Going Places
Ralph Lauren Soars With Globe-Trotting Aesthetic

By Robin Givhan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 13, 2008

NEW YORK, Sept. 12

Fashion is neither a battleground nor rocket science and so it would be an overstatement to call the work that several designers sent down their runways here either brave or revolutionary. But it certainly was audacious and gutsy.

The spring 2009 fashion shows ended Friday with veteran designer Ralph Lauren presenting a collection with references to North Africa, India and the Middle East. It takes a lot of nerve for any Western designer to put dhotis and turbans on kids from Kansas, but it takes admirable mettle for a designer who has built his reputation on Mayflower Americana to do so at a time when that part of the world has for many become culturally anathema. Lauren was treading on volatile political ground.

And with his use of high-priced silks and satins and with the patrician looks of some of his Ivory Girl models, the designer risked a collection that at best looked like a costume drama and at worst like an argument for colonialism. In the moments before the show began, one also couldn't help but recall a previous season when Lauren went globe-trotting to Asia and returned with a collection that looked like he'd mugged a family of rice farmers.

But from the first ensemble to the last, Lauren proved himself a supple, smart and sophisticated designer. He created a breathtaking collection that hinted at the traditional styles of dress from those distant regions without caricaturing them. It's unlikely that those dropped-crotch trousers will ever find an audience beyond the fashion bat cave, but he was able to capture the flow and ease of them, which is where their special beauty lies.

So often, when New York designers wander away from traditional American sportswear and open their imagination to the global marketplace, they go wide-eyed and giddy. They stuff their collections with a cacophony of ideas, like tourists showing off their souvenirs. They fret too much about being authentic and respectful and fall under the spell of a style that is not their own. Lauren brought the same sense of luxury, glamour and exceptionalism to this collection that he brings to every other element of his brand. No matter the allusions to Bedouins, the Tuareg, the Sahara or a souk. The collection was foremost Ralph Lauren.

He built his presentation around a color palette that was focused on khaki, ivory and shades of gold. When he wasn't advocating MC Hammer pants or jodhpurs, the cut of his slacks was generous and often cropped. His jackets included classic boardroom styles but also silhouettes reminiscent of safari jackets, bombers and trenches. His evening gowns made one yearn for an invitation to some fantasy Saharan ball. The chiffon versions floated. The silk styles slithered. Mouths watered.

The models wore headdresses that ranged from rustic and spare wraps to sculptural hats and studded turbans that were more Sardi's and Stork Club than desert landscapes.

Lauren was also wise in his choice of models, casting a group that ranged from those with alabaster complexions and platinum hair to those with ebony skin and ink-black locks. Yet they all laid claim to the regal, rich and entitled air that epitomizes the brand in popular culture. At a time when diversity on the runways both here and in Europe has been a point of contention, Lauren -- along with many designers this season -- proved not only that there are a wide range of models up to the task of a showstopping runway turn but also that the mix strengthens a collection.

It's tempting to congratulate Lauren for a collection that managed to stay on the politically correct side of cultural tourism. But that might be a terribly egocentric thing to say. Who knows how this collection might play in Jaipur or Algiers? The incontrovertible truth is that Lauren put beautiful clothes on his runway Friday morning. And he showed that it is possible and powerful to declare oneself enlivened by a worldview without abandoning or even weakening his wholly American sensibility.

Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa showed an extraordinary collection Thursday afternoon. While Lauren's collection was rooted in culture and tradition, Costa's was focused on abstractions, geometry and experimentation. It was inspired by rectangles, cubes and angles. His dresses were constructed with straight lines that all but ignored the curves of a woman's body and yet he was able to create sensuality and seductiveness. The clothes weren't sexy, but they were captivating. How is it possible for a sleeve to be in the shape of a box and yet still hang elegantly on the arm? Costa found a way.

His dresses poked out in odd directions thanks to origami folds and awkward pleating, but they never left one wondering if perhaps the wearer had grown an extra limb. It was an astonishing, magical accomplishment. Costa essentially put a square peg into a round hole and made it look like a perfect, effortless fit.

So often on the runways here, the overwhelming message is fear. Designers don't want to step too far outside their area of comfort. They don't want to risk trying to be too artsy or avant-garde or European because this is New York, and sportswear -- simple and practical -- dominates. When designers here are at their best, there is nothing wrong with that. Great sportswear has the capacity to delight the soul. Bad sportswear is like Ambien.

Michael Kors

Michael Kors is, perhaps, the one American designer who understands the pleasure in simple clothes. He put both his men's and women's collections on the runway Wednesday afternoon. Typically, it's his women's line that's so filled with life and the men's just seems to plod along -- nice but forgettable. For spring, however, the women's collection came on in a blast of giant polka dots and strident combinations of cobalt blue, black and white. There were big skirts and bold sheaths and unsubtle jackets. It was all about volume rather than charm.

But the menswear was a joy. It was filled with mirth and frivolity, and you started wondering how difficult it would be to have those pop flower-print cropped trousers tailored for a woman's figure. The jackets were wholly unserious in bold red plaids. And every time one of the men walked the runway, it was impossible not to wonder: How did these pleasant gents get stuck with these loudmouth ladies?

Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta

Donna Karan draws her inspiration from New York, from women, from Zen-ness. The collection she showed Friday afternoon was filled with sexily draped dresses that seemed to be held up with an elaborate infrastructure of straps and, quite possibly, pulleys. They were in shades of khaki and olive and a peculiar color that could best be described as soap scum but that is perfectly attractive if one happens to be a 6-foot-tall, blond 16-year old with skin that appears to be lit from within.

Oscar de la Renta is not one to stray far from his world of women with deep pockets who want to look pretty. His show Wednesday afternoon attracted celebrities such as Barbara Walters and Jennifer Lopez, who now that she is the mother of twins seems to have shifted into a more demure fashion gear. Not saying it's right, just saying it's so. The collection was a tutorial in elegance and chic, with a steady stream of sheath dresses and evening gowns that could have the most serious, orthopedic-shoe-wearing super feminist squealing like a 13-year-old girl.

Narciso Rodriguez, Derek Lam

Narciso Rodriguez continues to make dresses that caress the body instead of putting it into a stranglehold. The collection he showed Tuesday night was filled with more decorated pieces than usual, from dresses studded with jet beads to those cut from fabric with a restrained abstract print.

In the mix of dresses with their peek-a-boo cutouts, Rodriguez also included those rare birds in the fashion zoo: suits. His are almost austere, with their uncomplicated lines and lack of frills. But that reserve allows the tailoring to shine. They are sharp without being severe, respectful of curves without overemphasizing them. The runways have for so long been inundated with dresses, dresses -- and really, how many dresses can a woman stuff into her closet? Perhaps that's why Rodriguez's pants seemed such a welcome change of pace.

Perhaps that's also why, despite a nagging desire for a certain degree of practicality in fashion, the jumpsuits from Derek Lam are enticing even though a woman would practically have to disrobe in order to use the bathroom. They are not another dress. They are fluid and sexy in a Marlene Dietrich kind of way. And maybe since he calls them "trouser gowns" instead of jumpsuits, they do not automatically set off alarms: Fad alert! Do not invest your hard-earned money here!

Vera Wang, Rodarte

But who, other than Lauren and Costa, was audacious? Vera Wang's ready-to-wear for spring was an almost restrained version of her brainy, artsy, how-many-layers-can-you-wear-at-one-time style. But her jewelry was oversized, sparkling and daring. There were link necklaces of chunky rhinestones, bracelets that encased the wrist like a cast made of rhinestones and bibs made of hunks of citrine-colored stones.

Kate and Laura Mulleavy offered tantalizing ideas in their Rodarte collection, which they presented Tuesday morning in the West Chelsea neighborhood of art galleries. Their models teetered on viciously high heels down a ramp and through a busted-out wall wearing beige dresses with pleated skirts and mesh bodices with strategically placed swirls of fabric. All the beige fabric matched the mostly beige models and so the mesh disappeared, creating the illusion of partial nudity.

Their knits were as dilapidated and beaten up as they were for fall -- and so they were equally as compelling and mournful. There were more patently wearable clothes in this collection -- including a black bomber jacket with wonderfully snarling attitude -- as opposed to the utterly unwearable aesthetic experiments that so often dominate their runway. The designers, who are sisters, are slowly bringing their rarefied sensibility and their desire to dazzle the eye down to earth and are creating artful clothes that one can envision outside of a gallery and on the street.

Thom Browne

Thom Browne is another audacious designer. He also crossed a line in his presentation Tuesday night. He is the menswear designer known for his ankle-grazing trousers, his little-boy blazers and his impeccable tailoring. And when he puts his work on the runway, he does so with an eye toward titillation, provocation and theatrics. In the past, no matter how far he was willing to push the boundaries of menswear, it was always accompanied by an obvious thoughtfulness. His men didn't walk out in codpieces and wedding gowns just for the joke. If his audience came with an open mind and the willingness to use a bit of brainpower, they were rewarded with an interesting commentary on gender, tradition and style.

This season he was inspired by tennis. And there were wonderful examples of his polo shirts, tennis sweaters, blazers and trousers that have been reimagined with new proportions, in surprising fabrics and with a nod toward contemporary popular culture that has young men allowing their trousers to sag to their hips to reveal their boxers.

But then there were the tutus and crinolines. A coat was lined with a thick white crinoline. Another crinoline poked from beneath a jacket. The finale had a male bride making his way down the sod-covered runway wearing one. Browne has played with the idea of gender before, but this time all that tulle seemed removed from any statement about traditional male and female roles. It wasn't especially attractive; the jackets just looked lumpy. And because he has used it before, the shock value was muted -- except on the security guard in the corner who, despite his best attempt to maintain a professional visage, couldn't help but roll his eyes in dismay. And confusion. Should he be trying to keep interlopers out? Or maybe he should be trying to keep the world safe from this madness.