|
YSL: Tom Ford Takes Daywear to a Sexy New High
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photo by Gruber-FWD
Mar 15, 2002/ FWD/ --- Tom Ford's tenure at Yves Saint Laurent keeps getting better and
better, as Monday's darkly romantic and heartily applauded Rive Gauche show fully confirmed.
Taking cues from 18th-century France and Goya's blackest tableaux, Ford shaped a sexy,
confident and, at times, ravishingly beautiful collection of mostly black daywear, with a
few hints of blue, blood orange and white.
"Glamour, chic -- why should women only be beautiful at night?" Ford told FWD after showing
the collection, which is sure to be a critical and commercial success.
The voice of Janis Joplin opened the action, her raging vocals juxtaposed against the polished
finery on the catwalk in the custom-built "black box" in the Rodin Museum's garden.
(Janis' nephew even showed up in the morning at Stella McCartney's show, YSL's sister in the
Gucci Group stable.)
An opening outfit of a high-collar doublet with a to-the-knee skirt set the tone, followed
by barely-there lace tops over knickerbockers.
A flurry of figure-hugging, broad-shouldered velvet suits and frock coats with tight,
overlong sleeves were exceptional -- and will be highly influential.
The show had some transcendental moments.
One was transported to the court of the Sun King when Ford unveiled a series of dueling
shirts with ballooning sleeves or flared cuffs, and a stylish crew of suede-jacketed pirates
conjured the atmosphere of a Napoleonic frigate.
On the pirates' arms were new, larger versions of YSL's Mombassa bag to carry the swag;
and on their feet, laced up high heels to hit the nightspots.
At times it got a little carried away, as ruffled sleeves became prohibitively large.
And while some of the eveningwear was audacious -- like a clinging black velvet deep-gorge
dress with crystal appliqués -- other passages had over-exaggerated proportions.
But these were tiny missteps in a collection which confirmed that, in just four seasons,
Ford has got Rive Gauche where he wants it: as a source of great fashion and a trendsetter
to the industry.
YSL Rive Gauche by Tom Ford
YSL Rive Gauche by Tom Ford
|
