Page 9 from 03/09/02 Second SATURDAY SECOND at 6:07PM, 03/08/02 by amq

** FASHION International Herald Tribune

Saturday-Sunday, March 9-10, 2002 9
City of angels versus city of light
By Jessica Michault for the first time, Ungaro has decided to send a ‘‘I much prefer to be chosen than being too

I
PARIS
f Paris is the fashion capital of the world,
why are so few world-famous celebrities
flying the tricolor? Year after year, the red
carpets outside the American awards
shows are awash with the dazzling creations of
the Italians Giorgio Armani, Donatella Versace
and Valentino. And staple American designers
Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein never miss
a ceremony. But Parisian outfits are few and
far between.
At this year’s Academy Awards on March 24,
with hundreds of thousands of dollars in free
publicity at stake, it seems unlikely that France
will fare much better.
If you listen to the all-important stylists, it is
the fault of the French designers themselves.
Jessica Paster, who has dressed many stars
including Minnie Driver in a red Halston en-
semble and Joan Allen in a coral-incrusted
Michel Kors dress at last year’s Oscars, said
she would love to use more French designers
but ‘‘the dresses are just so hard to get and the
French don’t seem to understand the value of
the awards shows.’’
Phillip Bloch, whose regular clients include
Julia Roberts and Halle Berry, agrees. ‘‘We call
and the dresses are not available or they send
the wrong one and they never arrive when they
are supposed to. They just don’t get that we are
on a tight schedule.’’
This lack of entente cordiale might simply be
geographical: The city of lights is thousands of
miles from the city of angels. While most of the
top Italian fashion houses have offices in Los
Angeles, many French houses don’t. Without an
office in Los Angeles, it is difficult to handle
the logistical requirements such as sending out
samples and booking fittings that are needed to
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images persuade a celebrity to wear a designer’s dress.
The pop singer Pink, at the Grammy awards, wearing One French house that has become a hit with
an ensemble by Jean Paul Gaultier. the hip crowd is Emanuel Ungaro. This year,
contingent to Los Angeles a week before the
74th Academy Awards. The house is hoping to
repeat the success of last year’s Emmys when
Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of ‘‘Sex in the
City,’’ decided at the last minute to wear a pink
Ungaro dress to the ceremony.
‘‘Nothing beats being in Los Angeles. The
awards shows are nonstop, and it is difficult to
organize from Paris,’’ said Robert Forrest, a
consultant for the Ungaro fashion house.
Bad timing may be a factor in the lack of
French gowns on the red carpets. The peak
weeks of the American awards season take
place this month — at the height of the prepa-
ration and presentation of Paris ready-to-wear
col lections.
Yet some houses make the grade. Dior’s east-
meets-west embroidered pinstripes for Cate
Blanchett and Yves Saint Laurent’s laced up
leather for Nicole Kidman at this year’s Golden
Globes were two striking success stories.
But perhaps it is significant that the YSL’s
Tom Ford is an American and Dior’s John Gal-
liano is British.
Many French designers rebel against the
hustle and bustle of the ever-expanding awards
circuit. The fast pace leaves them nostalgic for
a time when things moved a bit slower, people
took the time to appreciate the work, and there
was an opportunity to make a personal con-
nection between a star and a designer.
Michele Chatenet who, with her husband
Olivier, counts Gwyneth Paltrow and Vanessa
Paradis as clients for their E2 customized vin-
tage creations, looks back with fondness to the
golden days of celebrity dressing. ‘‘I wish it
could be like in the past when Marlene Diet-
rich and Audrey Hepburn would fly over to see
a collection in Paris and then choose the
clothes they wanted to wear,’’ she says.
Christian Lacroix who put ‘‘Mulholland
Drive’’ star Naomi Watts into a pink lingerie-
inspired dress for the Golden Globes concurs.
pushy,’’ he says.
‘‘The personal contact is so important,’’ says
Lolita Lempicka, a designer. ‘‘When stars come
to Paris, we spend time together picking out the
right outfit and start to build a relationship.’’
Perhaps the limited number of Parisian cre-
ations on the red carpet has to do with the
French psyche. While American and Italian
designers seem happy to play second fiddle to
the celebrities, the few times a French design
did make an appearance at the Academy
Awards it was almost always a show-stopper.
Who will soon forget the dress Jean Paul Gault-
ier put last year’s best actress nominee Juliette
Binoche in, a flirty flapper gown swathed in
pearls, while Dior’s back-to-front tuxedo jacket
was a mellow dramatic look for Celine Dion.
Both outfits were panned by the American
press, even if they were applauded in the pages
of glossy fashion magazines.
Lacroix admits that it takes a certain type of
woman to wear an European ensemble. ‘‘Euro-
pean dresses need self-confident women be-
cause they are, except Armani and Chanel,
very operatic,’’ he says. If the French outfits
seem over the top, they may be intended to be
costumes more than clothes.
‘‘The French don’t easily change their ways,’’
says Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, a French de-
signer. ‘‘The French have always preferred to
collaborate with films, mixing together art
and cinema.’’
Castelbajac has been working with Brian De
Palma on his latest film ‘‘Femme Fatale’’ and
sees this as a good way to reach an American
audience. Castelbajac thinks that ‘‘French cre-
ations belong more on a flying carpet than on a
red carpet. The designers put creativity first
and stars are afraid that their dress will get
more attention then they do.’’
Lucy Nicholson/Agence France-Presse
Jessica Michault is on the staff of the Interna- Naomi Watts, at the Golden Globe awards, wears
tional Herald Tribune. Christian Lacroix’s pink lingerie-inspired gown.

Corner of England in Paris Trend-spotting:

gets a colorful makeover new spins on
By Pat McColl own labels, shirts from Turnbull & Asser, Ed-
old techniques
W
ward Green shoes, a corner for Hackett’s,
PARIS plus in-store boutiques for what Henriquet
ith a burst of color, one of the calls ‘‘a showcase for the great British luxury
city’s oldest shopping destina- names such as Fortnum and Mason, station- By Michele Loyer

tions, Old England, has been re-
cently redone, turning it into one
of Paris’s most modern shopping venues.
While the stained glass window with the
coat of arms of Britain and the monumental
mahogany staircase are still there, the first-
floor women’s area has been recarpeted in a
rich raspberry color. Tables piled high with
cashmere or Shetland sweaters are ablaze
with hot pinks, turquoise or orange. Hung
along one wall are duffel coats in 25 different
colors, with new colors added every season.
About 4,500 coats are sold every season. On
the same floor, there is a corner for Tod’s
shoes, handbags and totes in a rainbow of
pastel colors and childrenswear.
N
ery from Smythson of Bond Street and ports
and whiskeys from Berry’s Bros and Rudd of PARIS
St. James Street.’’ ot that long ago, one of the thrills of traveling
Displayed in showcases dating from the abroad was to shop for something distinctly differ-
1930s are fragrances from Floris, Penhali- ent from what one could find at home. But no
gon’s, Atkinson and Geo. F. Trumper. longer. Today the only difference between a pair of
As Henriquet adds, ‘‘We had the décor, and jeans bought in New York, Sydney or London is the price.
in the redo we kept its soul and its spirit.’’ Blame this standardization on globalization. But less vis-
There are also Old England stores in Lyon ible culprits, although just as influential, are the trend-spot-
and Toulouse plus 36 ‘‘corners’’ in Japan. ters, whose business it is to detect and distribute fashion
If Old England’s decor is a link with the trends on a worldwide basis.
past, Marni’s is a leap into the future, with The fashion trend business started in Paris in the late ’50s
the shiny stainless steel steps framed in as a tool to help the local textile industry modernize and ad-
white painted stones that lead into the sur- just to the new demands of a postwar market. The first Parisi-
realistic interior, a white opaque long narrow an trend-spotters were well-traveled cultivated amateurs,
island encircled with those painted stones. usually fashion journalists or society women, seeking to im-

‘‘Every 60 years, we do a redo,’’ said Jean-
Marie Henriquet, head of Old England. The
business was established by his great-grand-
father, Alexandre Henriquet, in 1867. It has
been at its present location, 12 Boulevard des
Capucines, since 1886.
The refurbishing was completed in
December. While it brings the store into the
21st century, it keeps its original image as ‘‘a
corner of England in Paris,’’ Henriquet said.
‘‘In the beginning, and right up until the
1930s, everything in the store, mainly
menswear, was custom-made. The only off-
the-peg clothes were outfits for chauffeurs or
valets,’’ said Henriquet. ‘‘During World War
I, we did custom-made uniforms for British,
French and American officers.’’
As well as English fabrics, there were ob-
jects like silverware, clocks and wicker bas-
kets for packing bicycles for train travel.
Today on the main floor are Old England’s
T
he shop, at 57 Avenue Montaigne, like
the Marni shops in London, Milan and
Tokyo, all designed by Future Systems,
is the largest so far.
The clothes, designed by Milan-based
Consuelo Castiglioni, float on curved stain-
less steel branches, an enchanted forest of
abstract tree-like structures. Duck or you’ll
have a pastel floral-printed dress drift into
your path.
Elsewhere, crinkled silk peasant blouses
or high-waisted little dresses hang from lin-
ear curved stainless steel railings, every-
thing doubly reflected in oversized oval mir-
rors or in the boutique’s stainless steel
ceiling. Tiny metal-studded handbags, shoes
and floral painted jeans are part of the Marni
environ ment.
Another Italian firm, Coccinelle, has just
opened a boutique in Paris, at 326 Rue St.
Old England, pictured in the late 19th century, is today one of Paris’s most modern shopping venues.
Honore, for its collections of handbags,
shoes, small leather goods and other ac-
cessories. The firm now has 26 boutiques as
well as corners in more than 1,500 stores
from Hamburg to Riyadh.
For spring, early bestsellers are Coc-
cinelle’s natural straw handbags banded in
natural leather.
While not exactly a newcomer to the Paris
boutique scene, Stealth, at 42 Rue du Dragon,
which opened a year and a half ago, is that in-
creasingly rare boutique to seek out new
names, not just one name, for its avant-garde
mix of menswear and womenswear.
The shop’s owners, Robert Dodd and
Markus Klosseck, describe their mix as
‘‘somewhere between urban underground
and exclusive upmarket’’ with a speciality in
retro futuristic Japanese toys.
For spring, among their exclusives are
London’s Maharishi first line for men and
women mixed with Fake London, Clements
Ribiero and handbags by Anya Hindmarch.
Pat McColl is a free-lance journalist based
in Paris.
prove the look and the quality of standardized products.
At first, they merely made recommendations based essen-
tially on seasonal color charts and a few fashion sketches.
Progressively, their prescriptions became more elaborate.
Department stores and fibers and fabrics companies, mean-
while, were also opening their own fashion trend offices.
Today the basic methods of predicting trends are much the
same. They combine intuition, extensive traveling and shop-
ping abroad, as well as a consensus at stylists’ level. And the
final products are still seasonal color cards — color charts of
about 20 shades that are sent out each season to clients —
and textures and styles books.
While these services were first aimed at the textile and
ready-to-wear industries, the trend services now reach many
other sectors such as cosmetics, home decoration and auto-
mobile companies.
‘‘At first, our only method was to be in sync with what was in
the air. We used our intuition to predict tomorrow’s needs in
term of colors, textures and products. The industry was in bad
need of reassurance and we had to offer them some sort of a lo-
gical mapping,’’ says Francoise Vincent, a pioneer of the trend
business and founder of Promostyl, a consulting agency.
To make their interpretations easier for clients, the first

A new wave in Tokyo pursues the next Cool Look

generation of consultants started putting together trend
books, which were illustrated with color and textile samples,
fashion sketches and press cuttings. ‘‘For us, the books were
just a way to illustrate our point. I never thought they would
become Holy Bibles.’’ adds Vincent. She admits that by the
By Kaori Shoji thing in my life up to that point,’’ she said. mid-1980s she thought the trend books were obsolete and that

T
Furuta made her debut in 1997 with her label the profession had to find new tools. ‘‘I was wrong!’’ she adds.
TOKYO Toga, a name that suggests simplicity and relaxa- Although most trend offices have diversified their activities,
he economy is in shambles. The nation is tion. ‘‘My ideal is a loosely defined, softly textured the trend books are still the bread and butter of the business.
going down the tubes. Amid the moans outfit that nonetheless is intricately engineered Published 18 months ahead of the season — to adjust to the
and groans, it seems like the only bastion and completely three-dimensional. In other rhythms of the spinning, fabrics and ready-to-wear industries
of mental security, the examples of real words, I want the woman to be relaxed but I don’t — the books encompass the philosophy of a given season.
creativity, are in fashion. want her to be unbeautiful,’’ Furuta says. To add credibility to their recommendations, some compa-
In spite of everything, the Japanese are still Toga released its first Tokyo autumn/winter nies seek the collaboration of sociologists, psychologists and
fiercely fashion-minded and focused on the next collection last year with a theme called ‘‘rooming’’ ph ilosophers.
Cool Look. And supporting their enthusiasm is a — Furuta describes it as the kind of clothing one ‘‘We invented — and registered — the marketing-style
new generation of young designers, some with can toss on chair backs and wear in the privacy of concept,’’ says Pierre-François Le Louet, general manager of
tiny start-up operations working out of small one’s room. ‘‘A woman’s room is her own territory, Nelly Rodi, a Parisian trend-spotter and publisher of ‘‘Trend-
apartments. Others have quickly and adroitly and quite symbolic. It’s where she can be by her- Setters Guide.’’ He employs 25 consultants and 11 agents in
climbed the industry ladder, often with blessings self. And for a long time, women in Japan just various countries, generating a turnover of ¤3.96 million
from established designers from whom they had didn’t have that space,’’ she adds. ($3.44 million) in 2001. Le Louet adds: ‘‘We were the first to
declared independence. Now becoming a metaphor for Japanese girlish- call on sociologists and psychologists to define our trends.’’
Among the hot new designers to watch is Hiroaki ness is mina, a brand launched six years ago by Dominique Peclers, founder in 1970 of Peclers Paris, a com-
Ohya, who is described by Issey Miyake as ‘‘genius, Akira Minagawa, who started out as a textile de- pany that is now a subsidiary of the British-American Fitch
pure genius.’’ What more can a designer want? signer and now has his own shop in Tokyo. Mina re- Worldwide Group, is considered a leader of her profession.
Ohya, 30, was employed by Miyake straight out flects Minagawa’s love for Scandinavia — the world Her office employs 65 people in Paris, with a worldwide net-
of Bunka Fukuso, Japan’s leading fashion school. of Pippi Longstocking and Swedish candy wrappers work of 22 agents. It also publishes the ‘‘Future’’ style book.
Miyake groomed him in everything from polite — combined with his incredible craftsmanship and Peclers favors an intuitive approach. ‘‘The starting point of
corporate attitudes to an unerring eye for line and knowledge of textiles. For his spring/summer 2002 our recommendations always springs from the feelings and
form, eventually putting him in charge of one of collection, he used 230 different kinds of textiles. anticipations of our creative team,’’ she says.
the brands in his conglomerate. His work has struck a chord with young Japanese Peclers’s creative team predicts that the terrorist attacks of
At the same time, he made it clear that it was women. Chizuka Shimizu, 21, has a mina bag pat- Sept. 11 will have a deep impact on fashion trends. ‘‘The trashy
okay for Ohya to start his own brand. Ohya now has terned with small, delicate white clouds as well as porno mood — for long prevalent in fashion — should be re-
two brands: his own increasingly popular Ohya and Minagawa’s ‘‘rainstorm shirt,’’ a white shirt on placed by a gentler, more reflective spirit, based on simplicity
the already established Miyake label called Haat. which are drawn red, blue and orange rain spatters. and sophistication,’’ says Françoise Perralta, in charge of com-
Ohya’s love for both Japanese pop culture and Chizuka says that mina represents ‘‘all that I love munication at Peclers. With a ¤11 million turnover in 2001, Pe-
Japanese high technology is reflected in his about Japan.’’ She adds, ‘‘It teaches you things about clers’s activity is growing, divided among trend books, product
designs. His cashmere sweater customized for the Japanese art. I can’t relate to ukiyoye (wood block consultations, promotion and communications.
Sony Aibo (a pet robot dog) helped launch his ca- prints) or anything like that, but mina’s stuff has The paradoxical position of the profession may seem hard
reer while the Astroboy (a sci-fi animus from the the same kind of feel, only much more modern.’’ to sustain. While intending to promote creativity, it ends up
’60s) is a motif that adorns his collections. Which of course, is what Minagawa aims for. His contributing to a leveling of taste on a worldwide level. De-
For Ohya, the future is a rosy, germ-free world designs are unabashedly Japanese — fragile, spite superficial differences of approach, most trend services
where hovercrafts fly noiselessly in the sky and Kaori Shoji simple lines offset by amazing details, like a skirt come up with strikingly similar propositions.
people come home to ultra-functional, high-rise Ohya’s tongue-in-cheek wearable ‘‘computer’’ and wearable ‘‘encyclopedia’’ shirts. button in the shape of a honeycomb with a carved When asked if they feel at least partly responsible for the
apartments. Consequently, his clothes are fun, dy- bee on top. Critics say it’s not so much the design standardization of the world, the majority of them prefer to
namic and dramatic, like the wearable computer (a shirt in to accommodate my threads,’’ he says. as the feel of the clothing that young women buy into. stress their function as catalysts. ‘‘We don’t invent these
the shape of a computer) and the wearable encyclopedia on The operative word in the designer Yasuko Furuta’s ap- For the past four years, Masahiro Tobita has nurtured trends. We merely spot them ahead of time,’’ says a stylist.
fashion (a shirt with layers of detachable cloth pages, each in- proach to design is ‘‘effortless.’’ Furuta had been studying at Spoken Words Project, which was actually the name of a rock However, a counterreaction may be in the works with the
scribed with a year and a fashion illustration representing Esmode Japan for a year (‘‘I was one of those people who event reflecting Tobita’s years in a rock band. Tobita has a de- emergence of the so-called ‘‘post-BoBos’’ (read Post-Bohemi-
that year) in his spring/summer 2002 collection. went to school to socialize’’) before she transferred to Es- gree from Tama Arts University’s dye department and his an Bourgeois) who would rather invent their own custom-
Ohya says he has no interest in beautifying the human mode Paris. ‘‘I couldn’t speak French. I couldn’t communic- clothes are not so much designed as colored. Each item is ized look than wear trendy threads.
form: ‘‘Fashion should be more about stories and fantasies ate with anyone,’’ she recalls. hand-dyed, helping to give the brand its own individuality. ‘‘Globally, tomorrow’s market should be divided in two
that transport us from the daily grind.’’ Accordingly, he says Suddenly, the school socialite was without friends. Rather This summer, Tobita’s theme is blue and his works include groups of customers and manufacturers: mass and niche,’’
that future projects will lean more toward designing for than waste her time taking language lessons, Furuta chose to retro dress designs reminiscent of the French Riviera in the says a trend-spotter, adding that her profession will have to
stage and motion picture, instead of runways and boutiques. let her work speak for itself. In Esmode’s ready-to-wear early ’60s with romantic patterns like boats, waves and reinvent itself, with perhaps less fashion pronouncements
‘‘They say that clothes should be about how good you look on classes, she studied design and patterning. After graduation, clouds in various shades of blue. and more specific product applications.
the street. Well, I want it to be the other way around. I want she remained in Paris for two and a half years. ‘‘I concen-
my clothes to look so outrageous it’s the street that will have trated on making clothes like I never concentrated on any- Kaori Shoji is a free-lance writer based in Tokyo. Michele Loyer is a free-lance journalist based in Paris.