The spring/summer 2004 collections combine flouncy femininity and monochrome chic, writes Deirdre McQuillan
If anyone had said 10 years ago, at the height of power dressing, that in 2004 women would be wearing frills, flounces and masses of chiffon, they would have been dismissed with hoots of derision. A tough look that aped masculinity, with squared-off shoulders and business suits, stalked the streets and corridors of power speaking volumes about women's work, aspirations and social status. Yet having recently sat through dozens of catwalk shows in London and Paris for spring/summer 2004, there was no question that the mood in contemporary fashion is one of confident, almost cocky, femininity and it shows in the sensuality and airiness of the clothes. The message was clear: today's modern Amazon isn't fighting shy of her softer side any more. Dresses are back. Ruffles and ribbons are everywhere.
While all this might send shivers of apprehension and scorn down the backs of the black suit brigade, there is something rather appealing about it all. The chance, for instance, to modernise, to be a little more flirtatious, to incorporate colour and pattern into a dark wardrobe or adapt a prom skirt to a working life. One of the best shows in Paris was Chloé, where Phoebe Philo put a certain tomboyish spirit into the clothes that hit just the right note.
Her braided-waisted denims and crisp white lace and chiffon blouses looked fresh, girlish yet everyday. Even workwear shapes like cotton dungarees and shorts were given a lighter touch with white broderie anglaise. Filmy baby-doll dresses, a challenge on their own, were dreamier, wispier alternatives to a T-shirt, over jeans.
Nearly every show had a sweeter, lighter touch, best displayed at Dries Van Noten, and tweed was a recurring theme, not surprisingly particularly at Chanel, where it came in sugary pastel colours as well as black and white, another strong and easy-to-wear trend. Karl Lagerfeld edged his jacket armholes and trench coats with tweed, an idea that will no doubt be more quickly identified and copied than the elegant silk camellia prints and floral chiffons that underscored the A-line suits.
Touches like this reach the high street fast; when Marc Jacobs sent out models in huge buttons and 1960s-style minis, clever look-alikes hit the chain stores running. But nothing, as Oscar Wilde once said, is more dangerous than being too modern, for "one is apt to grow old-fashioned quite suddenly." Perhaps a little daunting for the street was the penchant in Paris for boudoir regalia, in particular corsets, which played a leading role in both the Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier collections. It wasn't so much a question of them being over the top as being literally over the bottom, sometimes over the hips and waist even, with metal suspenders as hanging decorations. The women who might wear Galliano's breezy dresses or very shapely satin suits that stretched tautly over the derrière could hardly embrace corsets with similar confidence and jauntiness.
Where corset themes did work was in jackets or coats that used elements of boning, as in Nicole Farhi and Miyake, to give them shape and flare, or to stiffen a skirt drawing emphasis to the waist.
As for shapes, cropped trousers were everywhere in plain or patterned fabrics, with zippered seams or bits of décor. Pleated minis were worn with cut-off tights in zany colours and many dresses had full skirts with plenty of swish. There is always some element of outrageousness or what's called the unwearable factor on the catwalks. But that's par for the course at attention-seeking spectacles like these, where the more tra la la there is on the runways the more they cost and the more they are used to leverage sales of associated products like accessories. It is not unusual for shows in Paris to cost upwards of €300,000 to mount, money that comes from fat publicity and promotional budgets. Much of the buying is actually done before the shows, when buyers see the clothes up close on hangers, the way the customer does and where, according to one designer, "if you don't show you're not credible". London was full of colour and a dizzying array of stripes, checks and prints. It takes a lot of sartorial skill to knit them together visually in the way that Paul Smith, Clements Ribeiro or Tracey Boyd did with such flair. But who could resist the sheer frivolity of a candy-striped dress over polka dot leggings or a sober grey skirt suit ruched up cheekily at the rear?
Betty Jackson's ice-blue prints, ruffle skirts and little bows brought out her girly but sophisticated side, while Tracey Boyd let it all hang out with red sundresses, red suede coats and strawberry prints, opening her show with a neon yellow raincoat. "Let the sun shine in," was the theme music and it said it all.
Look smart: hot tips from the catwalk
What's In
Print and pattern
Black and white
Cropped or slouchy trousers
Lace
Flashes of silver Ruffles and pleats
Chiffon
Full skirts Embroidery
T-bar shoes
What's out
Camouflage prints
Military looks Combats
Cargo pants Fringing
Fixed-handle bags