8/14/2019 Martin Grant, Rue Du Mail, Commuun - Designer Dresses

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10 The Global Edition of The New York Times Mon day, O c to be r 6, 2008

Fash ion

From Page 9

Activating desire

The girl-child grows up

Ti meless beauty

The blasting hard rocksoundtrack that kicked off Martin Sitbon's Rue du Mailshow left no doubt that this

collection was going to have a muchtougher edge that last season’s insect-inspired creations.

But therewas a faint allusionto thecarapace in the designer’s micro-pleated panels on fitted jackets andasymmetrical folds of fabric on skirts.Sitbon saidaf ter the show that the ideaof high school sportsand their protec-tive gear were the building blocks of the show. The music certainly wentwith the locker room pre-game pumpup, and the stripey evening dresses hada sportswear vibe.

But there was also a little Asian mar-tial arts influence in the stiff Kendoshoulders on cap sleeves and the Kum-do grid masks that were sliced into ahigh-waisted skirt.

Smartly, Sitbon used light fabricslike organza and silkto keep the cloth-ing from looking bulk y. This choice re-sulted in pieces that looked strongwithout being powerful, femininewithout being girly and, indeed, sporty.After just two years back in the fashionfray, Sitbon looks to be getting her labelready for the major leagues.

— Jessica Michault

From thelocker room

The young design duo of KaitoHori and Iku Furudate behindthe brand Commuu n ca meout with a spring/summer

2009 collection that was elegant in aminimalist and modern style.

The use of transparence in panels ona jacket, or semi-sheerfabric that inte-grated the warm hue of the model’sskin as part of the ensemble, helpedgive a bit of impact to linear outf its. Butit was with the dresses that the collec-tion found itsforce. Thesimpleideaof a short white strapless dress covered ina cloud of colorful chiffon looked bothgraceful and contemporary.

Backstage the designers, who wonthe prestigious Andam award in Parisin 2007, talked about discovering thework of the photographer EdwardBurtynsky, whose images capturenature transformed through the worldof industry. His photos of stone quar-rieswerethe inspirationfor the collec-tion's most powerful piece, a chalkwhite dress in anexcavation-patternedprint that had a patch of blue sky inser-ted onto the back collar.

That was a dress, and a concept thatthe designers should have mined fur-ther, for, if they had, they might justhave struck solid gold.

— Jessica Michault

JOHN GALLI ANO

MARTIN GRANT RUE DU MAIL COMMU UN

CH LOE LIMI FEU

Elega ntmin imalism

Searching for a safe place to in-vest your fashion funds? Lookno further than Martin Grant .His collection full of classics

means that any purchase will be onewith a long fashion shelf life.

For his spring/summer 2009 show,the designer had a particular prefer-ence for navy blue and a predilectionforhalternecks. From the first look, asleeveless dress with pleating up onone hip, to the pointillist print on a hal-ter dress and jumpsuit, Grant keptthings stylishly simple, leaving therows of long gold necklaces that ad-orned many of the outfits to give them abit of shimmer. A zip of color camefrom three chartreuse dresses and thesandy Champagne gown that ended theshow had a timeless beauty.

If there was a linking theme to theshow, if you don’t count thegold chains,then itwould haveto be the useof lightpleating. From the origami folds forminga pocket on the front of trousers to subtlepleating on the sleeve of a coat to thegathered fabric on cowlneck top, Grantused the technique to great effect.

Wearing a Grant design will nevermake you look cutting edge or avant-garde but, more to the point, it will nev-er make you look like a fashion victim.

— Jessica Michault

ALEX AN DER MCQUEEN

iht .com/styleVideo: Suzy Menkes talks with Hannah

MacGibbon, the new designer at Chloé. Also, more photographs from Paris Fashion Week.

pretty but totally expected, even if this season asportyelement,never quite fully realized, gavea more simple feel. Parkas, short a nd long, wereteamed with the designer’s frilly frocks andtiered chiffon gowns.

The idea of creating a bold surround of hairand accessories against which to set regularclothes has been Galliano’s formula at Dior forthe last few seasons. And it is leading his showsfrom delirium to dullsville — or to be morecharitable, from craziness to commerce.

Galliano had taken as inspiration the car-

toons of the 18th century satirist John Gillray.But this is the fi rst time for his eponymous labelthat there hasbeen no delicious miseen scène:a mad market, a fashion playground, or last sea-son’s Oriental arena. Seeing the clothes as aregularrunway show emphasized the delicacyand finesse of Galliano’s aesthetic, especiallyforthe eveninggowns,which were sheerwhis-pers of dresses blowing acrossthe body. Yet nofashion lover can feel entirely satisfied that Gal-liano has given up his imaginative scenarios.

SuzyMenkes is fashion editorat theInterna-tional Herald Tribune.

By Suzy Menkes

A s the girly look fades from fashion,the women whoembraced the frillyand even childish stylesin their 20s,are looking for clothes that keep the

lightness but cut the sweetness.Significantly, it is often women designers,using themselvesand their needs asa fashionrole model, who are creating a new image fortheir own generation.

Hannah MacGibbon, the new designer atCh loé , is 37 and her mission is to reinterpretthatchild/womanprettiness she createddur-ingf iveyearsas assistantto the former Chloédesigner Phoebe Philo, when both womenwere twentysomethings.

Chloé has had abumpy ridesince itsearli-est days as the frame for Karl Lagerfeld’ssofter side. It might have been wiser for Mac-Gibbon to go right back to the roots of whatthe French call le flou, or fluidity, now thatdrapes are the liquid version of the currentsculpted geometry.

Fashion has to be of its moment, which iswhy, although Chloé’s scalloped sleeves ontailored coats had a graphic prettiness, theromper shorts, gathered at the waist like alaundry bag, seemed lumpy, as did a pair of shiny copper pants of a vast size. The shade of those pants was a part of an interestingpalette of ‘‘of f ’’ colors, including shrimp, um-ber and orange, to tone with beige.

‘‘Cool ! ’’ said the designer, when asked thedifference between a London and a Pariswoman. True to that spirit, MacGibbon tookher bow in shorts and knee-high boots, with ahooded top tossed over it all.

In the show,what may have been amusingin an earlier girly era looks indulgent in thecurrent crisis. But Chloécan be developedasa brand, using the square-cut dresses given amore sophisticated fit, as MacGibbon settlesinto her new groove.

Limi Feu is a 34-year-old designer who iscreating for her owngeneration of independ-entJapanese women. As a mixtureof profes-s iona l models and women cas t f rom l ifestrode the runway, each had a ‘‘h eadse t ’’ madeout of hair, as if the braided earpieces were anelegant way to shut out t he world.

The clothes that these women wore werestrong but never simple, when even a basicwhite cotton shirt might be elongated to coat

length. Currently fashionable pieces were givenoriginal treatment, as in overalls fallingfrom agathered high waist or a tiny, tailored jacket de-liberately paired with a roomy lower half.

The finale of two lattice crinolines mighthave been a little too obvious a reference to

Fe u ’s father, Yohji Yamamoto. But the design-er had ideas of her own, including a palette

that was primarily black and white, but alsoembraced theshock of color, likescarlet lipsor a mix of fuchsia and scarlet.

Pitched between the childish, cutie-pie‘‘kawa ii’’ Japanese girl and the conservativegrown-up woman, Feu, in her third Paris

showing, is carving out a niche for herself andher peers.

Photographs by Chris Moore/Karl Prouse