artists?) But the look, inspired by Twiggy's mod frocks, is surprisingly grounded and practical, especially for 9-to-5ers, once production adjusts some of the more exaggerated short lengths from runway to real life.
Cue the Diane von Furstenberg tape. Granted, dresses are her signature, but during her 46-look show Sunday during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, all were dresses and skirts, and all of them above the knee except for one.
Although fashion silhouettes have been moving away from the body for several seasons, pairing billowy tops with leggings or impossibly cut denim, the story changes slightly for fall. While volume remains a strong trend, the overall look is less flowy, more elegantly sturdy and refined. The import of dresses, no matter how short and stiff they may be, is made clear by how heavy they look -- and certainly must feel -- cut from wools and felts that have a body all their own. Like armor. The concept crystallized at the Carolina Herrera show Monday, where the clothes had the same rigidity and shine as the Botoxed foreheads of the socialites rimming the runway on folding chairs.
And yet, despite the mini lengths, there is also an emerging demureness to fashion, as if plunging necklines and low-waisted jeans were flushed away with the popularity of Britney Spears, who was responsible for making the trashy looks mainstream so many babies ago. (Clearly, she's been too busy buying underwear to read the memo: She wore a slinky slip dress to the Baby Phat show Friday.)
But because thick black tights are in again, it doesn't matter that dresses hit above the knee, there's no skin showing. The idea is subversively sexy, in the same way a Geisha, enveloped in long layers of silk, could tease with the slightest exposure of her milky wrist. It's all about the mystery, what lurks beneath the tent dress, the master of disguise for bodily imperfections.
However, there were plenty of other means to achieve the quirky school marm look: blouses tied with big bows at the neck (careful, very Mrs. Doubtfire on the wrong person); boxy cropped jackets (Phillip Lim's were especially wearable); and Peter Pan collars (a la DKNY). At Chaiken Tuesday, the designers used little Victorian-type buttons all the way up the front of shirts, and all the way down the back of skirts. Some designers (Generra) were even bold enough -- misguided, actually -- as to offer up pinafores and jumpers. It's like Catholic school all over again.
At Marc Jacobs Monday night that demureness and tank-like construction were evident, but in a very different way. His was the first collection all week that hinged on pants, an interpretation of Yves Saint Laurent's original smoking jackets and trousers, combined with the flapper-era styles from when ladies first dared to ditch dresses for menswear. It is a concept that seemed apropos given what Jacobs's peers were showing under the tents in Bryant Park.
In one cheeky look, Jacobs printed on a blue matte jersey cape the image of a white hand holding a cigarette. Throughout the gender-bending show -- set against disproportionately enormous salon doors that looked as if Philippe Starck had designed them for a Parisian apartment -- the pants were long, the necklines high, the buttoned-up collar points sharp. And to hammer home the refined quality, Jacobs accessorized with suede gloves, knit cloches, fedoras, satin spectator pumps, hand-oiled oxfords, spat boots, and opulent bags made from a full range of zoo animals: ostrich, crocodile, mink, and python.
Like magic (or perhaps smoke and mirrors?) it was enough to make you forget all the dresses. 