Magic for Fall, Winter From Lacroix
Christian Lacroix opened the fall-winter haute couture fashion season here Sunday with a collection that is all about rich.
Rich fabrics. Rich colors. Rich decorations. Rich imagination and daring. For those rich enough to deal in the world of $3,000 blouses and $10,000 suits, Lacroix redefines luxury, giving it a new, Disney-esque spin that separates it from the haughty standoffishness often associationed with high fashion.
In Lacroix’s magical kingdom, the sugar plum fairy wears a hand-painted tulle overskirt, a strapless jeweled, embroidered red velvet bodice and orange satin pants. Her friend wears black lace biker pants with a black silk damask jacket. When she turns around you see a green and black dotted bow that hangs from the back neckline like a ponytail.
These are the kinds of rich folks you want to love. They make you smile. Some of them do, indeed, look like characters in search of a costume party, Mad Hatter hats and all. But most of them are wearable proof of Lacroix’s contention that “riches, whether real or imagined, make you happy.”
Happy to witness the wit in a gold-embroidered black velvet sweater sleeved in leopard-printed lame. Happy to contemplate a gray satin slip dress lavished in “blond lace” and worn over a dove-gray chiffon blouse. Happy to marvel at a night-and-day outfit featuring a floral-sleeved T-shirt embroidered on the front with a gold-encrusted sun goddess and on the back with jeweled stars on midnight black. Happy for the maharajah fabrics and the folkloric braids.
Pure Fantasy
Dawn Mello, president of Bergdorf-Goodman--the store that introduced Lacroix to New York two years ago, when he poufed onto the fashion scene with his woman-as-bonbon collection--called this season’s collection “a triumph,” pure fantasy, the way an ideal couture collection should be. “We’re all so pleased for Christian--especially at this time.” (A not-so-veiled reference to recent disclosures of Lacroix’s $8-million losses for 1988.)
The hard-working 38-year-old designer from France’s Camargue district near the Spanish border resisted theming this collection, even though he had just completed 350 costumes for a presentation of “Carmen” in Nimes, France. The fichu remains an important Lacroix signature, appearing in such variations as a brown-velvet shawl effect on a silk faille jacket and as a portrait-like collar of black satin on a black wool jacket with black velvet cuffs.
In this his fifth collection under his own name, Lacroix continues his eclectic fabric and color mixing, often combining such diverse media as leather, wool jersey, velvet and satin in one outfit. In addition to his favorite chocolate brown, coral, mustard and greens ranging from olive to chartreuse, he pays new attention to purple, charcoal, red and vermilion. Again, often combining all in one outfit. Hoods are a favorite this season, usually in fabrics that contrast with the jackets or dresses they accompany, and there is more lame--day and night--than ever before.
While you are as likely to find serious daytime clothes in the collection as you are to encounter mashed potatoes at a fine French restaurant, there are a few simple draped cocktail dresses in satin-backed crepe. But the real crowd pleasers are such Lacroix inventions as a sable blouson jacket that continues into a fringed skirt, similar to a 1920s shimmy dress.
Narrowed Shoulders
Shoulders are narrowing, sleeves are often raglan, often in contrasting colors or fabrics, collars flop on jackets like dog’s ears and hosiery is all sheer and brown.
Lacroix forsakes his favorite crosses (Lacroix-- la croix-- means the cross in French) in favor of long necklaces that dangle like breastplates of gold baubles. Shoes range from low-heeled python loafers to velvet pumps with thick, buckled instep straps, and thick heels, with an occasional flat brocade slipper or satin floral print T-strap with very high heels.
With the exception of evening clothes all skirts clear the knees--some by a good two to four inches. Pants are minimal.
Of all the Lacroix offerings, the most directional-looking are his hand-painted tulle creations for evening. They look like a cross between the Good Witch in “the Wizard of Oz” and the Good Fairy who flies over Disneyland. Magic either way.
