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Trendspotting: Legs, Pop Culture & Ethnicity
Paris Fashion Week Fall 2003
By Mari Davis
Photos by Javier Mateo
Click here to view slideshow.
Mar 19, 2003/ FW/ --- The Paris season emerged as the strongest in the international fashion
scene eclipsing both New York and London, with Milan at its heels.
With over 90 shows in the official calendar spread over 8 days, it was an endless parade of
clothes and beautiful women.
For Fall 2003, the keyword is 'beautiful' with a capital B. It is a 'feel good, look good'
season, a psychological rebuttal to the ominous political situation.
Mini-skirts, Leggings and Pantyhose
The mini-skirt craze started in New York and crossed the Atlantic all the way to the continent.
But before you start rummaging your mother's closet or go to vintage shops to hunt for those
1960s mini-skirts, look at the collections again.
The new mini has a new dimension - leggings, opaque hosiery, and leg warmers. And these items
are not treated as accessories. They are treated as part of the whole outfit either as a mix
and match or made from the same fabric as the dress.
At Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld had leather leggings either in black or white with zippers at the
back.
Sonia Rykiel chose opaque hosiery while some designers used catsuits and put a mini on top of
it.
At Paco Rabanne, extra high boots were used to cover the legs.
In short, there is not a lot of exposure from the elements, and designers went out of their
way to keep you warm during fall.
Black is the New Black, and White Is Used to Soften it
It sounds redundant, but it is exactly what it is. Almost all of the shows did a take
on the little black dress and expanded it to include pants and trousers.
At Louis Féraud, Jean-Paul Knott used different shades of black - shiny black to matte
black, opaque black and solid black. Some of the black are jewel-toned purple and blues
in disguise.
Lanvin, Sonia Rykiel and Givenchy also chose all black.
At Lagerfeld Gallery, Chanel and Costume National, white was mixed with black to soften
the look.
Others like Paco Rabanne used silver instead of white to get the same effect.
Fur & Leather Became Coats, Collars and Trims
Though PETA might have been dismayed, there is a profusion of fur on the runway, though
not as much as fur coat, but more as trims.
Valentino used fur as collars and edging and so did Givenchy.
The most innovative use of fur was seen at Dries Van Noten where he made over-sized
collars to emphasize the fur.
Alexander McQueen concocted a new treatment for fur, and in turn breaking new grounds in
fashion by adding beading and Swarovski crystals to give it glitter.
Emerging designer Tilmann Grawe used fur to create a checkerboard design on a black evening
gown. While Andrew Gn used fur to create an Elizabethan collar.
The use of leather was not a recycling of ideas from the 1980s, but rather a look into the
future. Used for pants, skirts, long coats and short-cropped jackets, the silhouettes
were modern and the cut contemporary.
Hollywood Triumphs
Hollywood affects fashion and vice-versa. On the runway, there are a lot of references
to Hollywood's legacy - from glamour, to cartoon, even sci-fi.
John Galliano's homage to 1940s Hollywood and Jessica Rabbit is the epitome of how a designer's
imagination can bring to life what we see in the movies.
Ennio Capassa of Costume National referenced without meaning to the blockbuster movie, 'The
Matrix', a very timely reference because the much awaited sequel will be on theaters this
summer.
Paco Rabanne and Alexander McQueen championed current Oscar contender 'Lord of the Ring: Two
Towers' with their mitril vest and armor-like creations.
Girly Girls & Tomboys
It's all about dressing up with affordable couture looks and feel.
Valentino and Christian Lacroix were the spearheads of this movement, creating ready-to-wear
while using their couture expertise.
John Galliano at Dior and Alber Elbaz at Lanvin did the same thing, except that their vision
were more contemporary.
But this couture looks was not just in dresses and gowns. It was also used in pants and tuxedos
for women as exemplified by Costume National, Louis Feraud and Lagerfeld Gallery.
Color Explosion In Solids & Prints
Although black was a mainstay in almost all of the shows, there was a color explosion
during the season.
Leonard, known for his use of prints presented floral prints of the lotus and chrysanthemum to
the delight of their largely Japanese audience.
Dries Van Noten, Cacharel, Giambattista Valli at Emanuel Ungaro and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
opted for solids and prints either in sorbet or neon colors.
Emerging designers Tilmann Grawe, Dice Kayek and Sharon Wauchob followed suit.
Pants: Slim, Low Waisted and Treated as Leggings
With mini-skirts ruling the day, you might think that designers don't want us to wear
pants next fall. That is farthest from the truth.
All of them gave different choices for pants and the most delightful of all came from
Giambattista Valli at Emanuel Ungaro where he ruched the leggings/pants and matched with
with mini-skirts or tops and blouses.
Pants came in a variety of sizes and shapes - slim, low-waisted, nipple-high waist,
generously cut, capri-length or as pedal pushers. Some designers even showed skorts.
With silhouttes as varied as this, a girl can easily fit a pair of pants in her wardrobe
this fall.
Multi-cultural & Ethnic
Designers took inspiration from everywhere, including history. Ohya's 'Tribal Folklores'
travelled all over the world to bring to the audience 12 distinct looks from different
ethnic groups.
Romeo Gigli was inspired by the Chinese, Japanese and other civilizations, while Laetitia
Hecht at Guy Laroche took us to the Hungarian plains for fall.
Andrew Gn took the romantic period seriously, culling from the Renaissance and Elizabethan
periods for inspiration.
As a Disney song goes, 'It's a small world after all.'
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