HIGH STREET LOOKS

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Mar 20, 2005 | by Fashion Eva Arrighi

MASTER & COMMANDER

Re-appraise your ideas about the naval tradition, as that's exactly what many of the hottest designers decided to do this season with some startlingly cool and refreshing results

FOR everyone bemoaning the profusion of hippy deluxe and hokey folk styles that are dominating fashion again this season, perhaps it's time to make a few surprising aquatic discoveries. But not in New York where Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren are all cruising through their favourite Nantucket/East Hampton/St Tropez waters. All anchored to the Fitzgerald Riviera style, they showed classy, exclusive and expensive stripes for the stars. But as chic as wide stripes, wider leg trousers and acres of taut, toned and tanned flesh is, ground-breaking it ain't.

But it was in Paris where things really started to get interesting, when Nicolas Ghesquiere, the designer responsible for the critically acclaimed reinvention of the house of Balenciaga, made the naval trend sexy with faintly militaristic overtones which felt current and exciting. With the chilly winds of commercial pressure on his shoulders of late, this season Ghesquiere delivered a collection that didn't just set the fashion editors' hearts on fire, but which tempered his intellectual and aesthetic concerns with shape and proportion into a stunning array of outfits that wowed just about everybody.

Well edited, completely focused and gilt-edged, this collection was designed to silence his detractors, and it succeeded on all levels. Importantly, it also served to signal the beginning of next season's minimal yet luxurious tone, once again proving that Nicolas Ghesquiere collections for Balenciaga are always full of fashion's big new ideas before anyone else.

Over at Chloe, Phoebe Philo was making everything bright and breezy with feminine floaty options that were no less covetable. Vivienne Westwood served up powerful deconstructed sweater dresses in one of her strongest shows in years, while Alexander McQueen introduced a take on the little sailor boy outfit with short, full, braid-trimmed skirts and neat little blue shirts which were more Baltic than Riviera and looked a lot better for their cooler approach.

Navy double crepe jacket, pounds-199, Hobbs; navy cream wool trousers with cream piping waistband, pounds-140, Jaeger; navy chalk stripe crinkled silk camisole, pounds-35, Fenn Wright and Manson at House of Fraser, John Lewis and Jenners; leather and chain buckle belt, pounds-29, Antonniazzi Firenze at House of Fraser; brown suede moccasins, pounds-35, Marks & Spencer Navy short sleeve knit, pounds- 49, LK Bennett; racer back blue and white striped top, pounds-12, Limited Collection at Marks & Spencer; French navy hammered satin panel skirt, pounds-100, Fenn Wright and Manson at House of Fraser, John Lewis and Jenners; navy and white canvas sling-back sandals, pounds-139, LK Bennett Navy raw tweed jacket, pounds-229, LK Bennett; white cricket sweater, pounds-120, Jaeger; tulip print silk crepe skirt, pounds-75, Hobbs; white canvas wedge espadrille, pounds- 49, LK Bennett Navy wool jumper with contrast silk collar and cuff, pounds-140, Jaeger; cream leather circle belt, pounds-14, Warehouse; navy wide-leg crepe trousers, pounds-45, Marks & Spencer; white knotted leather slides, pounds-50, Ted Baker

AGE OF INNOCENCE

Pristine whites are always a summer hit. This time it's as romantic as it gets with voluminous petticoat skirts, bows aplenty and intricate embroidery creating this pure and simple look

THE best displays of white on the catwalk were all peasant affairs. Dries Van Noten, Chloe and Stella McCartney all displayed wonderful outfits which echoed traditional folk costume, vintage underwear and virginal purity.

Sophia Kokosalaki's continued excursion into the draping and falling of fabric was further inspired by the amount of time she spent back home in Greece creating the thousands of outfits for the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic games last year. Her collection - full of Greek-goddess dresses - was beautiful to behold, with the ruched bodices, plaiting and knotting details that are her signature all being heavily appropriated by the high street.

Although flowing goddess dresses were all around, notably at Antonio Berardi and Valentino, unless you want to run the risk of looking like a vestal virgin who got lost on her way to the temple, it's probably wiser to stick with knee-length creations which run a lower risk of Miss Haversham comparisons, especially if you're in your 30s. Unusually for fashion, which isn't known for its frugality, this trend looks best played out in the plainest fabrics, (lawn cotton is the loveliest thing to wear against summer skin, with silks not far behind).

Also, consider a simpler silhouette to offset the fussiness of the trimmings. Anywhere lace, ruffles, crochet and embroidery occurs to this degree, it's best to play safe and tone down at least one of the elements. But one thing is agreed: worn top to toe on a sizzling hot day there really is nothing to beat an all-white outfit to raise your spirits. Better get the fake tan and washing powder bulk order in then . . . and bin the white stilettoes, it's strictly wedges or flatties only with this one.