Looking Straight Ahead

By Kate Betts / Paris

Time to toss the gilded crocodile handbags and the flashy sequined fishtailed numbers. After enduring a one-two fashion punch, obvious luxury is looking a little frayed. On Oscar's red carpet the sober styles worn by actresses like Reese Witherspoon and Maggie Gyllenhaal had the most modern vibe. And across the ocean, on the fall 2007 runways of Paris and Milan, designers are striking a serious pose with a less-is-more look reminiscent of the early 1990s. It's a subtle shift away from the pile-it-on look of fur and python and paillettes that has defined luxury labels for several seasons. Instead of ornamentation, the focus is on shape and fabrication.

In Milan the Belgian designer Raf Simons registered this change most notably with his pared-down Jil Sander collection of strict capes and coats worn over stovepipe-slim black pants. Miuccia Prada also turned her back on traditional notions of luxury, replacing last year's opulent long-haired furs with shaggy mohair coats and matted-wool twinsets. Even designers who are not minimalists at heart, like Donatella Versace, toned it down with classic black and gray coats and suits punctuated with an occasional flash of turquoise or tomato red.

This adjustment in fashion's focus--a marked return to rigorous tailoring and basic colors--might be a reflection of our sober times. At many runway shows it seems as if designers are suggesting more refined dress codes as an antidote to the cacophony around us.

"Excessiveness is not so cool anymore," says Julie Gilhart, fashion director of Barneys New York, a store very much defined by the all-black aesthetic of the early 1990s. "I think we are striving for better times. We want authenticity and quality and beautiful cut now. We want things that will last."

But for the luxury business, a simple silhouette is not necessarily a natural fit. Houses like Gucci and Dior--where the signature is often spelled out in over-the-top details on snakeskin handbags or horse-bit-studded shoes and lavish, Vegas-style embroidery--appear to be allergic to sobriety. Gucci designer Frida Giannini turned to the 1940s and the gunmetal-gray palette of wartime heroines like photographer Lee Miller. For Dior, John Galliano tried on a reverential perspective, paying homage to giant clients like Ava Gardner with beaded satin entrance makers. In both cases, their studied opulence seemed to miss this moment's modernist beat.

Even Nicolas Ghesquiere, who has attracted much attention in the past few seasons with Balenciaga collections that looked both backward (to the archives) and forward (to Tron-inspired styles), is relying on basics. He showed a street-inspired collection of navy blazers and khakis--recut for a modern woman, of course. Navy and khaki: it doesn't get much more straight up than that.