The Enduring Influence of Issey Miyake
PARIS
— Issey Miyake offers proof that a great designer can continue to bathe
his brand in his spirit. The collection sent out by Yoshiyuki Miyamae
was a youthful and lively rendition of everything that Mr. Miyake has
always believed in — notably, invention, transformation and sporty
clothes for an energetic life.
As
the models walked in to the sounds of a Japanese spring guitar on
stage, the audience should have guessed that the flat, circular bags
they carried would unfurl into dresses using the famous Miyake pleating
techniques.
They
were followed by more outfits with a three-dimensional effect of
stained glass squares standing away from the body. But the designer was
also smart enough to produce simple pieces that might be just a colorful
shawl cocooning the shoulders.
The
balance of this collection, inspired by the rhythmic pulse of life in
the forest, was perfectly aligned with the clothing and brought the
young designer a cascade of cheers.
Rick
Owens made a smart step out of cult status and toward his personal
fashion family. Instead of the extraordinary step dancing of last
season, the designer kept to the concept that women of all body types
could wear his clothes and, indeed, swap them with each other.
So
out came favorite models from the past and people from his work studio,
proving that there can be a modern elegance in loosely cut clothes in
chic colors like wine red, or a stomping energy in deliberately awkward
proportions and techno-looking leg wear with knee protectors.
From
black and gray, Mr. Owens added dresses in gleaming fabrics, perhaps
with the flourish of a big bow at the neck. It proved that climbing down
from his fashion pedestal was a good move.
At
Nina Ricci, the designer Peter Copping said it with flowers near the
end of his collection. After a long wait, the show focused on the
romantic womanliness that is his specialty. His orchids, traced on
graceful long dresses with a hint of sensuality, have been a trademark
of the house. Lace dresses had a similar evening glamour.
But what else was there to associate the Nina Ricci name with but polite, wearable tailoring in shades of cloud gray?
Mr.
Copping is a romantic and maybe he should push that feeling forward,
for the autumn collection, pretty though it was, seemed not much more
than a useful wardrobe — plus those appealing flowers.
Roland
Mouret’s geometry changes subtly each season but, like a compass with
the pin fixed firmly in place, the designer does not move far from his
position.
“I
have reached the exact point in my life where I am doing what I feel
passionate about, rather than what I feel is expected of me,” he wrote
in his program notes.
So
there was a grid, drawn finely around the body, framing it with
window-pane squares. The clothing was always slim, sometimes zippered
and occasionally with coloring splashes for painterly effects.
With
a collar high around the neck and inserts of leather, Mr. Mouret drew
his own fashion map, and sometimes it is wiser to follow that than to
reach out into unknown territory.
“It’s
a wardrobe about construction, texture and color,” said Hussein
Chalayan backstage to explain the apparent simplicity of a collection of
pieces where the models were free to stride. That was because a slit
skirt encouraged movement, whether it was something as simple as a big,
heavy textured sweater over a wispier skirt or one of the evening gowns,
light, elegant and splattered with color.
Although
the designer still talked a convoluted tale of moon and sky, his
clothes for this Chalayan collection have become increasingly simple,
with just the right dose of imagination and reality.
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