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 Phillip
D. Johnson introduces spring 2004’s most feminine collections
from Lilly Pulitzer, Nanette Lepore, Rebecca Taylor,
Cynthia Steffe and Tocca, all of whom
illustrated that media were hard pressed to find the down sides
to Fashion Week
PHOTOGRAPHED BY RICHARD SPIEGEL,
THE AUTHOR AND COURTESY LABELS
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Lilly Pulitzer spring 2004. |
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It was one of those
fashion weeks when one was hard pressed to actually find a
truly bad collection. Everyone seemed to have found a way
to include one or two unexpected gems
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 RACIE
ROZHON, the fashion business writer for The New York Times,
said it best in her New York spring 2004 wrap-up report (‘For Spring
Lines, Colours and Retailers Return’, September 20, 2003): ‘As the
last swan-necked model walked her spiky walk down a runway in New
York yesterday, ending another Fashion Week, retailers from around
the country rejoiced that designers—at last—had given American merchants
what they had been pleading for: high fashion gaiety and department-store
quality … The season’s clothes are feminine, pretty and anything
but solid black, a dominant colour of many earlier seasons. The
designers have kissed the micro-mini goodbye … The consensus among
merchants was that designers, after years of department store declines
had discovered the American woman.’
All that and so much more was true about the spring
2004 shows in New York City; but what’s equally true is that a lot
of these designers seem to have rediscovered what a select few have
always known: give the buying public, beautiful, wearable clothing
every time and you will have them for life. No contest.
It was one of those fashion weeks when one was
hard pressed to actually find a truly bad collection. Honestly.
Everyone seemed to have found a way to include one or two unexpected
gems in their presentations. The following designers and design
teams have always kept the needs of the customer in the forefront
of their thoughts and rightly so lead the pack with their offerings
for spring 2004.
Lilly Pulitzer
IN THE MID-1950S,
New York socialite Lilly Pulitzer left the city and moved to Palm
Beach, Fla. where her then-husband, Peter Pulitzer, had a home and
several citrus groves. To keep herself busy, she opened a juice
stand off Worth Avenue, which was an immediate success. However,
what was even a bigger success was the attention she was getting
for the dresses she wore while selling frosty beverages. Realizing
that she needed something that would disguise the mess made by squeezing
the fruit, Lilly had asked her dressmaker to design a dress that
would camouflage the stains form the lemons, limes and oranges.
The result was a comfortable sleeveless shift made of bright, colourful
printed cotton—pink, green, yellow and orange—with custom dressmaker
details like lining and lace seam bindings. It was perfect for the
job and became the first bestseller in the Lilly Pulitzer clothing
line.
CONTINUED
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