Designers Make a Blanket Statement
Fashion has taken to its bed. It has crawled under the covers and literally found in them blanket looks for fall.
Women’s clothing designers have carried their security blankets to the cutting tables and come up with blanket skirts, jackets, dresses, shawls and even boots. Fall fashion, even in Southern California, is full of clothes that borrow the olive color of army blankets, the fuzzy textures of brushed wool, flannel and felt, and the handiwork of a dozen quilters.
Simpler interpretations produced serape shawls, voluminous duvet coats and thick, flannel skirts bordered with wide satin bands (just like your blanket). More far-flung ideas brought forth fringed ponchos, sheer capelets and unusual dresses--many with asymmetrical wraps and drapes.
Wearing a blanket may seem like some homespun idea hatched in the sequel to “Gone With the Wind.” But current fabric technology makes these modern materials only look like blankets. They feel light as sheets. Contrary to expectation, these blanket looks aren’t often wrapped--they’re sculpted. Synthetic fabrics are fused at the seams or cut with lasers at the hems. Old-fashioned buttons and zippers are replaced with hook-and-loop closures or dispensed with altogether.
Not all of the season’s experiments have been successful. On more than one runway, felted fabrics displayed an annoying tendency to cling to hose and tights. And arty examples of draping and wrapping that forgot about the confinements of car doors and armchairs were sometimes best left in the sketchbook.
The idea of wrapping up in layers of wool may not appeal to warm-blooded Southern Californians--until winter’s first cold snap hits.
“The funny thing is, even though we are in Southern California and the majority of our weather is sunny and warm, we have those cold nights,” said Los Angeles designer Cynthia Vincent, creator of the St. Vincent collection, which this fall includes blanket-fabric skirts, coats and tops.
Last year, she made herself a skirt from a favorite blanket. “Last fall, I lived in my blanket skirt. For me, it was about comfort--about being cozy and comfortable,” she said. The best blanket fabrics, she said, look heavier than they actually are.
When fashion takes a turn toward such dense, wintry looks, stores are often challenged to tailor their selections to local tastes. National chains such as Banana Republic may offer vests in a warm-weather store and full-length coats in colder-climate stores, said Kim Sobel, the store’s spokeswoman. Shoppers in colder cities may elect to wear several blanket-fabric items--a jacket, skirt and shawl, for example--while just one item is the rule in warmer climates.
At designer boutiques on Rodeo Drive, local weather conditions aren’t always a customer’s primary concern.
“The shopper on Rodeo travels quite a lot,” said Jon Borland, manager of the Ferragamo boutique. “They are looking for wonderful outerwear pieces, even if they are heavy, to travel with or to wear at their second home in the mountains or wherever. But I don’t think there is a customer for a bulky day suit in Southern California.”
While the blanket look may be a bigger hit in frosty Chicago, the selections this season, from $1,200 duvet coats to simple shawls, have universal appeal, Borland said.
“It looks warm. It looks cuddly. When they see it, they want to touch it. It’s emotional. I guess it just brings good feelings to people.”
Valli Herman-Cohen can be reached by e-mail at valli.herman-cohen@latimes.com.
