Buying at sales... Bargains aplenty if you know what to look for

Press, 2 July 1986, Page 14

Buying at sales... Bargains aplenty if you know what to look for

In vogue

Paula Ryan

The way to look at fashion this month — in fact any month — is with a very selective eye.. Sales are starting, signifying the lead-up to a new season. It’s a great time to snap up the odd little number that may be discounted simply because it is a season ahead of its time. With an eye on what’s coming up, you’ll be right on target for the next season. The fashion constants are worth watching for. Classic items may well move out of fashion for a time, but they keep on appearing in contemporary up-dates. Up-dated classics There will be little point in looking around for what might be termed a “spring” coat. They simply do not exist anymore. The trench, in many updated versions, has taken their place. It has been around since Marlene Dietrich borrowed it from the boys, and has come and gone in many guises. Today’s trench is an allweather, all-purpose, all-the-year-round coat. Now they have a certain swagger and oversized ease. They travel beautifully, and slot easily into differeing climates and occasions. They sit beautifully at ease over a skirt or trousers, and take to extravagant use of scarves or throws to the manner born. A navy-blue trench serves as a splendid base for a wardrobe. So does black, and a real gutsy beige. White, glimpsed in a recent sale, is just perfect as long as you have a friendly and reliable drycleaner! Printed fabrics have their ups and downs, but keep on coming in new dimensions and colours. Amongst the blouses and shirts, ahead of their time, you may be lucky enough to find ones that will move very well into summer. If they are printed very graphically in sharp, contrast colours, or in exaggerated tropicana of fruit and flowers, or with “Out of Africa” primitive image prints, they will slot perfectly into the upcoming summer. Exotic ethnic prints, bold geometries, and typical "safari,” particularly in white will be most happy once summer comes. The classic polo-necked sweater has moved in and out of fashion for years. Ghanel transformed sweater styling in the twenties, and- the attrac-

tive ease of sweater dressing has been evolving ever since. Schiapareli made the sweater a turtleneck in the forties, and it became a basic fashion classic. Mainbocher turned the basic “cardi” into a fashion item in the forties. The ’B6 versions will play a hand in spring and summer dressing with, newer versions of the twinset — long cardigans with matching tank tops or shells, high polo necks, elongated turtles on T’s graphically cut away at the shoulders. With the same effortless quality of Chanel, a simple, white, cashmere sweater teamed with a

navy, crepe skirt and belted importantly, will go anywhere after dark. Sweater dressing Sweaters with a touch of beading worn with a simple skirt or trousers will be understated and elegant. Simple, white, cable crew-necks with black silk pyjama pants will take you into late day right through to mid-sum-mer. There is a very relaxed dateless sophistication about ' sweater dressing for winter and summer. One of the oldest classics of all time must be the white shirt. It was

an essential element of Katherine Hepburn’s style, and a standard prop in all of Ingrid Bergman’s films. It is doubtful that Lauren Bacall ever made a movie without appearing in a classic white shirt, and Faye Dunaway must have had immaculate white shirts written into her contracts. Next sumrtier the white shirt will star at the top. Under jackets, or on their own, the best of the summer shirts will be classically tailored, softly styled, opening to a longer rever line, and Frenchcuffed. (We hope the jewellery manufacturers will be adding cufflinks to

their ranges.) Whether in cotton, silk, chiffon, crepe, perfectly classic renditions in white are shirting all the issues for summer. ;• ,i Denim has become another fashion classic. It will reappear in summer, but certianly not just in jeans. Denim is turning up as the farthest thing from jeans dressing. Navy denim is moulded and polished into immaculate city dressing, into polished body-shaping dresses, tailored walk shorts. In the U.S., Fabrice took denim to an extreme for this summer season ... in white, a long strapless evening dress with a jet-beaded bodice.