Word: denims
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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FASHION Homespun denim is puttin' on the ritz...
...house of Chanel has lent its great international cachet to upstart denim. German-born couturier Karl Lagerfeld's romance with the fabric is a weapon in his war against what he calls "the diktats of fashion," whereby certain garments and accessories can be worn only in particular settings -- silk for splendor, denim for fun. In his designs for Chanel, the maestro is mixing up materials -- tweed, denim, grosgrain -- with such sleight of hand that some of his efforts look more formal than his variations on the house's classic...
...Milan, Italy's irrepressible gadfly Franco Moschino points out that the Tois and the Lagerfelds are Johnny-come-latelies. Moschino has used denim for years in his clever, occasionally rude collections. He sells to royalty and rock stars -- in fact, to anyone who is secure enough or desperate enough to want to stand out. Right now he is making shirts with looped embroidery across the chest. "I use denim as a symbol of our times," says Moschino, "in the same way that Andy Warhol, in his Pop Art, used wartime camouflage painted over faces, to give them a contemporary impression...
...Denim is hardly the first Cinderella to be invited to fashion's gaudy ball. Coco Chanel, always well ahead of the game, made jersey into a chic material in the '20s. In the '30s gingham was popular with American designers, and it's turning up again this year. Today rayon is undergoing a renaissance, from something that made up Harry Truman's sport shirts to the fabric of favor for mimicking silk among most top-of-the-line designers...
...moment, designer denim is a hot item, but when the fad is over, it is unlikely to decline in ignominy like the Nehru jacket. Instead it will probably become part of fashion's standing repertoire of alluring textiles. "Denim is the one thing everyone owns," says Donna Karan, who uses it extensively. From now on, it is likely to be found in garment bags as well as on coat pegs...