Fashion 88 : A Regal Welcome for British Fashion Week

LONDON — Guests entering the royal apartments at Kensington Palace were shocked Monday night at suddenly finding themselves eyeball-to-eyeball with their hostess, Princess Diana, her hand extended in a cheery hello. Next to the princess, hair slicked back and hand also extended, was wee Prince William, age 5, who solemnly greeted each guest.

The cozy reception for 200 people capped off British Fashion Week here. Everybody had expected to see Diana and perhaps be introduced. Few expected such animated and personal conversation with the future queen, who was elegant in a pale yellow, slim, knee-length suit designed by London’s Catherine Walker as she navigated through the crowd, apparently determined to chat with each and every one.

When one emotional guest mentioned she had watched Diana’s wedding on TV and was rather awe-struck to meet her in person, the princess gently put her hand on her arm and said, “Don’t you get upset or I shall do so, too, and we’ll both end up in tears.”

Among the guests were British designers Zandra Rhodes,in a long black glittery dress of her own design; Jean Muir, in a simple dark brocade knee-length suit; and Bruce Oldfield, along with U.S. retailers Ellin Saltzman, fashion director of Saks Fifth Avenue, in a cocoa-color knee-length suit; Bernard Oser of Associated Merchandising Corp., Bernard Taubman of Bloomingdale’s, plus a clutch of journalists from Japan, Canada, the continent and the U.S.A.

The palace reception, for which invitations were sent well in advance, was part of the British government’s ongoing attempt to persuade influential retailers and journalists to visit the U.K. The government needn’t have worried.

This city’s quirky fashion charms exert such lure for retailers that even those with little budget for English clothes this season came to scout fall trends at 300 booths and in dozens of fashion shows at the huge Olympia Trade Center.

The devalued dollar and rising production costs in Europe have elevated prices for American buyers by 20% to 35%, according to most estimates. Still, there are bargains to be found, especially in English ball gowns and party dresses, which will constitute the biggest percentage of U.S. retailer purchases this season.

Last weekend, fresh off the plane from Milan, dozens of buyers crammed into booths of Bellville Sassoon and Murray Arbeid, both of whom specialize in evening frocks. Arbeid, who estimates that 70% of his business is done in U.S. stores, does jewel-toned satin and glitter-splashed formals, which are lavish with “the kind of details that go into couture clothes.” The average price of one of his dresses is $1,750 at such stores as Saks Fifth Avenue, I. Magnin, and Neiman-Marcus--a price that would be doubled, buyers say, if the British-made dresses were made in Europe or the U.S.A.

Not everyone here is cost-conscious, as was evidenced this week at Anouska Hempel’s show in a posh London club. Hempel’s velvets, crepes and silk taffeta after-five dresses are mostly black and torso-hugging, but with such precision cut and unusual details at shoulders, sleeves and necklines that they could never appear mass-produced or inexpensive. Still, the $5,000-to-$10,000 price tags on these dresses is a shocker until you talk to someone like Tommy Perse of Maxfield’s in Los Angeles, who says they sell as soon as they reach the store.

America’s rich clotheshorses got a lot of mention here during British fashion week, a result of a just-released book by English author Nicholas Coleridge, which sold out at the Olympia trade show. Called “The Fashion Conspiracy,” it loosely chronicles the antics of the world’s top designers and their compulsively chic customers, most of whom the author claims are lonely wives of America’s workaholic tycoons who spend, he says, an average of $367,000 yearly on clothes and purchase two-thirds of all the couture sold in Europe.

Amazing Array

Aside from the amazing array of special party dresses for rich and not-so-rich women, there is no specific London look this season as designers here have receded into their own fashion fantasies rather than seeking inspiration from the social fabric of the streets. In fact, the streets are a sea of pale blue denim legs peeking out from beneath conservative cloth jackets of every description. And the British collections of daytime clothes seem equally bland.

Vivienne Westwood, former fashion rebel, has matured into a fan of Miss Marple mysteries and medieval armor. Her hot-ticket show featured vests that transmute to jackets with the addition of pieces of fabric that snap onto shoulders and down the arms, in the same way armor must have been made. The fabric pieces are all mismatched, giving a sort of “found object” look to the garments. For more fun, Westwood places miniature crinoline under the kick pleats of her tweed skirts, so that the skirt bottom juts forward to reveal the frills. Wispy chiffon capes and cover-ups float above clunky tweed suit jackets for men and women, a trend inexplicably turning up at many London shows.

Westwood’s best-received items were mini-skirted dresses in bright prints or leather, one of which had a front and back but no sides.

Katharine Hamnett, once London’s fashion iconoclast, now favors an Edwardian-dandy look with brocade vests gleaming under high-button frock coats above trousers often tucked into boots. Models wore Hamnett’s luxurious, cocoon-like, velvet cloaks with nothing else but huge, portrait-brim hats.

Most-Applauded Clothes

Among the most-applauded clothes shown this week were those of Jean Muir and Emanuel. Muir’s zingy color scheme (including bright pink, orange and green) took equally zingy shape in daytime cashmere sweaters, jersey dresses and suits with lots of body curves, including undulating peplums. Her evening wear was embellished with sequins or shiny leather appliques. Muir’s new shop in Bullocks Wilshire ought to be the scene of some commotion when these upbeat outfits arrive.

David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed Princess Diana’s wedding dress in 1981, also showed elegantly body-conscious clothes, invariably above the knee and of jewel-toned lush fabrics such as silk velvet.

Rifat Ozbek, the London-based Turkish-born designer, was another who opted for the short, clingy look--although his stretchy chenilles and velvets are tighter, brighter and shorter than almost anyone else’s. He also showed very wide-leg, ankle- or calf-length jump suits, above-the-knee coat dresses, and shiny Lurex miniskirts over body suits. Ozbek often mixed multiple jewel shades and shiny with matte textures all in a single, sleek outfit.

Z-Shaped Skirts, Jackets

Jasper Conran’s look was based on the Z-shape, with jackets zigging down from waist to hips on one side and skirts zagging down from knee to calf in the other direction. This asymmetric look was somewhat disorienting to look at and would probably be even more so to wear.

Alistair Blair majored in pants that stopped at the knee, calf or ankle. His newest trouser is wide-leg with an elongated petal of fabric that runs down the outside of each leg, flapping slightly as the wearer walks. With these, he showed a variety of slim, belted jackets. Blair also likes checks mixed together in different sizes, teaming a large black and white houndstooth check over a smaller tablecloth check in the same colors.

He also showed taffeta dresses with back-dipping hemlines for evening, short coat dresses, slim miniskirts and longer circle skirts. He is not alone in his catholicity. Most designers here espouse a variety of skirt and pants lengths, a variety of muted shades as well as brights, and a variety of shapes ranging from straight and narrow to full. Shoulders are almost uniformly natural.

John Galliano opted for what he called a medieval look, except when he switched to a flamenco theme. But promotional names hardly matter with this young designer, a rising star in the international fashion firmament. For colder climates, Galliano has devised huge stoles that button onto suits, shrouding the shoulders and forming a picture frame for the face. For warmer zones, Galliano’s one-piece, double-breasted jump suits have generously proportioned tops and wide-leg pants cropped at knee, calf or ankle.

Ten days of fashion shows start in Paris today.