'No need to be feminine with clothes'

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33512, 18 April 1974, Page 5

'No need to be feminine with clothes'

(N.Z. Press Assn —Copyright) PARIS.

Is being feminine a state of mind or a state of dress? And why is femininity suddenly the burning fashion issue?

There are as many answers to these questions as there are ready-to-wear designers now showing in Paris. Issey Miyako, the young Japanese designer, dismisses the problem with an approach as basic as “Me Tarzan, you Jane. ! “Feminine? For me, itj doesn’t mean much,” she says. “You have a woman’s body — you are feminine. I have a man’s body — I am masculine. There is no need; to be feminine with clothes.” | Miyako’s clothes are

always loose, comfortable, unfastened things to wrap around and arrange as you wish, or throw into a sack that slips under the seat in an airliner. If you are skinny as a stick, they may flop a bit more. Decide later to opt for eating, and they will still look fine. The secret is in the fabrics, designed by Mi- ! yako in Japan, “where they have patience and technique”. EARTH COLOURS Everyone touches a supple new secret, “super chamois”, that comes in earth colours of black, dark brown, clay,; and white. It makes long: wrap coats with bathrobe! belts that stop at the floor,! or just above the ankle, and: ialso a loose overblouse that! i smacks of the sea, worn! I with straight pants, and a! •filmy wool checked scarf.

His bulky knits are a, blend of silk and wool that seems hand-loomed in giant stripes, striations or tweeds, again in soil colours mixed with off-white. All are based on the square, like the poncho or burnoose. BLACK THEME Vickey Tiel, who dresses people like Sydney Rome and Jane Birkin, called her collection “Prohibition” and showed it in a new Paris night club, “L’Adventure,” where whisky was served in heavy china teacups. For Vicky, the international mood is' black. So; iare her clothes. “Because the iworld is falling apart, it: makes you want to be wild; ; and gay and live it up.! iWhen we are prosperous, ;and happy, everyone goesi for jeans.” I Vicky's fabric has always!

been matte jersey, but this' year it clings instead of’ drapes, and often is bare ebough to make even Jean

'Harlow blush. As one observer said: “You have to have the goods underneath, unfortunately."