This winter, women will be wearing clothes that contrast - tulle and sheepskin, pleats and fur, writes Deirdre McQuillan, Fashion Editor
'We were the last romantics - chose for theme/Traditional sanctity and loveliness." Those words of WB Yeats, written in the l930s, came to mind after a week in Paris watching collections as diverse as Comme des Garçons held in the old chapel of the École des Beaux Arts with white-faced models arrayed in beautiful, idiosyncratic Victoriana and the polished vitality and commercial muscularity of Chanel with its lovely, chunky grey tweeds and patterned leggings. A mood of nostalgia prevailed.
The winter 2005 season is certainly seeing off the predatory sexuality so prevalent in fashion of previous years, projecting instead a vision of romantic but powerful womanhood, equally at ease in bold tailoring and in fripperies of chiffon and lace. Such contrasts - illustrated by, for example, a tulle skirt with a bomber jacket, have been described as the new sobriety and they emerged forcefully in the major international shows in Paris, Milan, London and New York. The following is a summary of some of the major trends or "tendances" for the coming autumn/winter season.
COATS were longer, in many cases fuller and more shapely, but usually cinched with a belt. Collette Dinnigan, the Australian designer of Irish origin did this very well with a leopard-print belt cutely defining the waist of a brown tweed coat, an idea easily copied.
Menswear classics such as trench coats made many appearances in fabrics from taffeta to shoe leather, while reefer jackets appeared in the collections of Paco Rabanne, Sharon Wauchob, Issey Miyake and Hermès. Trapeze or swingback coats evocative of the 1950s were casual alternatives, worn shrugged open.
JACKETS in cowboy style and plaid, with fringing tamed for urban tastes, were popular in Paris, Milan and London. Jean Paul Gaultier used them at Hermès, and Alexander McQueen's taut tailoring of camel and cream check made them look modern and luxurious. John Rocha edged jackets with blanket stitch or silver fringing. At Anne Demeulemeester and Marithe & Francois Girbaud, the riding coat came into its own in soft leathers or cotton duck that looked handsome over fuller skirts and leggings. At YSL, Stefano Pilati defined the shape with pleated peplums and square-shouldered suits.
BLACK SATIN slipped into nearly every collection, appearing in sexy black jeans at Valentino, and simple, single-button jackets at both Chloe and Isabel Marant.
Sleek satin sheaths of gunmetal grey or black studded with crystal stood out at Dinnigan, Rabanne and Chanel. Black lace was everywhere too.
COLOURS The big colour for winter is grey in its many nuances from glacial, metallic and stormy deepening to black. Teal has been tipped as another hot shade by fashion forecasters, but in this writer's opinion, being neither blue nor green and impossible to match, is a colour best left to ducks.
Black with crystal or silver sequin decor sparkled everywhere. In Paris Isabel Marant twisted gold sequinned scarves into glittering bandannas.
KNIFE-PLEATED SKIRTS, another version of the fuller skirt, are very much in vogue and were most successful in thin, flouncy fabrics like satin, satin inset with chiffon or even black velvet inset with satin. A sporty, schoolgirlish look when worn with a pinch-waisted jacket and flat boots, it's bound to be widely copied. At Hermès, leather pleats were inset with printed silk. Other skirts were layered (Jessica Ogden) or tiered.
FUR AND SNAKESKIN There was little furore over fourrure in Paris with the exception of an incident before the Chanel show when the glacial editor of US Vogue, Anna Wintour, enveloped in chinchilla, was pelted with a cream cake and a cry of "shame on you". Julien Macdonald went overboard with fur in London (for the Russian market, he explained) while at Paco Rabanne in Paris, where the US designer Patrick Robinson has taken over, lavish amounts of fur replaced the signature high voltage silver (relegated to accessories). Elsewhere, fur pawed its way into accessories or was used as a trim on skirts or on luxurious oversize lapels (Dior). Snakeskin, such as python - either natural or dyed - was also widely used (from managed snakeskin farms?). Sharon Wauchob inserted astrakhan sleeves into belted bomber jackets and Anne Demeulemeester slung black fur tails and jet jewellery over riding coats. In Milan, Mongolian lamb, goat, mink and shearling were ubiquitous.
SHEEPSKIN, once a fixture on the sidelines of rugby pitches and racecourses, is firmly back in the fashion spotlight. It was used boldly at Hermès in coats with opulent lapels, in deerstalker hats or, in a more folksy fashion elsewhere, in embroidered gilets over sweaters and full skirts. At Dior, Galliano gave the Perfecto skirt a makeover in sheepskin.
ACCESSORIES Boots of all kinds: slouchy, cuffed with high or flat heels; blocky shoes with contrast colour heels or ballerina ribbons (Dries Van Noten), square toes, sequinned heels (Paul Smith); fur bags with short handles, butcher boy caps or flat caps. Ornate embroideries provided decorative touches to severe tailoring while gloves were studded with crystal (John Rocha).