Ben de Lisi: It's Party Clothes Time Again
Written by: Godfrey Deeny
LONDON, Feb 25, 2002/ FWD/ --- One of London's best-liked designers is Ben de Lisi,
a relocated American whose specialty is bright clothes for public events.
Those in search of the next paradigm in fashion can safely skip de Lisi's shows.
The designer also has the habit of repeating himself by showing the same fabric in a half
dozen garments, a tactic that may have some commercial sense but does not lead to an exciting
catwalk show.
That said, de Lisi does have a loyal London following, which loves wearing his bright looks
to the never-ending series of cocktail parties and openings that provide the basis of the
capital's social scene.
His show Monday in a tent on the West Lawn of the Natural History Museum - the nerve center
of London Fashion Week - drew blond socialite Normandie Keith and, bizarrely, Patricia Hewitt,
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.
For fall 2002, de Lisi gals will be wearing paneled floral dresses, tops and pants in flowing
silk or meticulously sewn sequins, or cocktail robes or columns in eggshell blue trimmed with
fur in the same color.
De Lisi cut some good leather jackets, this season a little curvy in burnished purple, worn
with matching silk skirts.
The same could not be said for a reddish-brown evening gown with tassels that seemed to
render the model five months pregnant.
The whole proceeding was not helped by some unfortunate makeup, whereby the models appeared
with smears of unhealthy-looking yellow eyeliner.
Better get a check-up before the next opening, one thought.
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