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Fantasy is good, but even better are sales, and the circuitous route designers take from runway A to retail B

TOP: At Michael Kors, Naomi Campbell in a sable and crocodile hooded jacket, over a crocodile micro-mini skirt. ABOVE LEFT: Barely visible from the seats, Catherine Malandrino’s black leather ‘Tre Punto’ Bouson with zip-off sleeves, black knit pleated skirt, black leather lycra boots. ABOVE RIGHT: Carolina Herrera black georgette and chiffon gown.

O ATTRACT the highest-profile fashion writers, buyers and customers, many designers go to great lengths to put themselves on the legendary fashion map. Runway presentations today run the gamut from stagey reviews to the classic model parade, with mixes of hip-hop, rap, reggae and R&B soundtracks or combined mixes of the great recording artists of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s.
   The venues range from the Bryant Park Tents, to the Louvre and the Petit Palais in Paris, the Piccolo Teatro and private Palazzos in Milano, to stadiums, hotels and showrooms. Special lighting effects, statuary, arched entrances, fences, flower gardens, trees, ice-blocks, helium balloons and machine-driven snowstorms are but a few of the props that have been seen in fashion capitals for fall–winter 2003–4.
   Fashion designers are motivated by traditions from the past, contemporary culture and their own fantasies. Fantasy is good, but even better are sales, and the circuitous route designers take from runway A to retail B.
   Catherine Malandrino’s invitation to the Longacre Theater on Broadway, was a folded poster printed in bold letters for Def Poetry Jam. Once seated in the darkness of the large theatre, one would expect a theatrical alternative to the classic runway. On a dark shadowy stage, a reader stepped out to read a powerful poem that began, ‘You can tell what mood a woman is in when she wears certain kinds of clothes …’
   What clothes? We could barely see them. The models paraded up and down steps, in shadows so dark, the clothes could not be discerned. Malandrino should have lit up the stage or run a catwalk down the centre aisle. Even the “spinner” for Def Poetry Jam, performing a live hip-hop piece, could not save this presentation.
   On the other hand, Michael Kors’ brightly-lit runway had no dramatic backdrops or diversionary elements. We saw oversized fur-lined leather jackets and coats for men and women, shown with slim micro-minis, and pencil-slim leather pants. There were python-patterned tights for women and distressed leather for men. A big black satin jacket stood out as did furs with sweats and minis with leg-warmers, all mixed with lots of cashmere. A flapper-inspired, layered–fringed cocktail dress is destined to be a popular look in the collection next fall. Zippers went everywhere, up the back of skirts and coats while diagonal ones raced down the fronts of leather jackets. For Kors, it was all about the clothes.

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