Fin-de-siecle of fashion counts down

By Kunang Helmi Picard

PARIS (JP): Francois Lesage, the international master of embroidery, is rather pessimistic about the future of haute couture. Only very few of today's haute couture clients are willing to spend US$5,000, for example, on an embroidered silk shawl, knowing they could buy a luxury pret-a-porter version for $1,000.

"Even though we do know that at such times the rich become richer and the poor even poorer, it is just not considered correct to be seen spending a large sum of money to procure clothes, however well-made they may be," he explained in an interview late last month.

Lesage calculates that there are only 500 haute couture clients left in the world, as opposed to the 2,000 before the Gulf War in 1991. The wife of the Sultan of Brunei is still an active client and has ordered a special gold embroidered background for a clock from Lesage, with money obviously being no problem.

Despite this lucky exception, the firm of Lesage is also adapting to the changing economic situation. They now produce for a luxury pret-a-porter market, following the example of many other haute couture firms and those who provide accessories.

Christian Lacroix not only has a luxury ready-to-wear line but is also launching a new line for young aficionados called Bazaar. Karl Lagerfeld has long made diversification a business principle and as a result, is still reaping the profits.

Fashion has been a constant companion from the beginning of this century and will continue to accompany us up to the year 2000 and beyond. The recent October collections proclaimed that the well-dressed and luxurious look for the lady is back. We will come back to the daughters later.

Easy to look after

I remember my mother and other diplomats' wives worrying about hats, gloves, bags, jewelry and other accessories. Besides the ensembles -- and the impeccable grooming which was supposed to accompany them -- I also realize that I for one do not have their maids and other personnel to perform the necessary menial tasks.

The fin-de-siecle lady therefore has to attend to all these details besides looking after her offspring and furthering her career. This is perhaps the key to Issey Miyake's success with his "pleats please" collection mentioned last year in this column. One does not need an iron because the pleats travel well, staying perfectly pleated even after being squashed tightly in suitcases.

The popularity of pleats with other designers is now not to be overlooked. They were everywhere in the collections, in the form of crumpled, crushed or crinkled materials, both natural and synthetic. Patterns and colors are gaily mixed by others such as Lacroix and Kenzo, so that the untrained eye cannot really spot whether the garments are meticulously ironed, if indeed necessary. Clothes are again structured, although not stiffly tailored.

Unisex

That the youngest daughters do not iron clothes is almost entirely true. Their fashion, after the "youthquake" pronounced by Suzy Menkes upon viewing the exhibition of the Salon de Pret- a-Porter here last September, features dreamy long dresses or sharp and shiny clothes fit for the disco. "The brat fashion pack wears micro-mini-kilts (in candy pink gingham or silver fake leather), sex-shop fabrics like vinyl and rubber and techno- glamor (neon-bright nylon vests and glossy patent stilettos)."

The sharp distinction between boy's and girl's fashion seems to have fallen away. Even what used to be regarded as unisex has firmly arrived on the scene. The Jean-Paul Gaultier collection for the very young called JPG featured identical stretch tunics, gingham sarongs, smock shirts and similar patterns besides the T- shirts in shiny and matte fabrics. In Indonesia, Emir Keita won the fashion talent contest with just such a collection for young Indonesian city girls, while the second and third winners, incidentally both women, echoed the current trend for the ladies in Paris, London and New York.

The dress has returned for the ladies, with feminine waists and with skirts mostly just around the knee. Shiny fabrics are also favored for the ladies, not only for the disco brats. Color is back and making a definite statement.

The lingerie look is lingering on with Lagerfeld in his Chloe collection together with Chantal Thomass, Sonia Rykiel and even Hermes, with others continuing the trend. Manufacturers and retailers had concentrated on extravagant underwear a few seasons ago when the momentary economic depression discouraged people from buying more expensive "overwear".

This winter even furs are making their comeback despite ecologists and "Prevent cruelty to animals" activists. Among others, Cindy Crawford and Kim Basinger were photographed nude exclaiming that they would prefer to wear nothing rather than wear animal fur. Everyone is awaiting the release of the Robert Altman movie Pret-a-Porter where the final scene is somewhat similar to the already mentioned advertisement campaign.

Borrowing from other cultures and countries is continuing. Gaultier is turning to Tibet for this winter. For next season Galliano accompanied by Japanese Rei Kawabuko and Yohji Yamamoto is storming back to the kimono. While Junko Koschino reverts to the Asian tie-dye and draped look, John Rocha, lately from Hong Kong but now in Dublin, discovers Celtic symbolism.

Meanwhile, even conservative Cerruti is experimenting with natural fabrics and that "back to nature" feeling. Fabric research concentrates on both new synthetics and novel approaches to natural fabrics. Tunisian Azzedine Alaia's stand to not show with the others, because he himself does not have fixed seasons, is gathering momentum with other designers. Alaia rightly assumes that people do not necessarily buy a complete new wardrobe at the beginning of each season; mix and match is the ideal solution.

The Fin-de-siecle fashion promises the comeback of color and the hemline around the knee, together with new structures. All of these are signs that the crisis seems to be over as rich fabrics and spectacular prints also augur a "post-crisis" atmosphere where glamor is again acceptable.

Sales in France, according to Catherine Guror of the professional magazine Journal du Textile, are picking up with customers buying the most exuberant, feminine, sexy and colored garments. Boutiques for the very young are booming, also a sign that they have more pocket money. Coupled with the signs that sales in France and Europe are picking up are strategies aiming at optimal sales in South-East Asia, with Singapore and Indonesia coming under close scrutiny.

Emmanuel Ungaro sums up the mood by stating: "It's young, easy and fast. It's not decadent, but we need to put a sense of gaiety back into fashion."