January 17, 2007 | 12:00am
The spirit of liberation and romantic futurism lives on in the fashion accessories of 2007. Expressing the feelings of the designers who create them as well as those of the people who wear them, they have become less exuberant and more streamlined, but still very personal. Without nostalgia and freed of excessive details, they turn towards the future. What they have in common is the passion for know-how and the use of fine materials. This asceticism marks a new trend towards subtlety and refinement. Designers invest a lot of themselves in their creations. New accessories have a purity of line and are finely crafted yet never boring. There is a return to the values of art with a playful luxury, an antique mood, and a touch of orientalism.
Shine predominates everywhere with the finest hides and fabrics getting glazed, polished or metallicized for the sleek look of the future. Generous volumes, flowers and beribboned knots infuse that romantic spirit. Grey, pale blue, and natural shades of cream, sand, and cement are paired with bright colours like red and orange. Khaki green morphs into bronze. Macaroon-like pastels of yellow, green, and pink add a fresh spring feeling while various metallic finishes give an antique look.
The huge volumes of soft travel bags contrast with the thin proportions of unisex gamebags, holsters, and shoulder straps. With cellphones slimmer than ever and black Amex cards having unlimited purchasing power, sleek metallic clutches at Jil Sander, gold lacquer jewelbox minaudieres at Chanel, and tiny croc-embossed sterling silver purses at Ralph Lauren seem more than enough for a glam girl’s night out. For Marc Jacobs, embellishment never seems to be enough as he fills otherwise basic totes with huge bubblegum jewels that made bling look cool again. At Louis Vuitton, he used elements from various bags like a pocket from this tote, a drawstring from that carryall, to produce a whimsical want-worthy bag for the season. The most witty, though, would have to be his high-low take on the red, white and blue plaid shopping bag of Tati, the beloved downmarket shopping institution of Paris.
The future is Lucite, but it’s also gilded and liquid silver whether in towering heels, platforms and wedges or in ballerina flats and sandals. Balenciaga’s space warrior open-toe sandal platforms had copper chain gear hardware while Dior’s
armor mon amour pointy pumps were decked in antique silver chain mail. Chanel had the most wicked Swarovski-encrusted wedges in dark gold and platinum. Wedges were reduced to shiny patent peekaboo outlines at Jil Sander while Prada did minimal elegance with purple satin pumps. Prada’s flat sandals also went the modernist way in simple color blocks, as did Chloe’s plain black Mary Jane pumps with just a gold band accent on the heel. At Alexander McQueen, on the other hand, the Lucite heels were blooming with lilac flowers while at Alessandro Dell’Acqua, the flowers were in graphic black on white raffia wedges. Junya Watanabe gives the best of both gender worlds with his white lace appliquéd black lace-ups. From over-the-top to simple and sexy, choices abound for all shoe fiends.
The runways seemed to espouse a "more is more" spirit when it came to jewelry, from stack them if you have them bracelets at Hermes and Chanel to pile them on necklaces at Lanvin, in an intriguing mix of Lucite, metal, and rhinestones. Hardware gear chains at Balenciaga put the space explorers in fighting form while chunky automotive part cuffs in gold at Luella gave a tough edge to Mod partyphiles. Cut-out acrylic elements in white and bright colors made artsy mobile-like necklaces at Pucci and were interpreted in chunky, bold hearts at YSL. Yohji Yamamoto’s jewelry was a galactic vision of bunched silver wires circumnavigating the neck and the arm. Lanvin’s oversized medallion pendants and rings in onyx and gemstones were at once Renaissance Medici and sci-fi Flash Gordon. Ornella Mutti would be so at home ruling the galaxies with Dolce & Gabbana’s giant plexi flower colliers.
Nicolas Ghesquiere’s cyber-goddess goggles are definitely the coolest thing to happen to eyeware in seasons, whether in clear, laboratory versions or tinted and copper-colored with metal detailing. A delightful revival with new proportions are the Peggy Guggenheim sculptural shades by Giambattista Valli. They’re the perfect foil to streamlined modernist clothes. Luella’s white square frames with round black-tinted lenses go so well with the pixie, Mia Farrow’s Rosemary’s Baby hairdo of the moment as well as with 60’s mod looks.
If Miuccia Prada should be followed, the turban is the headgear for spring. The trick is to wear them with the briefest tunics or mini shirtdresses which give them a current appeal, not with the Gloria Swanson caftan of Sunset Boulevard which seems to linger in our memory as far as turbans go. Marc Jacobs’ turban is brief, translucent, underneath a metallic cap and adorned with oversized jewels to create that glamorous space explorer hybrid. At Louis Vuitton, he went more romantic by embellishing the hair with Liberty print flowers, but still gave a futuristic edge with slashes of silver shimmer under the eyes. It was emblematic of the tug-of-war for fashion in 2007: between past and future, the romantic and the rational, the sweet and the stark. In the end, as always, it’s all in the mix and one’s personal style will dictate the final look.
