NORMAN HARTNELL SAYS:— Good Fashions Should Last

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31774, 3 September 1968, Page 2

NORMAN HARTNELL SAYS:— Good Fashions Should Last

I am getting a bit fed up with fashion. No one seems able to say what he thinks any more. Something new comes out and we are all expected to say, “How nice,” for fear of hurting the designer’s feelings—that is if we ever get to see the thing that is causing all the fuss.

Couturiers seem to be afraid that colleagues will steal their ideas and they will not let them within a mile of their salons. Take the recent French and Italian collections, for example. People ask me to comment, but how can I? I am never invited over to see the shows.

Once, when I went to Paris, a journalist saw me at Balmain’s and said: “Oh, Mr Hartnell, are you here to take back some ideas?" “Certainly not,” I said frigidly. “I’m here on a busman’s holiday. Mr Balmain invited me to see his show.” So now I am not invited to see the Paris collections, or the Rome and Florence shows. But I would love to go. I suppose it is not etiquette, but I would gladly invite my colleagues to my shows, too—even my English colleagues. Why are we all expected to dislike each other? Even if we are rivals, we can surely also be friends.

I would like to get to know Yves St Laurent as a person, as I knew the late Christian Dior and as I know Mr Balmain. I would like to meet Andre Courreges and Pierre Cardin (he makes men’s wear, and so do I), and all the rest of them.

In England. I would like to have a drink with Hardy

Amies. I would like to get to know the Rahvis sisters, and perhaps have a friendly coffee with Michael. In fact I would like to become friendly with all my rivals!

In Italy, I would like to tell Valentino how much I admire his pretty clothes and how I am not at all surprised that Jackie Kennedy shops at his house.

Valentino makes clothes which are ultra-feminine and very flattering. Romantic clothes, lavish clothes, the sort of clothes I like to see women wearing—especially Jackie Kennedy, who is so often in severe tailored little suits. 1 would like to meet big, burly Ken Scott, of Milan (originally of Indiana), and congratulate him on his clothes and on his presentation.

At the July collections, he showed his clothes in a real circus, at which he was the ringmaster. I, who am too afraid to appear at my own press show, certainly admire his showmanship. Seldom Meet I read about these people, but seldom do I meet them. Rome interests me because of the international flavour of its couture. Mila Schon is a Jugoslav, Princess Galitzine is Russian by birth (and by temper, they tell me) and de Barentzen is half Danish. Gilles of Barocco is Swiss, and other leading Rome designers are French, German, and American. Perhaps that is what we need in London couture: more international flavouring. But what is the point of an international gathering if its members never get together to swap ideas and talk about what is happening in the industry? Nearly every trade or

profession has its yearly conferences, but not haute couture.

Made To Last

The men and women who set the trends pride themselves on keeping away from each other, particularly as collection time approaches. This, I think, is rather sad and rather pointless. If a couturier has to exist by stealing other people’s ideas, he will not be in business very long. And a good designer is usually far too proud to steal another man’s idea. He l is quite convinced his own are far better.

If a get-together ever took place—and my bet is that it will not—the first thing 1 would do is suggest that the six-monthly collection system be abolished or at least revised. Why should women be pressured into changing their entire dress style every six months?

It keeps us in business, but it is wrong thinking. Wellmade clothes, especially clothes costing as much as couture clothes cost, are made to last until they wear out,’ which is a long, long time. Yet they are in danger of being outmoded every; six months because of fashion's dictates. Hem-Lines Money can go to so many much more worthy causes, so my own view is that if a woman has a good classical coat, with a knee-length hem-line, it should last her very well, even with constant use, for a couple of years, or more. Under the present system, gimmicks abound there always has to be something daring, something new, and this does not always make for good fashion. For instance, at my last collection, as always, I was asked about hem-lines. This makes me very annoyed. Why worry about where a garment ends, when it is the styling, the draping, the use of the fabric, the colour, and the shape of the garment from neck down which counts? Where a dress ends is no criterion of its beauty. You don’t judge a Picasso that measures 8 x 11 by where it stops? Size is immaterial. No-one judges an opera or ballet by its length. My favourite dress-length is a wedding dress length with about six yards of gown and train on the floor. But I cannot see that getting into the papers.