Ms. Horyn weighs in on FW08 Collections (Faust's comments included)
Paris
WHENEVER Nicolas Ghesquiere,
the designer of Balenciaga, presents a collection, fashion writers and
buyers always seem to fall into a swoon ? myself included. It has
happened three or four times in the last few years that a new language
was born. Or so we declared in so many words. People left the little
showroom on the Rue Cassette ? on Tuesday morning a light rain fell ?
feeling they had again witnessed history. [yea, seriously, get over him already, he's not that talented, and the collection wasn't that good]
In truth, of course, they had witnessed nothing revolutionary. The
history of Balenciaga, which opened its doors before World War II, is
made up of a thousand such moments. Old-timers will tell you so. The
story may be apocryphal, but when Diana Vreeland showed up at the house
in the 1960s for a photo shoot with the model Penelope Tree, Cristobal
Balenciaga sent them away. He didn?t want his clothes photographed on a
Mod child, even a pedigreed one. Such a gesture of refusal seems
completely foreign by today?s celebrity-rule standards, and therefore
radical.
Mr. Ghesquiere holds our attention because his clothes are
independent of whatever else is happening in fashion. In materials,
technique, proportion and mystery of design, his clothes are the most
interesting of his generation. There is no
mystery at Viktor & Rolf, where on Tuesday, Viktor Horsting and
Rolf Snoeren embedded in block letters the words ?No? and ?Dream? into
wool coats and tops so that they appeared to leap off the models?
chests like the raging heart of a cartoon figure.
But what had the designers really accomplished? As much as they were
saying no to the crassness of the world, they were adding to its noise,
and the clothes ? the jackets punched with staples, the ballooning silk
dresses with pleated knees ? were not very good anyway.
If there is outrage left in Jean Paul Gaultier,
the one-time enfant terrible, it has been vastly qualified by
commercial success. He obviously has no ethical feelings about using
fur, since he made it the theme of his collection on Tuesday night,
complete with animal prints and the stray, disquieting ?baas? of lambs
on the soundtrack. But it is even more puzzling that someone of his
talent doesn?t question whether this approach is old-fashioned. The fur
did little to hide the fact that we?ve seen many of the looks before. [so it was real. jeebus[70] ]
The difference at Balenciaga is excitement, and it comes from
watching a designer not merely push himself in new directions but also
attempt to seek more clarity, more preciseness. How many designers have
tried to replicate the finesse and austerity of late-?50s couture,
using the chic black dress, without asking what is needed to relate the
style to today?
Mr. Ghesquiere?s opening threesome of black dresses were done in
stiff wool crepe or gabardine, yet they looked light. They were cut
close to the body, with sleeves whittled down to armbands that gave the
dresses an erotic edge, yet they were wearable. They looked chic, but
more than that, you sensed an energy, and it was supplied by treating
the couture fabrics and the drapery with a vigor and lightness of hand
rather than reverence.
This was Mr. Ghesquiere?s approach throughout the collection. ?Even
though the fabrics look quite heavy, I wanted everything to be light,?
he said afterward. Patent-leather coats in shades of chocolate and
burgundy were unlined, their glossy surfaces evoking his interest in
futuristic materials.
Yet, when you think of his previous efforts to combine Balenciaga
references, like the sack dress or the barrel coat, with
science-fiction fantasies, this collection seemed more mature. The fit
and variety of the clothes also made them more inclusive than the last
few collections. There were round-shoulder jackets in men?s wear tweeds
layered over vests and shown with laser-sharp skirts, and beautiful
sleeveless tops made from randomly pressing lengths of velvet against
satin, in colors like robin?s-egg blue and golden yellow.
At the end of the show, Mr. Ghesquiere sent out dresses in
hand-painted and embroidered latex, the floral patterns as classic as a
Spanish wallpaper print. Latex was once the domain of Mr. Gaultier and
other mavericks eager to challenge taboos; noble decoration was for
couturiers.
If Mr. Ghesquiere?s clothes look incredibly light this season in
spirit as well as construction, it may because he is not burdened by
anyone?s preconceptions about modern fashion, least of all his own.
Sex must be in the air. Rei Kawakubo?s
look through the boudoir keyhole was witty and informed. In a Comme des
Garçons collection on Tuesday that included rounded coats ventilated
with lip-shaped openings and lots of frilly garter straps crisscrossing
bare backs, Ms. Kawakubo surprised even as she agitated. Chaste white
shirts served as a foil for glen plaid jackets reduced to a lapel
section or a sleeve and then harnessed tightly to the body with straps.
Alone, the stripped-down jackets were fantastic.
The bondage references were generally funny and subtle, as though
Ms. Kawakubo was commenting on how deviant sexual tastes have merged
with a mass Valentine-box cheesiness. That was registered in frothy red
tulle skirts and Mary Janes with gold chain straps. The ruffled-edged
lips on pink and black coats gave the show a Surrealist touch, yet,
with white satin bras strapped on some of the tops (their cups, oops,
slightly dented), it was hard to suppress the thought that Ms. Kawakubo
was mimicking designers who imitate her.
Comme des Garçons? other designers, Junya Watanabe
and Tao Kurihara, also showed on Tuesday. Ms. Kurihara, whose
collection is called Tao, concentrated on knits and voluminous, playful
shapes. Daisy loops were embroidered on sheer skirts and sweaters,
their sleeves extra long; they looked delicately unfinished, with
plaits of yarn running through them.
Despite the sweet palette and childish collages, Ms. Kurihara?s
knits suggest an older, knowing hand. She gets the results she wants.
Mr. Watanabe is famous in fashion circles for saying little ? and
sometimes saying too much with his collections. He has done punk and
hip, dandy tailoring, garden prints and Chanel homages. Yet when he
restricts himself to a simple idea, he is dynamic. He showed dozens of
ways of draping plain black and charcoal jersey, reinforcing the notion
of silhouette with geometrical headpieces that were covered (along with
the models? faces) by tight black cloth.
It was an amazing performance, and though Mr. Watanabe also showed
strong tailored pieces, like cape-back jackets over long skirts that
ended at the ankles with trouser legs, the draping said all he needed
to say. [which was what?]
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