Review/Fashion; De la Renta Puts Checks at the Top
By BERNADINE MORRIS,
Published: March 26, 1992
PARIS, March 25— Oscar de la Renta, the American who in three seasons has settled comfortably into the French fashion scene, and Yves Saint Laurent, a pillar of the shows here for 30 years, were the last major designers to introduce their fall and winter collections.
It is now clear that women of the world who care about fashion will have a choice of hem lengths. Trousers are back on center stage and black is the color of the season. Clothes are more closely fitted than they have been, but never in a torturous way.
De la Renta opened his show with cheerful checked tweeds in loosely woven wools, combining colors like olive with orange, and wine with gold. In coats, suits and dresses, waistlines were gently fitted, skirts full and flaring.
In his first show here a year ago, de la Renta focused on plaids, which became the hit of the season. Now he hopes to do the same with checks. He even shows similar patterns in sheared mink, which created a buzz in the audience as people realized they were looking at fur, not fabric. They had not seen anything like it since the designer's plaid mink coats.
When he moved into his obligatory black fashion sequence, de la Renta made sure he kept things sexy. A velvet jacket teamed with wool pants had a low curved neckline framed in a satin collar. Plain black suits with short skirts were topped off with big fluffy hats of tulle and feathers.
The grand ball gowns that are a de la Renta specialty -- typically embroidered velvet bodices with billowing satin skirts -- alternated with long slender dresses and gold embroidered pants suits.
Giancarlo Giametti, the business partner of Valentino, one of the first Italian designers to show his ready-to-wear here, welcomed the American to the French fashion community. "Stylish," Giametti told de la Renta. "Very stylish clothes."
Americans are best known in Europe for sports clothes. Though de la Renta did show a lot of sweaters, especially effective with his long flaring checked-wool skirts, his collection is in a more formal mode.
Saint Laurent, over the years, has intoduced a more casual feeling to French design, including pea jackets, pants suits and leather clothes, which are all the rage this season. The biggest burst of applause was elicited by a fire-engine-red cashmere twin sweater set paired with a long, full black velvet skirt. The French don't often see this type of clothing from their high fashion houses.
The collection opened no new fashion territory. The designer did, however, play around with skirt lengths. When hemline unrest began a year ago, Saint Laurent brought his skirts to a sensible level, just clearing the knees. This season, he's all over the lot. In addition to the ankle-length pants he has shown before, he offers thigh-high dresses, coats that are just under ankle length and skirts that stop anywhere from the top to the bottom of the calf.
"It's a beautiful length," said Lucienne Saint Laurent, the designer's mother, pointing to the middle of her calf. "I'm going to try it." The skirt she was wearing was much shorter.
There were some admirable pieces in the collection, including Victorian fitted jackets that looked fine with long skirts or ankle-length pants. But it was clearly not one to change the world.
Looking fit after the show, though his arm was still in a cast from a fall a month ago, Saint Laurent discussed plans to hold his next show in his salon, rather than in the vast tents in the courtyard of the Louvre.
"I myself would prefer a smaller presentation," he said, "but it has not been decided." Then he sighed wistfully. "There is so little time between collections," he said. "One must work so hard."
Among the designers who presented their fall collections before the shows ended this afternoon was Hanae Mori, who was one of the first Japanese to become a regular here. Her show had a little more flash and dash than usual. But the designer thinks her customers, basically conservative women, are ready for her lively patterned knits in both checkerboard effects and the butterfly motif that has become her trademark.
Silk shirts in patchwork designs with quilted jackets and crinkled silk shirts with brocade skirts and pants are other lively ideas. In honor of the shop she plans to open in London this summer, she offered a group of suits in British houndstooth checks and plaids and handled the tailoring with skill. The shop in Piccadilly is one of a number she plans to open in Europe. Barcelona, Spain, is the next target, with a shop scheduled there at the end of the year.
To designers all over the world, Paris is the fashion mecca. If they cannot afford their own space, they form groups to present their clothes in hotels, tents in the Tuileries and even boats anchored in the Seine. The Chamber of Commerce of Austria sponsored a fashion show at the Espace Cardin to introduce the work of six of its designers. They offered knitwear, leathers, tailored clothes and, predictably, variations on loden-cloth jackets.
One of the Austrians, Atil Kutoglu, 25 years old, was ecstatic. "I've shown my clothes in Dusseldorf, Tokyo and New York," he said. "But this is Paris. I'm so excited to be here."
The most original of the Austrian group, he showed clothes with an exotic Turkish theme that played into the ethnic revival in fashion. He mixed plaids with flower prints, wrapped sequined skirts over stretch pants and combined sheer coats with leather shorts.
His clothes had the freshness of talented young designers anywhere in the world. They brought inquiries from store buyers and a few orders. "I'll be back here," he said. "With my own show. Soon."
Photos: Oscar de la Renta's low-cut tweed suit. (pg. C1); Long full skirt with fitted jacket by Oscar de la Renta.; Long skirt by Yves Saint Laurent with animal-pattern shoes and hat.; Sweater with gold border and ankle-length pants by Yves Saint Laurent. (pg. C10) (Photographs by Jean-Luce Hure for The New York Times) Drawings: Red twin sweater set by Yves Saint Laurent with black velvet skirt.; Fringed shawl with printed tunic and leopard-spotted pants by Atil Kutoglu. (pg. C10)