Oct 10, 2006

Luxury labels court youth dollar, sell skin

Associated Press

Paris designers targeted the hearts and wallets of young customers who are fast becoming powerful players on the luxury goods scene, showing short skirts and high heels in their spring-summer ready-to-wear collections on Friday.

Guests including Katie Holmes and Victoria Beckham watched models parade in baby doll dresses and skinny jeans in German designer Karl Lagerfeld's display for Chanel.

Christian Lacroix also showed acres of leg, with cropped skirts and embroidered swimsuits that barely covered the derriere.

Rebel designer Alexander McQueen was alone in bucking the trend for short hemlines that has swept from New York to Milan. His mermaid gowns with round padded hips were an eloquent response to the debate about fashion's obsession with stick-thin physiques.

Lagerfeld, who this week dismissed the tabloid storm about underweight models as "grotesque," paired tweed jackets with sequined hotpants that require impeccably toned thighs. Metallic platform shoes with transparent plastic uppers gave the leggy look added oomph.

"Everything is getting shorter and heels are getting higher, so that certainly works for young girls out there," said Hollywood stylist Rachel Zoe, whose clients include Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan.

Chanel's candy-pink striped hoodies and tiny shorts seemed tailor-made for Lohan, who was Lagerfeld's date at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards in June.
The strategy may not be as risky as it seems.

With blogs like Egotastic and PerezHilton.com churning out fresh paparazzi shots daily, young celebrities are setting the tone for what their peers aspire to wear - think what Paris Hilton did for sales of Christian Dior shades.

Readers of gossip sites may not fork out $5,000 for a Chanel suit, but they will buy into the brand's aura with a $100 perfume and may graduate to pricier accessories.

The options at Lacroix ranged from a mustard quilted handbag with white patent leather trim to tiered platform shoes in Chinese lacquer red that were bound to the feet by silk ropes.

These set off trim dresses and shorts in polka-dotted monochrome silk jacquard and colorful African-inspired prints.

"It expresses the dynamic of women today, the idea of legs walking all over the world," Lacroix said. "It's not a question of age, it's a question of style."

The Internet could be the playing field on which the battle for youth dollar is played out, though luxury giants are still not sure whether to use the Web as a selling platform or marketing tool.

The success of high-fashion online store Net-a-Porter.com suggests the potential of e-commerce is huge, if hard to quantify.

Most brands have been slow to embrace the Web because luxury products are sensory goods that appeal to a customer's sight, touch and feel, preferably in the rarefied setting of a designer boutique. This is especially true of McQueen's creations, which straddle the border between ready-to-wear and made-to-measure haute couture.

Models in floor-sweeping lace gowns paraded in the 19th century Cirque d'Hiver venue accompanied by a string octet and harpsichord.

The starting point was Stanley Kubrick's 1975 film "Barry Lyndon" - a reference likely lost on the MTV generation.

That translated into masculine and feminine tailoring in pearl grays and powdery pastels, culminating in a gown made entirely from fresh pink flowers that shed petals in its wake.

For all his artistry, even McQueen is not oblivious to the growing spending power of younger customers. His recently launched diffusion line, McQ, offers T-shirts priced from $65.

And Robert Polet, chief executive of Gucci Group - which owns McQueen and other labels - said they were taking the Internet very seriously.

"We strongly believe in the Internet for our brands and we also strongly believe that in the future, this is going to be even more important," Polet told The Associated Press. "We want to play a leading role in that development."