Britain backs basics

Press, 28 October 1982, Page 12

Britain backs basics

By 1

BERNADINE MORRIS,

“New York Times” - NZPA, in London.

If simplicity characterises the Italian fashion collections for next northern spring and summer, then austerity is the word for British styles. The pockets of punk are few. reflected in the coxcomb or Mohawk hairdos on the models at Zandra Rhodes or the clothes of an isolated designer, usually in his early 20s, who does elaborate one- 1 of-a-kind concoctions of canvas and jewels to maintain the British tradition of quirky eccentricity. But the designers in the mainstream of fashion have returned to the clean lines that characterised the best sportswear of the late 19305, and traditional checked and plaid patterns in linen, silk and cotton. The best of the women’s clothes are closely related to men’s casual styles. The British understanding of good country clothes goes back a lot further than punk. With designers in Italy and the United States delving into the same source, the British are certainly entitled to return to their roots, and they do it remarkably well. In a country where the recession is deeply entrenched, the austerity of the clothes seems far more appropraite and realistic than elaborate, fanciful styles would be. The party clothes are less impressive than the daytime styles. Some store buyers from the United States, who found enough tailored styles in Milan and came here for' evening clothes, were disappointed with the lack of frivolity. For instance, for Jean Muir, the most knowledgeable designer here, evening is basically a short leather jacket over a puffy bengaline or moire ankle-length skirt. Attractive and useful, of course, but definitely not frivolous. Simplicity, of course, is no new development for Miss Muir, who has reached the stage in her career where she knows what to leave off and doesn’t have to cover up design mistakes with fussy details. Each collection seems more satisfying than the last. This one, with its emphasis on full, gored skirts that moved with a graceful ease below gently accented, small waistlines, has no false moves. Members of the audien.ee that squeezed into the small Muir showroom on Brutton Street assured each other that to see her show alone was worth a trip to London. Perhaps the most expertly cut dress of the season is a black linen with full sleeves, gathered at both shoulders and wrists, and gored skirt. The little leather jackets, decorated with perforations or painted calligraphic squiggles, are luxurious but not ostentatious toppings for linen, crepe, and jersey dresses for day and night. Thought as well as technique goes into this collection, and gives it cohesion appreciated by women sophisticated about clothes. Zandra Rhodes is another kind of star, whose clothes are the antithesis of the Muir

style. Appropriately, she shows her collection at Olympia, the exhibition hall were hundreds of British fashion houses present their collections. Though simplicity is hardly her style, her exuberance this season is, well, under control. Her inspiration, as it was last time, in India, expressed in some chiffon tunics over narrow trousers, and in some vivid pink and green fabrics, but the result is pure Zandra. The decorative prints and painted motifs are strictly her own, even if they had their hair up into crests like the American Indian style favoured by some punks is a very individual, mixing of metaphor. She has plucked fashion’s current passion for leather out of the air and concocted some offbeat styles combin-, ing raw silk or jersey with suede. The leather is decorated with her own calligraphy and with lace appliques, forming yokes that cover the shoulders, and bodices that look like bras. All her familiar trademarks are there: the pearls dangling from decolletages and hemlines, the jewelled embroidery and the draped skirts. |, It is because not everything is going on at the same time that the clothes look less complex, if not exactly simple. At 22 years old, Jasper Conran is beginning to be taken almost as seriously in fashion as his father, Terence, is in home furnishings or his mother, Shirley, is in books. His neat, tailored clothes, in worsted, patterned silks or banana-and-black combinations of linen, have a direct, mo-nonsense look about them. The jackets and skirts or pants in different fabrics are designed to be interchangeable, and his knowledge of cut is making giant strides from collection to collection. His future is promising. Sheridan Barnett is already a master of uncomplicated, almost minimal cuts, and he has simplified such men’s designs as blazers and dressing • gowns in adapting them for women. Skirts usually reach almost to the ankle, jackets extend well over the hips and his clothes are disarmingly unpretentious in gray linen or black-and-white stripes. Digby Morton, the British designer, murmured approval as Paul Costelloe's mannequins came down the runway in fisherman-knit sweaters dyed pink and purple. “I got them off men’s backs in the Aran Islands in the 1950 s and put them on women,” recalled Mr Morton, who closed his couture house 25 years ago. “They were only in natural colours then. Costelloe took some patterned sweater vests from his men’s collection and put them with his silk and linen tweed suits for women, showing that the process still works. The Costelloe clothes are all made in Ireland, and have a strong, classic quality.

■ Jenni Ku developed gracefully flared skirts, similar to those of Jean Muir, which she paired with striped cotton jackets and T-shirts. David Hicks, the interior designer, offered some admirable classic pink and blue flannel blazers with white linen skirts or pants in his second collection of women's clothes. These and the white chintz trench coats looked as appropriate for today’s life as their prototypes did back in the 19305. But the evening dresses, with their taut bodices shaped by darts and rounded skirts, looked dated. Caroline Charhes, who is a favourite of the Princess of Wales, provided lively play clothes in Hawaiian or African prints, sober but chic spectator sports dresses and some of the few feasible evening styles with off-the-shoulder necklines and flouncy skirts.

In an off-beat — some would say off-the-wall — presentation, Colin Swift, who is 23 and has been making dresses since he came to London from Portsmouth when he was 17, showed 15 outfits that indicated an unfettered imagination, and a good deal of talent.

His "Russian look” consists of a huge, padded coat, combining wool and a painter’s canvas with a yellow fur lining. It covers a canvas dress with a basket-weave wool over-skirt, and is eqipped with massive hat and enormous wood and crystal necklaces. It costs $2780 for the lot, and he will make no other outfit exactly like it.