FASHION: 02 October

Viktor and Rolf cater to glamour world, high street
Want to buy glamorous attire from a luxury store or rather get it off the high street? Fans of Dutch duo Viktor and Rolf can have it both ways this autumn.  The twin-like designers presented a luxurious collection for well-heeled shoppers on Monday, just weeks before their more affordable line for fashion giant H&M hits the stores.  Putting on a ballroom-inspired show, the flamboyant duo made clear their cooperation with the Swedish retailer would not reduce the glamorous and luxurious attire of their main line.  With chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and front-row guests sipping champagne, Viktor and Rolf paraded out models in tight transparent tops and star-embroidered shorts to the sounds of an orchestra.  “We are die-hard romantics. But at the same time we are also conceptualists. So we wanted to do something light and entertaining. That’s how we came to think of ballroom dancing,” Rolf Snoeren told reporters after the show.  One model wore a trench coat featuring gold-shimmering stars at the waist, flaring out over a wide tutu-style skirt.  The show stayed faithful to the conceptual bent of Viktor and Rolf, who for a decade have delighted the fashion world with catwalk shows bordering on performance arts or theater.  Eight ballroom dancers in tails paired up at the end of the show, swirling over the catwalk underneath a giant disco ball.  “Fashion is more than just a nice dress on a hanger. Fashion is about dreaming,” Viktor Horsting said, wearing similar dark glasses, a black jacket and jeans as his design partner. The duo said they were looking forward to the H&M line coming out. 

MULTITASKING YAMAMOTO

With that cooperation, the two follow in the footsteps of other designers taking on multiple jobs on and off the catwalks.  Germany’s Karl Lagerfeld and Britain’s Stella McCartney also designed lines for H&M and Japan’s Yohji Yamamoto produces outfits for German sportswear maker Adidas under his Y-3 line.  Pierre-Francois Le Louet from trend consultancy Nelly Rodi said there were no risks of devaluing a designer’s main line if the cooperation with the high street store only happened once.  “It’s risky if it’s happening each season, and if the lines are too significant or too creative,” he said. “The essence of a house’s creativity must not be expressed in the second lines.”  Hilary Alexander, fashion editor for the London Daily Telegraph, agreed.  “There are many young women and girls who love what Viktor and Rolf do but who can never afford it,” she said on the sidelines of the show. “I don’t think it is diluting or downgrading their main collection.”  Yamamoto, whose cooperation with Adidas to produce upmarket lifestyle clothes has just been extended until 2010, won much applause for his latest Y-3 collection at New York’s Fashion Week last month.  On Monday, the Japanese designer presented a slick selection of asymmetric women’s suits for his main ready-to-wear line.  “I wanted to make sure that we are elegant and avant-garde,” the soft-spoken designer told Reuters after the show, which saw models strutted out in big-collared jackets or wide-sleeved waistcoats, with apron-style blouses attached.

Martin Margiela: Conceptual with a Twist
An obligatory right of passage for anyone who seriously considers themselves card-carrying fashionistas attended the show by Martin Margiela, who staged his Spring/Summer 2007 collection in Paris Sunday night.  Margiela’s shows are works of performance art, as much designed to dislocate the audience’s sensibilities as it is to present the clothes.  He is one of those designers who exists outside of trends – using non-professional models, bizarre soundtracks and insisting his staff dress like semi-impoverished lab technicians.  Margiela’s big idea this season concerned the flesh, whose color appeared in most looks, including taught tank tops with protective shoulders, the bodice of evening robes with lengthy slits and swimsuits with black bras on the exterior.  His is a fashion conceived in the mind long before it’s drawn on a sketchpad; his clothes, when they work, are Cubist in nature, making you see things in a slightly different way.  Bias cut multi-stripe dresses, one-legged pants, and some great accessories – like see-through plastic boots with Perspex wedges – all looked suitably Margiela, i.e. the familiar with a twist.  Margiela staged his presentation in Paris’ greatest art college, les Beaux Arts, but subverted the Renaissance revival space by installing huge white curtains. These were raised at the finale, as the “models” and staff all came out on the runway drinking champagne from plastic flutes. This collection certainly deserved a toast.

Rick Owens: Polished in the Palais
Rick Owens opened his first European boutique this August and staged his finest show in many seasons this Sunday right, October 1st, outside his cool, new emporium located in Paris’s most beautiful square, le Palais Royal.  Draped lovingly, gathered throughout and twisted appropriately, Owens worked with putty hued chiffon, black silk and sheer white linen to make a collection that was unexpected, arty and very feminine.  Owens’ cleverest look was a series of askew and ever-so asymmetrical white linen tops: cut tight at the arm and flared slightly off the torso, they all looked great, as did some rather odd versions with hoods covering the models’ heads.  Erratically proportioned skirts with delightful folds and bows fashioned clothes that made a statement yet did not overpower those wearing them. Micro-boleros in shrunken leather and long, tentacle wrapped, sleeveless cocktail dresses also stood out in this show, held before scores of idolizing fans, including Lenny Kravitz and Emmanuelle Seigner, dressed in a lengthy arcade on the eastern side of the 18th century square.  After several seasons where Owens’ seemed stuck in a creative rut, over-indulging in gothic futurism, this was a welcome return to form.  “I think maybe I was trying too hard,” Owens told FWD. “But please don’t write that I am picking up Parisian style. I am just a guy from Porterville [California], interpreting Paris as I once saw it in Seventies magazines,” The American designer’s boutique has done great business since opening this summer, selling to many customers unfamiliar with his label. This was a collection that can only be great for business.