Modern chic and mythic traditions are woven together in these Lapland reindeer bracelets now available at Dienst + Dotter, a Scandinavian purveyor of rare objets and antiques in Sag Harbor. The bracelets caught the curatorial eye of owner Jill Dienst on one of her many buying trips through Scandinavia: “I just fell in love with the workmanship and the delicate balance of the natural leather, tin silver weaving, and the way the sunlight just bounces off the weave.” Despite their cold-climate provenance—the bracelets are made in the northernmost reaches of Norway and Sweden by the reindeer-herding Sami people—they make a perfect summer statement. Wear them generously stacked in varying widths, and over time, according to Dienst, they will develop a beautiful worn patina. What is more, proceeds from the purchase of these bracelets, each of which is painstakingly handmade using an ancient process and delicately fastened with a simple reindeer-horn button, help to support the Sami and their culture.

Lapland Reindeer bracelets, $195–$325; Dienst + Dotter, Sag Harbor, NY; (631) 725-6883.

—Veronica Gledhill

Edited by Virginia Tupker

Who would have thought that supporters of Richard Nixon would be jaunty enough to don a paper dress? This relic—along with its companion piece, a disposable frock displaying the grinning visage of his rival Hubert Humphrey—greets you in the first gallery of the wonderful “Fashion & Politics” exhibit, just opened at the Museum at FIT. There’s also a shirtwaist printed with bright-red ikes that is straight out of Mad Men, an American-flag parade costume from the late nineteenth century, and a pair of red-white-and-blue sneakers that survived the 1976 bicentennial.

But not everything here so explicitly reflects patriotism or party politics. There are also fashions associated with a variety of grassroots social movements—an ivory linen outfit of the type worn by the early-twentieth-century suffragettes, who made white their special color (in homage to the purity of their quest for the vote) and a voluminous outfit, meant for bicycle riding, that the 1889 New York Times warned was “merely a resting-place on the road to trousers.”

Trousers would be bad enough. What would those Victorian scolds at the Times have made of the monokini, Rudi Gernreich’s still shocking 1964 “topless bathing suit,” here in pristine sunny yellow and encapsulating, in a quarter yard of fabric, the wild upheavals, the crazy liberation of the 1960s? (Gernreich himself flourished at the very intersection of fashion and politics—his boyfriend was Harry Hay, and in the early 1950s, they and a few other men founded the Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights organizations in the world.)

But for every happy example of sartorial progress—every Claire McCardell popover dress, freeing 1950s women for hostessing and gardening—there are more sober items on view, including an army tour jacket from the Vietnam era embroidered, WHEN I DIE I WILL GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE I SPENT MY TIME IN HELL. (The wall text comments dryly that few of these survive, as most soldiers tossed them as soon as they got home.)

On the other hand, sometimes a single garment simply brims with universal joie de vivre. The French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac is represented by a shimmery mini decorated with a portrait of Barack Obama rendered in satin, net, and sequins; across the back is the legend I HAVE A DREAM TODAY. And speaking of dreams come true: Before you leave the museum, go downstairs to the gallery’s other exhibit, a retrospective of the work of the extraordinary Isabel Toledo. Front and center you will see the pale-chartreuse ensemble (the museum calls it lemongrass) that Toledo designed for a magnificent Michelle Obama to wear at her husband’s Inauguration on a dazzling afternoon last January. Talk about fashion and politics!

“Fashion & Politics” exhibit at the Museum at FIT (November 7, 2009; fitnyc.edu).

—Lynn Yaeger

Valentino, Look 10

Where is she going in this? How is she getting there? And how on Earth will she sit down if she ever does manage to make it there? Sometimes at the couture it’s best not to ask inane questions, to suspend your disbelief and to just let the magic and artistry float over you. This miraculous opera coat (for Renée Fleming giving a recital performance, perhaps?) simulates the idea of Valentino’s famed ruffled black tulle gown from the beginning of his career in the Dolce Vita sixties, but the pleats of the ruffles are illusions—they are the spines of shiny black jet quills that move with the wearer in sighing waves. Just one astonishing tour de force of workmanship and invention from the perfectly exquisite collection that Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli unveiled this evening—a triumphant and optimistic vision for the couture on which to end the week. Incidentally, the collection was inspired, you will be interested to discover, by the famous Black Ascot of 1910, when all the women wore black clothes, in the height of Belle Époque fashion, in mourning for Edward VII.

Valentino, Look 6

Ruffles, bustles, sparkle, lace and mink: Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli expertly revelled in grand gestures to make tiny dresses of a wispy, fragile beauty for Valentino couture.

Gaultier Paris, Look 27

Jean Paul Gaultier’s tribute to the actresses of Hollywood’s golden age was most charming and seductive when it winked at the gritty can-do spirit behind all the glamour: for example, an evening gown cut like workmen’s overalls, of amethyst silk and silver embroidery.

Giorgio Armani Privé, Look 46

The pearl-gray satin curtains, pulled back to reveal the curve of a grand staircase—a streamlined contemporary take on Dior’s fifties salon—set the scene for Armani’s study in elegant restraint. His one-shouldered siren evening gown with its scissor-line fin similarly evokes a mid-century couture look, but its innovative textural embroidery of looped fringing brings it firmly into Armani’s world.

Gaultier Paris, Look 22

From a collection that paid homage to the great beauties of Hollywood’s golden era, this dress and coat evoke the glamour of Joan Crawford in her twenties flapper-movie era, or Louise Brooks (the outfit is named “Loulou” after a celebrated Brooks vehicle) and with a nod to the high style of the great movie designers such as Adrian and Travis Banton. Like the fabled costume workshops of those great glamour purveyors, Gaultier too, unique amongst the couturiers, has his own embroidery atelier, and the results of their craft are glitteringly showcased here…

In the fading light of a Parisian evening, Karl Lagerfeld presented a staggering array of looks that defied the divide between day and night, long and short, modern and historicist. To wit, this deceptively simple wrap dress of black crepe, belted and lined in scarlet, and finished with a slender cap-toed ankle boot.

In a Chanel collection that played with idiosyncratic proportions, with panels that flapped like coattails from suit jackets and cocktail frocks alike, and lamp-shade skirts that jutted out like mini-crinnies, this outfit stood out for its sinuous elegance. Karl Lagerfeld veiled the superb sequin embroidery of the tunic in the cinnamon chiffon he used for the diaphanous, barely-there skirt, understating the magnificence in a thoroughly modern way and creating a sense of mystery reflected in the playful cloche hat and the black lace leg glimpsed through the skirt.

The haute couture collection that Christian Lacroix unveiled today was a disciplined, refined and edited summation of his monumental contribution to fashion— highlighting his ability to bring whimsy, fantasy and drama to his idiosyncratic mix, but to marry it to elegance and a sense of timelessness that melds a passion for fashion history to an engagement with the possibilities and wonders of the contemporary world. His models waltzed through a suite of rooms in the Musee des Arts Decoratives, walls hung with examples of the wonders of French wood carving artistry from the 18th century to the Art Nouveau periods – an apt compliment to the craftsmanship and improbable feats of fantasy of which his workrooms are capable.

But, on a balmy Parisian Sunday afternoon just a few days earlier in his atelier on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Christian Lacroix was putting the finishing touches to the spirited 24-piece “couture light” collection— a collection that may be his last. He, however, was in fighting form. “War has given me some new energy!” Lacroix explained of his embattled relationship with the Falic Group, owners of Duty Free Americas, who bought his label from LVMH in January 2005. “It’s a very strange and weird story.”

In the honeymoon period of his relationship with the three Falic brothers (Simon, Jerome, and Leon), Lacroix was delighted that the Bazar and Jeans lines would be dropped to focus on “deluxe lines and products” and that the scarf and fragrance licenses would be restructured. Lacroix’s vice–managing director was brought in from Chanel, and there was also a new ready-to-wear-studio director who “brought a new approach. I was so happy!” Lacroix remembered. (Both women have since moved on.) But the studio director ended up explaining to suppliers that their checks would soon be in the mail, as the company was compelled to farm out production to a merry-go-round of new suppliers, and Lacroix was bidden to focus an unbridled imagination that had ignited the fashion world for three decades on designing “the It bag in cheap leather.”  

The Falics, “not being from the couture-and-luxury field . . . were not prepared for the long-term investment,” said Lacroix. “They thought that in two seasons they would get their money back.” The economic downturn, of course, has affected all luxury brands in ways that could not have been anticipated in 2005, but Lacroix said, “For some time I was paid with difficulty—perhaps six months late—but I was naive and wanted to be optimistic.” Still, Lacroix went on strike last October, in part due to missed payments. “I wasn’t paid for a year, but it was really to defend the little suppliers, these jewel-makers for whom each check is so needed.” In March, the Falics tried to sell the house that bears his name to investors whom Lacroix never met, but the deal did not close. 

In addition to some suppliers who have not been paid for months, the factory in Normandy that produces his ready-to-wear line (and also works with Chanel, Balenciaga, and Chloé) have not been paid for the last collection. Lacroix claims he himself is owed in the region of €1.2 million (nearly $1.7 million), inhibiting the operation of his own company, XCLX, which works on non-fashion-related projects, including his magisterial theater work (he recently designed the flamboyant costumes for Renée Fleming as Violetta in La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 gala, and in the title role of Thaïs that season), hotel design, and a current plan to decorate a 38-unit residential building in Dubai. In addition, Lacroix has signed with Tricia Guild of Designers Guild for a new line of textiles and wallpapers, and with Libretto in New York on a line of deluxe papers and cards. Continue reading ›