Checklist for Spring Fashion
BETH BUCCINI, an owner of the SoHo boutique Kirna Zabête, was wrapping up her spring
orders in Paris last week when she decided to clear her head and drop by the Lanvin shop on
the Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré. But if Ms. Buccini thought a hectic runway season was
over, she was mistaken; it had, in a sense, only just begun. A customer wanted to know when
she could get her hands on the wide black stretch belts that Alber Elbaz had shown with
Lanvin's lustrous slim dresses.
"I thought, 'My God, the runway show was on Sunday, and it's only Wednesday,' "
Ms. Buccini said.
With consumers getting their fashion news almost as quickly as buyers and
journalists, and more selectively if they are only paying attention to the labels they
care about, there is no way to predict what looks will still matter in March. The belt
that looks hot today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Maybe that's the reason the spring collections resembled a duck-hunting contest in
Central Park. The thinking among designers seemed to be that if they fired off
enough buckshot - that is to say trends - in a limited space, they might actually hit
something.
And don't be surprised if fashion writers are talking (more than usual) out of both
sides of their mouths, extolling the merits of, say, Stefano Pilati's slim high-waisted
pants for Yves Saint Laurent and, after a polite pause, suggesting that you would
look adorable in Marc Jacobs's elephant trousers. If fashion seems confusing right
now to journalists as well as buyers, it's because the consumer has moved the
fences.
She decides what the long-running trends will be. She determines what looks will be
copied. And to make things more confusing, she has different aspirations than her
sisters in Asia or just down the road at the mall. That's what the spring 2006
collections made clear in its democratic sprawl of looks.
Taking a purely Darwinian view of spring, some trends appear stronger than others.
New York designers like Narciso Rodriguez and Carolina Herrera opened their
collections with dresses, and the trend just kept gathering momentum - through
Francisco Costa's ethereal cotton voile dresses for Calvin Klein; Miuccia Prada's
naïve, hand-painted shifts; Phoebe Philo's breathy baby-doll shapes for Chloé - until
at a certain point you just gave up and drew a triangle in your notebook. Voilà: a
dress.
To Robert Burke, the fashion director of Bergdorf Goodman, a loose, floaty shape
looks new, especially with the balance of chunky platform shoes. "Calvin Klein really
set the tone for Milan and Paris with its very refined, very light fabrics," Mr. Burke
said. "I thought Prada had the same message - very simple dresses, cut away from
the body, in these pale colors that emphasized the lightness of the fabrics."
How many ways can you say white?
Mr. Costa's predominantly white collection, with subtle shadings of light gray and
beige, turned out to be the most varied expression of the theme, with pleats and
unexpected volumes conveying the same mood of air and lightness. That's
something you will probably want to keep in mind next spring when you face racks of
white clothes.
Is there enough detail and precision in the cut of a garment to save it from looking
like a glorified sack? Mr. Rodriguez engineered his Empire linen dresses to get the
most from their minimalist cut, but no more than was necessary.
Mr. Costa often added a layer of voile for weight. Ms. Prada gave her chalky dresses
a sepia tint, and for perversity's sake she had one look tied loosely up the back,
hospital style. (O.K., it's just a thought.)
Ms. Buccini noted that a number of Paris designers, including Mr. Elbaz and Olivier
Theyskens at Rochas, perked up their whites with couture finishes.
At Lanvin, a low-back shift came in washed ivory Duchess satin, a classic white
blouse in laundered charmeuse. Mr. Theyskens said the crinkled stretch cotton of a
long white skirt and matching jacket brought to mind rustic cloth from his ancestral
Normandy. A model in showroom said the skirt was as comfortable as her bluejeans.
At the opposite extreme is the dark, elegant pantsuit. Ms. Buccini recalled that Bryan Bradley
closed his Tuleh show in New York with a pair of masculine pantsuits. They served as a
double apostrophe for his collection, and what was to come at the European shows. Stores
next spring will emphasize a variety of pants styles and jackets - "I've never bought so many
jackets," Ms. Buccini said.
If you don't count Bermudas, there are three styles of pants that will be relevant: the
slouchy trousers that Mr. Theyskens showed (and which are held in place just below
the waist by an interior band of grosgrain ribbon); the wide, cropped style at Michael
Kors; and the tailored Saint Laurent toreador pants that look best belted.
The Saint Laurent pants incorporate another spring trend: the trim waist. The tulipshaped skirts at Fendi, with their cummerbund waists, bear mentioning. It's a
flattering look, especially with a plain white blouse. (Bergdorf will now be carrying
Fendi ready-to-wear.)
The difference in jackets next season is the line of the shoulders. Mr. Theyskens
removed almost all the padding from his jackets to help give a lean, natural-looking
slouch. But most designers did something a little bit funny.
Frida Giannini pinched the shoulders of her Gucci black satin jackets. There is a
slight peak to the paisley and Regency striped jackets at Balenciaga, too, with some
of Nicolas Ghesquiere's styles getting an extra Baroque buildup.
Rei Kawakubo took the look to extremes, evoking monarchy with her sternly piled
tartan shoulders. Junya Watanabe's pinched-back trench coats brought the message
down the earth: sharp tailoring is one of spring's high signs.
In the absence of any clear statement about sexy dressing, except from the Alaïa and
Versace archive messengers, it is tempting to include a category called Just Pretty.
But that seems Just Drippy.
There is, however, a nice undercurrent of sexual thought and tension working
through a number of collections, notably Lanvin, with those black stretch belts serving
as censor bars across bare backs, and at John Galliano, with its smudgy furnacelayers of floral chiffon.
And in keeping with the breezy, independent-minded attitude of spring, Doo-Ri
Chung's draped silk jersey dresses deserve to be noticed, especially by Hollywood
stylists trying to shovel their clients into taffeta. What could be more new and
provocative than a dress that barely touches your body?
Hit Pants
Trousers from Yves Saint Laurent, left, Michael Kors, center, and Rochas are the three styles
expected to be relevant next spring.
Floaty Whites
Loose dresses, like the breathy baby-doll look by Chloé, left, and lighter-than-air versions from Narciso
Rodriguez, center, and Calvin Klein, emerged from the spring 2006 collections.
Pinched Shoulders
Jackets from Balenciaga, left, Junya Watanabe, center, and Gucci reflected a move away from
padding to form a leaner shoulder line.
Shoes
Shoes from Fendi, left, Chloé, center, and Yves Saint Laurent were part of the democratic sprawl of
styles for the season.
Hilarie Burton, a star of the television drama "One Tree Hill," is no slave to fashion. "I like things that are
abstract and cut weird," Ms. Burton, 23, said recently from her home in Wilmington, N.C., where the
show is filmed. "Growing up, everybody shopped at Abercrombie, and I couldn't afford places like that.
So I'd find stuff at thrift stores, or I'd make things." In the spirit of individualism, Ms. Burton (in
conjunction with the Ban brand) is currently hosting Ban It, an on-line contest at www.feelbanfresh.com
that invites teenage girls to speak out on issues they would like to Ban, such as discrimination and peer
pressure.
When Ms. Burton plans an outfit, she said, "I usually wear a feminine piece, a masculine piece and
something that doesn't quite fit." Here she wears an Ashley Tyler dress ($395 at Ashley Tyler, 212-9651110), a Melamed belt ($248 at www.searlenyc.com), a Bonnie Basham necklace ($165, also at
www.searlenyc.com) and Durango cowboy boots ($114 at www.durangoboot.com).
"The chunky belt is the masculine thing," said Ms. Burton, who pointed out that the boots, though
popular at the moment, are not a passing fancy for her. "I have 12 or 13 pairs," she said. "I grew up with
three younger brothers, and we shared clothes, so I dressed like a dude for a while."
Wilmington's sleepy shopping scene keeps Ms. Burton grounded. "There are no designer stores here,"
she said. "I'm proud to say that when I went to the Teen Choice Awards this year, I bought my whole
outfit at Hot Topics."