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10 International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, March 8, 2005 S T Y L E
From the red carpet to an enchanted forest

Photographs by Christopher Moore/Andrew Thomas

Uma Thurman at the Louis Vuitton
LAN VIN autumn/winter 2005 show.

GUY LAROCHE ANDREW GN COLLETTE DINNIGAN TSUMORI CHISATO

By Jessica Michault through the monochrome evening bring a bit of spring into this winter col- green or gold that used sequined bead-
gowns, with the upper body encased in lection, while a bell-sleeved, chrysan- ing at the waist and neckline or metallic
PARIS pleats loosening into soft draping at the themum-embroidered silk gown with a lace to add a bit of sparkle and shine.
t Guy Laroche, the head de- hip and flowing into long trains. While sable band at the knees will be perfect The Japanese designer Tsumori

A signer Hervé Leroux’s second

collection continued to create
a new and distinct direction
for the house.
Coming off a red carpet victory at the
Oscars with Hilary Swank in a second-
skin, midnight blue, backless dress, Ler-
oux kept things long and lean. Daywear
focused on jackets and coats worn with
simple black turtleneck sweaters and
full pants. With subtle allusions to the
war years of the 1930s and ’40s, there
were gold-buttoned, double-breasted
coats, bomber jackets and trench coats
aplenty. Shoulders were strong, and
pencil skirts unbuttoned up the back to
showcase the legs.
Moving into evening, clothing be-
came more form-fitted as long jersey
tops clung to the body only to be re-
leased into airy pleated skirts just
above the knees. This look continued
black was the color of choice, ice blue,
gold and plum also made the cut for the
elegant eveningwear.
The Singapore designer Andrew
Gn’s ‘‘ladies who lunch’’ fan base will
not be disappointed when his new col-
lection hits the stores. Picking up on a
popular trend this season, Gn looked
to Russia for his bejeweled, fur-
trimmed line. A silk taffeta-quilted
jacket embroidered with metal thread,
trimmed in sable and a paneled skirt,
was the first outfit out of the gate. The
ensemble foreshadowed a series of
clothes designed to get noticed. Day-
wear was lean — jackets cinched at the
waist over pencil skirts — and had a
focus on the shoulder with tufts of fur
or a pouf sleeve.
A fur-trimmed lilac- and wisteria-
print coat with a jeweled peacock belt
by Robert Goossens for Orfèvre helped
for any charity ball on the horizon.
In Collette Dinnigan’s world, there is
no winter. Or maybe this Australian de-
signer is thinking about the warm win-
ters in Hollywood when she designed
her autumn-winter 2005 collection.
With the only nod to the cold months
of the year being the pea-green mohair
coat that opened the show, this was a
collection of pretty, whimsical dresses
that would look right at home at a
movie premiere.
A 1950s retro feel pervaded the show,
with black lace dresses worn over a
nude sheath or ladylike wool suits
matched with a sheer polka dot blouse
peeking from below pushed-up sleeves.
A standout was a cherry red chiffon
dress with a ruffled Peter Pan collar and
cuffs worn with lacquer red kid gloves.
The evening gowns consisted of fluid
silk creations in power pink, emerald
Chisato, a protégée of Issey Miyake
and a graduate of Bunka fashion
school, went to an enchanted forest for
her collection. As bare branches
stretched above the runway, Chisato’s
dresses appeared with owls in flight
embroidered across the chest, bare
branch trees rising up from the waist,
or covered with leaping fogs and red-
topped mushrooms.
Other inspiration for Chisato’s loose
and relaxed outfits seemed to come
from the Old West. There were ponchos
in stripped desert colors of sand, dust
and red earth or in a stormy cloud mo-
tif, quilted prairie dresses in myriad
patterns and white cotton dresses that
could be mistaken for period night-
gowns. Sound far out? It was, but in a
lyrical and fun way that made this col-
lection endearing.
International Herald Tribune
YVES SAINT LAURENT

Showing at MAASTRICHT
4th - 14th March 2005
A winter season of romantic restraint
Stand No. 168 Continued from Page 9
Tel +31 43 3838 686 vaded the collection, yet the black chif-
fon veiling herringbone tweed was
symbolic of the restraint.
At YSL Rive Gauche, Stefano Pilati
committed a cardinal sin. Although this
collection was more confident and cre-
ative than his debut show last season, it
was overcomplicated, as a religious
theme ran riot.
It was elegant in Pilati’s skinny ver-
sion of a tuxedo with white blouse at the
neck, loose lapels and cropped pants,
but far too much when he added ecclesi-
astical buttons in rows of three at a time
down the front of skirts or in balls of
scarlet on a long black dress.
Although this outfit, like so much of
the collection, had the current graceful
sobriety, it also had the uncomfortable
look of re-incarnating Cardinal Riche-
lieu on the runway.
More successful were the white
choirboy collars rising up the neck as if
in a Flemish painting to give a flourish
to austerity. The actress Kristin Scott
Thomas praised this effect, saying that
she ‘‘found the use of cotton lawn so
delicate and pretty.’’
Pilati said backstage: ‘‘I wanted
something rich with restraint.’’ And a
wide belt with a seedbed of decoration
cinching a yellow sweater had that ef-
fect. The embroiderer François
Lesage, also backstage, pointed out the
intricate delicacy of a fine cashmere
shawl embellished with patterns in
white astrakhan. Flung over a pair of
pants, it was a stand-out in the show.
Other strong pieces were the pleated
evening gowns that were gorgeous
goddess looks.
Pilati worked so hard on detail and
followed so creative a path that it
seems mean to criticize his vision. But
he is charged by Gucci Group to re-vi-
talize the YSL brand, and he should
understand that the core essence of
Yves Saint Laurent is that elegance
lies in refusal.
The best beloved Alber Elbaz does
not need any more converts to his
graceful, womanly clothes at Lanvin.
But there was Jade Jagger, brazening out
the frosty venue with a white shearling
coat flung open to reveal a low-cut satin
blouse, as scarlet-painted toe nails
peeped from dizzyingly high sandals.
Then she saw the show and uttered the
unexpected words, ‘‘I think it is all the
more sexy to cover up and leave some-
thing for later.’’
That is the starting point for Elbaz.
The base of his womanly look, which
has been such a hit at Lanvin, is in the
concept of soft dresses and simple
coats, dressed up with smoke trails of
pearl or jet jewelry.
His autumn collection had no new
departures — unless you count a pair
of flower-patterned coats and dresses
sprouting like precocious spring
among the winter darkness. But the
designer worked to perfection the
codes he has invented, giving a
crumpled finish to the orange velvet
coat that opened the show, a row of
buttons at the back of a severe suit and
an industrial zipper at the spine of a
light dress.
he clothes seemed more precise,
T less casually fitted and without
the endearing touch of the unfin-
ished. They were therefore less quirky.
But the way that Elbaz played with the
different silhouettes was masterful:
either short and wide for a swing coat
or full skirt, or long and slim as in an
over-the-knee trench coat. With the
former, the models wore flat ballet slip-
pers; with the latter, heels.
There were echoes of the designer’s
early career at YSL: a sharp tuxedo
coat-dress or a playful feathered dress.
But Lanvin has a signature of its own,
epitomized by the long gray jersey
dress that was the graceful antithesis of
red carpet flash. And Elbaz can relish
the fact that he was one of the first de-
signers to bring back respect for women
and an appreciation for beauty that
have now spread through fashion.
International Herald Tribune

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