Russell Sage
REVIEW
COMPLETE COLLECTION
LONDON, February 17, 2002
By Sarah Mower
When Russell Sage put a heap of gleaming coins center-stage at his show as payback to his mortgage-lender sponsors, Britannic Money, the audience had an opportunity to contemplate the deeper symbolism: Can UK fashion stay solvent?If money was in the spotlight, though, talent—and lots of it—was also on display. As his first model appeared in a waisted, full-skirted dress made from eighteenth-century golden silk curtain fabric, complete with tassels fringing the hemline, Sage instantly proved the value of British designers' gloom-busting resourcefulness. He followed up with equally spirit-lifting, richly romantic one-of-a-kind pieces fashioned, Scarlett O'Hara-wise, from antique drapes. Sage's silhouettes might be vaguely outlined on 1950s couture volumes, but his crafting of materials, raw edges, arty embroideries and jigsaw-puzzle piecing are strictly 2002. And after mastering the new feeling for gilded fabric, he effortlessly nailed another major trend: brilliant chunky knits. Working with Bidyut Das, a knitwear graduate from the Royal College of Art, Sage sent out a spectacular high-waisted gray wool dress, knitted in graduated stitch to fall to the floor in sculptural waves. Wound along one arm was a huge spiral glass armlet with a $25,000 diamond embedded in it.
Cash-poor but imagination-rich, London designers like Sage still have the optimism (not to mention sponsors like the Diamond Information Centre and Swarovski) to help them face the challenge of staying afloat. "It's really tough," he says. "But I don't think I could show anywhere else. And remember: McQueen and Chalayan came out of London's last downtime."
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Fall 2002 Ready-to-Wear
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A.F. Vandevorst Alberta Ferretti Alessandro Dell'Acqua Alexander McQueen Alexandre Herchcovitch Alexandre Matthieu Alice Roi Anna Sui Ann Demeulemeester Anne Klein Antonio Berardi As Four -
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Badgley Mischka Balenciaga BCBG Max Azria Behnaz Sarafpour Benjamin Cho Bernhard Willhelm Betsey Johnson Bill Blass Blaak Boudicca Bruce Burberry Prorsum -
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Cacharel Calvin Klein Carolina Herrera Celine Chloé Christian Dior Christian Lacroix Clements Ribeiro Comme des Garçons Costume National -
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D&G Diane von Furstenberg DKNY Dolce & Gabbana Donna Karan Dries Van Noten -
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Eley Kishimoto Emanuel Ungaro Emilio Pucci Emma Cook Emporio Armani -
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Fendi -
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Gary Graham Gianfranco Ferré Giorgio Armani Givenchy Gucci -
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Hamish Morrow Helmut Lang House of Jazz Hugo Boss Hussein Chalayan -
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Imitation of Christ Istvan Francer -
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Jean Paul Gaultier Jeremy Scott Jil Sander John Galliano Julien Macdonald Junya Watanabe -
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Katayone Adeli Kenneth Cole New York -
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Lagerfeld Gallery Lanvin Lawrence Steele Loewe Louis Vuitton Luella -
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Malandrino Marc by Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs Marjan Pejoski Markus Lupfer Marni Martine Sitbon Matthew Williamson MaxMara Michael Kors Michelle Lowe–Holder Missoni Miu Miu Moschino -
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Narciso Rodriguez -
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Oscar de la Renta -
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Peter Som Philosophy Pierrot Prada -
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Rafael Lopez Ralph Lauren Richard Edwards Rick Owens Roberto Cavalli Roland Mouret Ruffo Research Russell Sage -
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Sonia Rykiel Sophia Kokosalaki Stella McCartney Strenesse -
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Valentino Vera Wang Veronique Branquinho Versace Versus Viktor & Rolf -
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Warren Noronha -
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Yohji Yamamoto Yves Saint Laurent -
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Zac Posen
