Byline: David Livingstone
London ENGLAND -- By David Livingstone Fashion Reporter London In London, fashion fits more seamlessly into life than in any other part of the world. Given the small gap between catwalk and sidewalk, it's not surprising that the next major costume exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum is Streetstyle, opening on Nov. 16 and celebrating the looks of such tribes as the teddy boys, mods, rude boys, skinheads, punks, new romantics, raggamuffins, ravers etc.
However, as stylish and as influential as its thoroughfares may be, London fashion, fed by outstanding fashion schools, also reflects a learnedness, and it was this more refined quality that characterized the recent three days of designer collections for next spring.
Following the elegant example of two British fashion immortals, Vivienne Westwood and Jean Muir, Nicholas Knightly sought new possibilties in cotton shirting and silk jersey. Using white poplin and pique of starched texture, he proposed spruce ensembles of open-neck shirts and flared trousers, their clean lines sometimes complicated by zigzag seams and hemlines that showed him to be in complete control of his materials. Just as simple were combintions, in navy jersey, of V-neck pullovers and pants, with back pockets providing a boyishly nonchalant air.
Barbara Sonnentag and Tracy Mulligan, the team behind the Sonnentag Mulligan label, also used white cotton poplin, translating it into a strapless white dress that was at once plain and womanly. Among the many designers making floral prints a trend for next season (the last time florals were so big was exactly 10 years ago), they offered blooms on satin and vinyl, two types of fabric that also amount to major tendencies.
The other main source of shine for next spring is nylon, which began the Joseph collection from internationally recognized London retailer Joseph Ettedgui. This nylon was black and took the seventies form of a wrapped and tied dress. Other dresses were knit, some in looped terry; directional features includes V-necks, polo collars, back pockets and a lack of sleeves. Important colours were baby blue and lilac.
Red too is a shade coming back, now that its association with Nancy Reagan is but a memory. In their first runway presentation in several seasons, Richard Nott and Graham Fraser in their Workers for Freedom collection combined tonalities of red in dresses of multiple ruffled tiers. Quite unlike anything else being suggested for next spring, these garments brought to mind strange, strong women of the 1920s.
It was the thirties that inspired Bella Freud who, in homage to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, sent out tailcoats and rehearsal shorts. While the rest of the world has become hep to the small-scale, pastel-coloured suits that Freud offered in her neo-couture collection for spring, '92, Freud herself has been exploring knitwear, discovering along with everyone else the ease of the polo shirt.
A pale-blue, polo-collared, cable-knit cardigan worn over a pale-blue dress in washed satin and completed by Converse running shoes typified the easy kind of dressing espoused as modern by Betty Jackson. For years a familiar name in British fashion, Jackson also proved that she was not to be taken for granted with several jackets made from eco-friendly leather, unlined and raw-edged.
Down to earth, but in a more poetical way, Sonja Nuttall layered A-line tank dresses in sheer, delicate chiffons as well as cotton poplin. A counterpoint to their uncomplicated outlines were intricate seams, sometimes just on the bodice, sometimes over the complete garment, as was the case with a long dress crafted from pieces of cloth, transparent and opaque, stitched together in a graceful whole.
Other names now enlivening the London scene, Abe Hamilton and Hussein Chalayan also carried out similarly high-minded experiments having to do with the texture of cloth. Hamilton chose crystalline beaded gauze. From Chalayan were knits like webs and one woven material like waxed paper.
Presenting his collection in a seedy side of town, in a dark space that the models entered via a shadowy tunnel, Alexander McQueen achieved heights of lowdown style. His jackets had the most pronounced shoulders in London. A white one looked like it had been run over by tar-drenched tires; a red one was printed with images of dark birds. Below-the-knee dresses were likewise hard-edged, and there were both pants and skirts with below-the-navel waistlines, each an example of his bold tailoring, each indicative of attitude anchored in skill.
In fact, the only problem with the shows in London is that they had to be squeezed into three days in order to accomodate the schedules in Milan and Paris. It's just as well that Clinton Silver, a former executive with Marks & Spencer and chairman of the British Fashion Council since earlier this year, is also a man of attitude and skill. He speaks confidently of arranging a more reasonable fashion calendar, declaring quite rightly, "We've got something very special to offer."