Young British designers cut their cloth in Asia

By Dini S. Djalal

JAKARTA (JP): Ye Olde England, land of green hills rolling into the mists, golden ale rolling into ever-ready pint glasses, and pallid tweed rolling out of closets.

Tweed, not taffeta? 'fraid not. Out in true English country, where wading through muddy meadows in unsightly green Wellies is a recreational sport, fashion is a folly unaffordable in the chilly clime. In its place? A not so glamorous but equally market-friendly seven-letter-word: comfort.

Yes, student iconoclasts in London have ripped open the seams of British fashion -- think John Galliano's sheer shifts, now copied everywhere, or Alexander McQueen's perforated leathers.

Yet for years before, the maxim of most retailers in the U.K. was far simpler: keep 'em warm, keep 'em happy. Pundits make fun of the American reverence for functional, casual clothes, but, after years of observation, it looks as if it is the British who have sanctified the woolly jumper.

Britain undeniably has its share of fashion victims, but many simply view clothes as a layer protecting one's pale skin from the near constant dampness.

It is a retailing reality often glossed over by the media. Which is why, at the Spotlight U.K. fashion show on Tuesday at the Shangri-La, audiences expecting the sartorial madness of young British designers now heading French fashion houses (Galliano at Dior, McQueen at Givenchy, Stella McArtney at Chloe) were surprised to see the simple shirts, sober suits and everyday casualwear which buttress the businesses of garment manufacturers.

Business

The 12 retailers eager to tap the consumer power of Indonesia's growing middle-class, and looking for local partners to expand with, were largely established businesses such as custom tailor Hardy Amies, fabric specialists Liberty and high- street chain Next. A few less mainstream designers, such as Lezley George, menswear designer Burro, and irreverent newcomers Antoni & Alison, also shared the stage.

Aren't some retailers worried of both overcrowded supply and a weakening rupiah? Yes, said Alan Thompson, Liberty's head of International Sales. He admitted the influx of foreign retailers may lead to the "problem of supersaturation of the market".

Not that optimism isn't abundant. Despite only having one store in the U.K., menswear designer Burro is taking its brazen designs into Asia, selling in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia. It added that hooded sweaters worn with suits, and other novel takes on conventional suitings, should look good on both their usual Britpop clients (Blur, Oasis) and on increasingly trendy Asian youth.

Yet for the most part, kooky fashions were left outside the door. The more innovative ensembles comprising the Liberty Designers set were uncredited, leaving audiences to wonder which hot new designer was on show.

Which did not help the general mood of the show: warm, not hot. Wan models sauntered in khaki raincoats (Aquascutum), tartan skirts (Marks and Spencers), and gold-buttoned pastel suits (Hardy Amies) -- hardly the cutting edge of style.

But judging by fashion's position as Britain's sixth biggest manufacturing industry, it seems that wardrobe staples are what keep the cash registers ringing.

Few would dispute, however, that hype of a designing renaissance is boosting business. Big retailers are taking advantage of the clamor; department stores sponsoring young designers, such as Debenhams with Pearce Fionda, are hoping the proteges will lend them street cache.

But the real catalyst to retailing success? The U.K.'s awakening from recession.

Designer Lezley George said: "Before it was difficult to do business in the U.K. because people had no money. Then the economy got better."

Signs of more cash flow? The 200 million revamp of department store Selfridges, and a similarly large expansion of shopping mecca Harrods.

The retailing giants remain realistic in their industry's reach. "France and Italy have haute couture," said Paul Currie, franchising director of River Island, the U.K.'s biggest privately owned company.

"We've got young fashion, and a well-organized, profitable retail sector."

Fifty-five percent of retailing in the U.K., said Currie, was organized high-street chains, while independent designer enterprises account for only 10 percent of the industry.

Textiles

British fashion's other big push is textiles. During London Fashion Week earlier this month, the fashion press threw praise upon the designers' magical embroideries and lace (Antonio Berardi, Alexander McQueen, Clements Ribeiro), fine knits (Julien MacDonald, John Rocha, Hussein Chalayan), and devore velvets (Liberty, English Eccentrics).

Central to fabric experimentation is Liberty, whose third floor is an archive of tactile pleasures. Being so involved with fabrics, said Liberty spokesperson Nick Sullivan, has helped Liberty better appreciate and foster those designers who are more experimental with materials. And Liberty also provides fabric inspiration to designers. In her next fall collection, Donna Karan will use Liberty's cotton prints, tea-stained to create an antique finish.

Lezley George, whose colorful pleats exude both an organic and sophisticated feel, said creativity can be better channeled through textiles than through patterns and silhouettes.

"You can only go so far with the shape of a garment. Ultimately you have to make the body look good."

Textiles also form a key competitive advantage for British designers less fluent in haute couture or fine tailoring, outside of Saville Row. "The Italians do tailoring so well, so British designers are about that tactile feeling, about improving the surface interest," George said.

Fortunately for George and other designers searching for new weights and textures, the textile industry is now willing to help. Even the more outlandish synthetic textiles, according to designer Errol Peak, have always been around. Indeed, rayon was invented in 1894, nylon in 1938, and lycra in the 1950s. The lag time between a fabric innovation and its arrival in stores is due to market forces.

"The fabrics have always been around but the companies didn't want to use them. They don't want to make 2,000 silver shirts and be stuck with them later," Peak said.

Now manufacturers, realizing that cooperating with more avant- garde designers will help them keep apace or even ahead of market trends, are coming around.

"Textile manufacturers are starting to respond more to small companies who can't buy too much cloth," George said.