|
Girls Rule!
Written by: Stephanie Jones
New York, Feb 12, 2001/Fashion Wire Daily/ --- Backstage at the Girls Rule! fashion show,
I'm surrounded by models wearing nothing but thong
underwear and someone in a rather scary giant-headed Hello Kitty costume. An eerily calm Stephen
Hardy, design director of the label Squeeze, instructs a girl to keep her thumbs hooked in the
pockets of her houndstooth hotpants for the television cameras. I'm close enough and the models
are naked enough that I can see their stretch marks and fat around the waist, which is somewhat
refreshing.
It's getting horribly crowded and busy, so I happily leave the backstage work to the professionals
and take my seat for the show. A horn blows, the lights dim, the music starts and the show begins.
First up is Planet Yumthing.
The program instructs, "Think...ballerina meets Savile Row... Angels
and Angels... surrealism and Paris." Hmm... well, I do like the butter yellow sweaters, the
herringbone tweed corset and the pinstripe pants. But definitely not the silly-looking coats
with tulle attached at the bottom.
When the models come out in super colorful Rusty
outfits to the Grease song "You're the One That
I Want," I know Rusty will be my absolute favorite brand of the show. The models are actually
smiling! There's lots of hot pink and yellow and orange. I want this denim miniskirt and also
hot pink arm warmers and the light blue Hello Kitty mittens.
Guest List Wear
is pretty crazy and sexy. Designer Deborah Hunter said the look is "ready to go
to a club" and the collection shows "a lot of belly." I love the multi-colored hand-knitted
chunky neck muffs which draw applause from the crowd, but I have to say, if I were a parent,
I would die if my teenage daughter wanted to wear hot panties - yes, hot panties, not hot pants -
out of the house.
Next is Squeeze
and the focus is on black denim, which is made more interesting by the use of
shredding and different types of stretches. I'm into the cowl necks and the stretch denim A-line
trousers. Very sophisticated.
The first model for the label Chicks Rule!
walks out in the dark, emitting colored flashes from
her belly button. When the lights are back on, I am a bit alarmed by her denim bikini, black
and red cowboy boots and hat. The show ends with another model in a pink fur bikini - she looks
like a Playboy fantasy. But there was a lot of wearable, fun stuff in between, like baseball
jerseys and cute khaki long board shorts worn with Vans sneakers.
And finally, there's Dollhouse,
with glitter dirty denim jeans, faux fur collars and lots of
brown and burgundy tones. Designer Pamela Thompson calls the look "upper-class meets rock 'n'
roll, British, kind of punky, with '70s thrown in." Whew. I especially like the caramel leather
jacket worn with a turquoise turtleneck, but I think I'll stay away from the dog print.
When the lights go up, I blink several times and realize that I really want to go shopping.
|
