Freud s great unanswered question, "What does a woman want?" seems to be hanging over this round of collections, and it s already turned up some funny, off-beam stabbings around in the dark. Funny, that is, because isn t it obvious? What we want is a casual way of dressing that s also formal enough, new yet not ridiculously gimmicky, confident yet not egregiously aggressive, traditional in a comfortable way, yet also fresh in such a manner that we feel compelled to buy it. Well, let s hand it to Dries Van Noten for coming up with a personal squaring of all those apparently oh-so-difficult contradictions.
His collection was a serene piecing-together of classic menswear tailoring, washed-out military fabric, fifties and sixties ladylike shapes, and sweatshirting. The success was that he integrated all those elements in such simple, wearable ways that didn t scream "fashion." In almost every silhouette, there was a juxtaposition of something grand with something street. Jackets would have a tailored body with army-drill sleeves; a gray sweatshirt-material top would be worn over a rich brocade dirndl; a full-skirted shirtwaister would come in blue military fabric with a small turn-down collar unexpectedly embroidered with silver Indian thread. For evening, the most compelling look was the offhand shrugging on of a sloppy khaki knit over a long, slim magenta printed skirt dragging a small, romantic train.
The way the show reshuffled wardrobe elements most women might own was an inspiration—demonstrating how a casual trench would look great with a crocodile tote; ditto a fitted fifties cloque dress with a drab canvas doctor s bag, or a camel blazer with casual jodhpur-ish pants. Part of the impact is that Van Noten has found a way of presenting all this in a sustained and measured way on a long, long runway, which (no matter that this one was in the Baroque, gilded, chandeliered, and frescoed splendor of the Paris civic hall) ends up conveying the sense of women walking a city street. With their no-fuss hair and glamorous sunglasses, the models left the kind of believable, attainable impression that makes fashion look as if it s something we can all relax about for a change.
