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This is a great year for North American fur fashions. Not only is there more excitement, more sportswear energy, more unapologetic glamour and more innovation, most designers appear to be keeping in mind that women actually need to be able to wear these coats, and they usually need to wear them over something -- besides a catsuit. The 1996/97 collections are definitely about taking chances, but in a way that is consistent with the rest of the fashion world. It's not enough just to design expensive luxury goods in drop-dead styles. This year it seems more fur designers have pushed themselves further, to create well-balanced day and evening presentations in interesting materials with clean, unfussy silhouettes and, to top it all off, to distinguish themselves from all of the other designers who do the same thing.
Innovative, wearable and chic are words that belong to Valentino this year. By playing with one major element, he managed to transcend shape, style and practicality. Belts set the tone in his collection for Alixandre. Back belts draped casually on coats with a restrained but flowing silhouette, but wraps took on new meaning with set-in belts that tied asymetrically or even buttoned with a little tab end. This offered a new freedom of cut, creating shape without binding and even smoothing out the shape of a normally bunched belted fur. On velvet-sheared beaver and especially slinky broadtail, this set-in style made other types of belts and closures look obsolete. Bronze and white are Valentino's color news; bronze sheared mink with Russian sable hit on a whole new level of sophistication.
Yeohlee calls one of her silhouettes -- an over-the-hip, A-line zip done in shearling -- a "thug coat." No casual urban warrior could do without it. And, it sets the tone for her collection, which is a minimalist statement about fur. While she's extended her view in her second season for Alixandre, her strongest pieces don't stray too far from her original vision. Colors are still stark and moody; white offsets black, dark khaki, gray, peat brown and aubergine. Long-haired mink, sable and fisher complement sleek sheared beaver, shearling and nylon/fur combinations.
Society fur designer Dennis Basso did not participate in Fur Fashion Week, choosing instead to treat his ladies once again to a fete at the Pierre hotel. Basso, who designs for a series of famous names, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, drew his usual glittering crowd and even made the 10 p.m. television news with a feature entirely on fashion.
Danish-born and British-educated Michael Lund, who worked for the House of Balenciaga in Paris before joining Ben Kahn a year and a half ago, probably would not think of himself as having an American style, but much of his collection is so straightforward and practical that the label all-American seems appropriate. It's very important to Lund that his outerwear be incorporated into a woman's overall wardrobe, so he presented it as such, daring to show shirts sticking out underneath, and even using models with hair! "There is a new generation of fur customer out there," says Lund... They don't just associate fur with the glamour of a Hollywood screen goddess. They want real pieces that fit into their lives." To that end, he mostly stuck with muted colors (with the exception of "robin's egg blue") and well-tailored, basic shapes with a masculine dash. Herringbone mink, oddly faux-looking otter and kit fox, sueded minks and maxi coats had a bit of mod flavoring without feeling like they would be unwearable in a year. His real strength is in fabric combinations like navy pinstriped wool with sable collar, paper/silk with silver blue mink and copper/silk with badger.
Koos van den Akker designed a small capsule collection for Ben Kahn featuring his signature collages in fur with rainwear combinations.
Oscar de la Renta's collection for Alixandre was all about fresh color and texture, using deep coral, pale celadon, pink, blush, coffee and electric blue in shearling, sheared and long-haired mink. Bleached stone marten offered a new eye on luxury with the feeling of butter-soft sable but better priced than mink. Evening looks came in short, boxy jackets of embroidered (to look like straight horizontal seams) broadtail or horizontal sable. In an unusual combination, shearling lines raincoats of red or gray plaid slicker material. Fly button fronts are a nod to couture detailing, so difficult are they to do in shearling and sheared mink.
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