THE ASIAN ANGLE
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buttons to bikinis, Asia is on show in the new season's designs Date: ? by: Alexandra A. Seno Source: cnn.com THIS IS NOT A fashion story. It is several. Just look at the spring-summer lines now in Asia's stores. Clearly, the world's top houses have no single voice on how to say farewell to the millennium. (That's a relief, at least, because it means not everyone is thinking pink.) The designers who matter have produced a variety of themes, colors and cuts. But fashionistas should take note: Where it is possible to pick what's hot in women's wear, it is clear that separates - rather than suits - are gaining ground, color is very cool and ethnic is still very much in. Fashion note No. 2:Many elements of old Asia are new again, reinterpreted for the modern world with varying degrees of subtlety. For the house of Salvatore Ferragamo, Asia appears in the discreet details of small Chinese frog buttons on printed Italian silk blouses. For Jean Paul Gaultier, it screams for attention with the transformation of Japanese kimonos, complete with obi belts, into bikini ensembles. "Today more than ever, fashion is fusion," says John Rocha, the Hong Kong-born, Ireland-based designer who made a name for himself a decade ago with his East-meets-West aesthetic philosophy. "The whole world is coming together," Rocha declares. "Westerners travel a lot more to Asia. Satellite TV carries Asia everywhere. It's very much part of the world these days - and that is reflected in international fashion." "Places are very important in the thematic approach to a season," says Peter Harris, merchandise vice president at luxury emporium Lane Crawford in Hong Kong. "Asia has provided designers with a palette to work from. The 'new' awareness of such countries as Vietnam will continue this." New York designer Vivienne Tam echoes this thought: "The times allow us to do our own thing with our collections. That is good because that lets things Asian fit into the mix. In a way, the [Asian] look is accepted as classic." Indian fabric continues to be present, especially for formal wear. American star-label Badgley Mischka regularly sends its intricate gowns to the subcontinent for beading and embroidery. In more casual lines, the popularity of hippie chic has given Indian handwork on denim a currency beyond costumes for disco movies set in the 1970s. At Gucci, Tom Ford uses black Rajasthani cloth encrusted with tiny mirrors for his jeans, shirts and jackets. Chinoiserie seems as enduring as the Great Wall of China. Even after a run of several seasons, John Galliano uses it for two out of five lines in his Christian Dior ready-to-wear collection. One features the "Feminine Chinese Look," a cosmopolitan take on the cheongsam. With A-line skirts that end at the knee, the outfits come in bold blue, bright yellow, brick-red and army-fatigue green. Yes, fatigue green. The color dominates the irreverent designer's "Military" numbers, which offer a distinctly different take on the uniforms of China's People's Liberation Army. Reworked by the Gibraltar-born designer, the government-issue lookalikes are born again as trendy cargo pants and pleated loose tunics and swirly skirts. If he saw them, Mao Zedong would probably set off on another Long March, all the way back to Jiangxi province. "Asian costumes are very feminine - and that coincides with the mood of a lot of collections this season," explains Giovanna Ferragamo, director of women's prêt-à-porter at Salvatore Ferragamo. Many of her shirts and jackets have Chinese buttons, while her cardigan-and-skirt sets evoke 1920s Shanghai glamour. "Quite a bit of our business is in Asia, so I go over for a visit several times a year," Ferragamo says. "I like to look around. Some ideas I use for our clothes." A tsunami of Japonisme hit the catwalks this year. Jean Paul Gaultier was one of those who caught the wave. "A Geisha at the Louvre," Gaultier says, was the inspiration for a collection that features outfits cut kimono-fashion but featuring patent-leather detailing next to traditional silk fabric. And then there are the bathing suits - half-Japanese, half-bikini and completely over the top. Would anyone wear one in the water? Probably not, but they do allow for jokes about their being suitable for the Madame Butterfly-stroke. Gaultier - the man who created a fashion moment by putting Madonna in that conical bra all those years ago - dressed the Material Girl in a kimono for this year's Grammy Awards. Naturally, it wasn't the kind of kimono you would find in a Tokyo teahouse. For a start, it sported a red, patent-leather obi belt and matching knee-length boots - suitable for crushing tradition under foot, no doubt. The kimono serves as inspiration at several other labels. Miuccia Prada experiments with its sleeves. Blumarine's Anna Molinari has wrap jackets constructed kimono-style. "It's the influence of the Japanese designers who started showing in Paris 15 to 20 years ago," says Suzy Menkes, fashion editor at the International Herald Tribune in the French capital. "The legacy of Comme des Garçons, Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake is garments that wrap and fold to the shape of the body." Karl Lagerfeld's home closet is filled with Yamamoto clothes. The Kaiser, as Lagerfeld is known, told a British newspaper he likes the Japanese designer's ideas - as well as Rei Kawakubo's at Comme des Garçons - "because they are the furthest opposed to me." Yet at Chanel this season Lagerfeld does a Japanese turn himself. His new Chanel suit for women - the only real new suit of the season from any of the houses - is modeled on the kimono, trimmed in pink foil and with the skirt cut assymetrically. International fashion's flirtation with Japan explains in part the phenomenal rise through the modeling ranks of 16-year-old Devon Aoki. The daughter of Rocky Aoki, a Japanese Olympic wrestler-turned-multimillionaire U.S. restaurateur, and his British-German ex-wife, the youngster is a face to watch. At barely 5 ft 6 in (1 meter 68 cm) and with looks that are . . . well, less than classical, California-born Aoki is one of the surprises of the fashion scene. She has appeared on the catwalks of Karl Lagerfeld, Betsey Johnson and Anna Molinari, among others. Last year she dramatically replaced Naomi Campbell as the Versace muse following a row between the Last Supermodel and Donatella Versace, sister of Gianni. Aoki is also the current face of Chanel, featuring in a striking multi-page ad campaign across the globe. This year's Japanese cultural references are not always obvious - even, apparently, to the designers responsible for them. The minimalist look has been dubbed "Zen chic" - a term born not in the ateliers of the design houses but in the fashion pages of the big magazines. Says Harris of Lane Crawford: "A number of designers are working on a very pared-down look. It's interesting to relate that to the minimalism of Japan. Fashion is always trying to look for ways to make the whole thing credible." Style czar Michael Kors, winner of this year's Council of Fashion Designers of America award - the rag trade's equivalent of the Oscars - incorporates Asian cultures into his work. "Whenever I travel, Ifind there's always something to learn and steal," he says. And this year's themes? "Spring 1999 is all about simplicity. It's about Zen." And about spending power, it seems. Kors' linen-silk jackets are going for $2,000 and his cashmere pullovers for $3,000. Asian critics and shoppers have received both with delight. That's what you might call the sound of more than one hand clapping. |
