Macdonald's Fantasy Island Is a Leap Too Far
By Melanie Rickey
Photos by Gruber-FWD
PARIS, Oct 9, 2002/ FWD/ --- "I imagined a tropical island where glamorous women go to
hang out, wear high shoes, drink champagne and wear very, very little," Julien Macdonald
told FWD after his third ready-to-wear outing for Givenchy.
"I love my women to be real women. They are glamorous, they take ages to get ready.
This collection was for them to wear for their holidays in Miami Beach or the South of France."
This classic Macdonaldism begs two questions: 1)doesn’t Givenchy have a resort line for
this sort of thing? and 2) Julien, how many women do you actually know with the kind of
life that prescribes them to wear pink bikinis hung with heavy bead curtains,
sliced-to-almost-nothing one-piece swimsuits, 13.5cm heels, and white shorts with mesh legs?
We can all dream, but real life - however glamorous it can sometimes be - is markedly
different than Macdonald’s fantasy of it.
So, Macdonald’s rather flat catwalk collection for Givenchy was high on impractical but
glamorous beachwear, brief skirts, sexy dresses, and tropical suede patchwork, and low to
nonexistent on daywear and tailoring.
What is the Givenchy lady to do?
Go elsewhere, is probably the best advice, because as Macdonald also pointed out backstage,
"I’m taking Givenchy in a new uptown, glamorous, sophisticated and exciting direction.
It is less uptight, more relaxed and sporty."
No kidding.
The designer is onto something, but he would do well to remember that we want to see his
super-glam take on a trouser suit, a skirt suit, even a nice shirt or blouse too.
Instead we got a selection of sexy brief draped jersey dresses - similar to the styles sent
out in his eponymous collection in London - in sorbet shades of orange, coral, turquoise,
and pink; some Pucci-esque print flowing chiffon toga dresses, and liberal use of heavy
beadwork.
The saving grace of the collection was the fun accessories.
Platform sandals in mint and candy pink were covered with braiding and buckles, big sac
handbags looked glam and useful.
Huge gold tipped bangles and a ridiculously fancy Judith Leiber-inspired bejeweled Parakeet
clutch were so tacky, they were cool.
|
