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Costume National: Great Clothes -- but the Show Needs Work
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photo by Gruber-FWD
Mar 10, 2002/ FWD/ --- Sometimes designers really do sell themselves short.
Costume National's Ennio Capasa did just that Thursday, the opening day of the French
fall/winter 2002 collections, with a rich, inventive and highly wearable collection that
had a tragically flat presentation.
The first bad sign was the catwalk in the Union Central des Arts Decoratifs on the rue du
Rivoli.
After a lengthy wait, workmen pulled away a long black rug to reveal a black carpet.
A further irritation was the fact that half the models stopped five yards sooner than they
should have, leading the bloodhounds among the photographers to yell and snarl throughout
the show.
This was a real pity, because the clothes were pretty much great -- belted, muddy-brown aged
leather pants and flight jacket ensembles, gold-pinstriped velvet trouser suits, and suede
deep-gorge jackets perfect for downtown clubbing, like the one Carmen Kass wore haughtily.
Capasa is also a great cutter, as his soaring necklines and perfectly flared pants testified.
His sense of detail is also just right, such as seen in leather pants lightened with ankle
buttons, and a pair of naughty dresses with one-inch vertical mesh windows at the hips.
And yet the music was uninspiring, the models were subdued, and the finale was just a bit
lifeless.
Costume National deserves better than that.
Ennio and his family have been a great business with a distinctive vision and great fashion,
but the presentation let them down.
From Italians, a people with a unique gift for set design, opera and presentation,
one expects better.
Has no one at Costume National even seen what Kevin Krier or Alex de Betak can do for a show?
Maybe now is the time to call.
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