Fashion Review: In Paris, Risks Bring Rewards

Only a handful of designers in the world have the creative vision and authority to push fashion in new and often challenging directions. One is Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, who on Thursday showed a ready-to-wear collection that looked far beyond fall 2010.

But another was Alexander McQueen, whose death has left a large creative void. The problem for fashion in the age of instant access to images is simple: Without extremely wilful individuals exerting their imaginations, experimenting with new materials and shapes, the industry as a whole will seem weak to the people who follow it. There must be something exceptional, nearly violently strong and not immediately accessible, if fashion is to be a force.

This was brought home during the Balenciaga show, which used materials that were difficult to identify. Some appeared to be coated in a plastic, others resembled packing materials. Jackets printed with words in primary colors could have come from posters you see in the streets. Mr. Ghesquiere stated his aim was “to ennoble each day objects.”

Although the silhouette was essentially a square on stilts — square-cut jackets with skinny pants or minis — there were shapes within shapes, and squares formed by the overlapping panels of jackets. Puffy white jackets that resembled down vests were incorporated into what appeared to be zippered jumpsuits. The tops of shoes suggested ski bindings, their heels a stack of boxes.

The number of materials, the textures, really strained at times. Perhaps that’s a risk Mr. Ghesquiere thought he had to take. I couldn’t help but think of the many futuristic shapes in the recent Central Saint Martins graduation show, in London. Some of those ideas looked newer. Still, Balenciaga was interesting stuff.

Balmain is straight, costly formula. Christophe Decarnin used velvet brocades and lots of gold lace and leather this season, with Annie Oakley fringe along sleeves. I admit I’m a sucker for a black pantsuit with gold pinstripes that twinkle like the Eiffel Tower.

In his own quiet way, Dries Van Noten is a showman. He has staged shows in the Palais Royal, under rococo ceilings, in the open air, and once turned a banquet table into a runway. The guests simply pushed back their chairs and watched.

For fall he has taken army khaki and made it an offhand companion to Paris tailoring. The newest coats and jackets, in masculine wools with nipped waists, suggested a ’50s hourglass figure, with olive drab pants narrowing below the knees and buckled with straps. So it was nearly a pity he had to make do with the schmaltz of a government reception hall instead of the vitality of a street corner. The clothes, after all, had that energy.

And that was also a problem. Military khaki, however recast, is still a common street look, and Mr. Van Noten’s method of mixing olive drab with tailoring or reinterpreting the trench coat as a skirt merely adapts ideas from men’s fashion, notably by Junya Watanabe and Raf Simons. What looked most confident in this collection were those gently nipped coats and jackets, and styles like a sleeveless double-breasted black tweed dress with leopard-print chiffon edging the neckline.

The ’60s seem to work like a pill on designers. A pink pill for Jean Shrimpton, a blue pill for Janis … take your pick. You will get a complete picture, right down to the go-go boots and teased mane. Marco Zanini’s collection for Rochas, on Wednesday, was too rich in ’60s sugar — like tunics with slacks, a fuzzy white teddy bear coat, and slanty, block-heel shoes — not to be cheerful.

A palette of sky blue, peach, yellow, gold and beige sent everything bouncing along. Mr. Zanini is a good designer and it would be nice to report that the earth moved for him — and us — but in coming down on the sweet side of the ’60s, he left himself tiny for the imagination.

With Manish Arora, what you see is what you get: a visual overload of color and beading with sci-fi effects. (If you think a model’s life is glamorous, ask the three beauties selected to have motorized stalks of nylon wands shooting from their heads.) The blaze created by the sequins is intense, as are the prints, but you can’t help wondering if Mr. Arora shouldn’t have a second option.

Unquestionably, Gareth Pugh’s dark, contorted leathers have become more polished in recent seasons as he seeks commercial respect. But it has also put the London designer in a weird bind. The collection he showed on Wednesday lacked variety — can he expand on his vision? More crucial for Mr. Pugh, where’s the outrage? Where’s the desire to shock? The tempering of that in someone so young is more dismaying than not having a wider assortment of sweaters.

source : feeds.nytimes.com

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Submited at Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 10:00 am on Fashion by blake
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