FASHION: 04 October

Karl Lagerfeld: The Ties Have It
No one seems 100 percent sure about the future business direction of the house of Karl Lagerfeld, but his collection shown Wednesday in Paris was focused, snappy and really rather elegant.  Combining elements of the Sixties “It” Girl and Eighties Pop with Lagerfeld’s signature expressionist style, this Spring/Summer 2007 collection looked impressive from start to finish.  Echoes of Andy Warhol’s superstar Edie Sedgwick could be picked throughout the show as models appeared with black and turquoise eyeliner, their straight blonde hair fringed and cut to one side, courtesy of Odile Gilbert, the recently anointed Chevalier.  Power shouldered jackets with cathedral high collars and chopped off sleeves joined slinky cocktails cinched at the waist with sleeves belted above the elbow and mannish tuxedo pants with black leather Obi belts all made for authoritative and sexy clothes. A series of shirts with multiple ties also made for great commercial looks in this early morning show staged in the grandiose entrance to the Continent’s greatest University, Le Sorbonne.  Paired with devilishly sexy floral tights, black patent leather heels and, above all, some great glued to the thighs jeans, it all made for a cool fashion moment.  For evening, not all the ruffled faded violet chiffon robes worked and seemed out of step with the rest of the austere silhouettes.  As it’s well known, the new management at KL’s parent company, Tommy Hilfiger, closed down the brand’s New York office this summer and moved it in Paris, raising many unanswered questions about future direction for this fashion label.  “Let’s see how this collection does,” replied Michael Arts, a key member of the Hilfiger management buy-out, when asked about the company’s future plans. “We want to center Lagerfeld in Europe, where we think there is great potential, especially in things like jeans. Things will be a lot clearer in January.”  At least on the catwalk, things seemed pretty clear to us this morning.

Jean-Paul Gaultier Goes G-4 at 30
Jean-Paul Gaultier celebrated his 30th anniversary with two runway shows – a look back on his three great decades and a visit to a one never expected to visit with the Enfant Terrible par Excellence – a gym.  Glittering in silver dust, Gaultier’s workout space was a wonderful tongue-in-cheek commentary on our body culture and a great tease of fellow designers like Yohji, Stella and Neil, with their active deals with sportswear giants – adidas or Puma.  While Yamamoto has his three stripes Y-3 logo, jealously guarded by corporate trademark lawyers, Jean Paul used four stripes on great looks Tuesday, October 3rd.  Though the setting was ironic, the clothes were cool. After a bossy sports commentator voice demanded, “Are you ready to work out?” and Olivia Newton John yelped “Let’s Get Physical,” the models dashed out in elongated baseball jackets, Gaultier motif silk tops, boxing shorts and to-the-knee sweat pants. Sequined, cut asymmetrical or paired with Lonsdale belts and mega visors – it all made for a great moment.  Instead of being obsessed with what women wear inside gyms, gals sporting these threads wanted to look sharp leaving them. We’d share a glass with them any day – even a power shake.  Gaultier had begun by celebrated his three decades with a show of 30 iconic looks, staged in his atmospheric late 19th century headquarters. Most of them – from Madonna’s famed corset and the skull-to-toe hounds-tooth dandy, to the piercing tribes, the Rabbi Chic show of 1992 and his 1976 runway show debut – would work on any catwalk today because his ideas have had that much influence.  “Aerobic couture,” said the designer backstage, just seconds after embracing Janet Jackson and confirming she’d received the invitation to his mega bash on Saturday night.

Ann Demeulemeester: She Dreams of Cloth
For Ann Demeulemeester’s 20th anniversary, she got a very special birthday present: a poem spoken from backstage by legend punk chanteuse Patti Smith  as models solemnly processed down the runway wearing Demeulemeester’s poetic vision for next spring, which she presented on Tuesday, October 3rd in a warehouse on the edge of Paris.  I started my first show with a poem of hers, ‘Wave,’ and she invented one on the spot [today],” said Demeulemeester post-show, as the stunned throngs congratulated her for creating such a poignant moment in a mostly humdrum Spring 2007 fashion season.  “Tattered coat and your scattered hopes and your silver dreams, unfettered, unspoiled, and she sees lace, white eyelet cloth, billowing into the sea…Easter…Muslim nets form tents. She dreams of cloth…silver charms,” intoned Smith as the soundtrack of a baroque harpischord gave way to her hypnotic words inspired by Demeulemeester’s collection, the soulful manifestation of a rock star’s inner life. It’s an anti-fashion message that has been consistent throughout Demeulemeester’s career.  This season, she reworked the waistcoat and tuxedo tailcoat, softening them and giving them volume that extended from the waist. Vests were doubled up and cut from suiting and shirting fabrics; jackets were rumpled and tied back with a single lace and worn over loose ombre shirts belted at the waist. Some pants were cut as loose trousers while others were slim, but not skinny – and paper thin, with some made from a beautiful eyelet fabric Demeulemeester also used in billowing blouses.  Demeulemeester, whose rock chic aesthetic can often appear severe, with the implication that only serious intellectual eccentrics with a penchant for sleeping in their clothes need apply, presented a softer, lighter collection cut from cloth we are all certain to be dreaming of next season.