Oct 2, 2006

Coast to coast, real women declare fall looks a win

Associated Press

The fashion gods declared there would be radically new fall trends - skinny pants, dresses, round-toe shoes, chunky sweaters and big belts - and then pushed their point by putting those looks all over magazines and catalogs, and on the bodies of celebrities.
So, were they preaching to the choir, or to a fashion flock not quite ready to convert after years of wearing (and loving) their boot-leg jeans, pointy-toe boots and cropped jackets?
The Associated Press checked in with seemingly style savvy women on the streets of three cities - New York, Chicago and Los Angeles - to see what new fall looks they've bought into. We asked national chains Gap and J.Crew, as well as some local boutique owners and style-watchers, if shoppers have made the switch.
Generally speaking, the answer is yes. Or at least, they're working on it.
"I don't think designers are offering that much that's ridiculous these days," said Stacy Wallace-Albert, a Chicago-based style editor and founder of thefashioneditor.com.
What seems to be catching on but isn't for everyone just yet: That lean leg look created by skinny pants and leggings, and reminiscent of the 1980s.
"If you remember wearing it, you're probably too old to wear it again," Elizabeth Crowley, 40, a video producer and director in Chicago, said with a laugh. "Those little elfin boots - I just don't think it's flattering. It cuts your leg right at a bad place."
Wallace-Albert seconds that thought when it comes to skinny pants.
"It's just too hard for most people to wear. If you have any sort of a bottom whatsoever, you should not be wearing that super skinny jean," she said.
Which isn't to say many women aren't figuring out how to adapt the look for themselves.
Nationally, skinny pants - if not skinny jeans - are ringing up strong sales at the Gap, store officials say, perhaps thanks in part to the comforting presence of the late Audrey Hepburn, the star of an ad campaign ubiquitous in many markets.
With Audrey wildly dancing and vamping to AC/DC's "Back in Black" wearing her "Funny Face" look of skinny black pants and a simple sleek black turtleneck, several women interviewed said the campaign has made them curious about the whole slim-leg thing, if not more willing to try it.
"Audrey Hepburn is the ultimate style icon. She set the tone of being sophisticated and chic," said Gap spokeswoman Erica Archambault.
Even if women aren't embracing the skinniest of pants, they are certainly buying into slimmed-down looks for the legs, and that is having a domino effect: Things that look good with them also are selling well, including long T-shirts and wide belts, merchants report.
"'Matchstick' cords are being worn with the little lace antique blouses and Edwardian vests," said J. Crew's Jenna Lyons Mazeau, senior vice president of women's design.
She, too, points out that there is plenty for skinny-leg averse women to choose from that isn't so extreme.
"To me, you can find jeans that are straight and still look right, just put away the boot cut," she said.
Here's what some women say they are wearing as the days grow cooler:

BIG APPLE GETS SKINNY
NEW YORK - The women hanging around Union Square one recent day did have skinny pants and leggings on their minds - even if they didn't yet have them on their bodies. But several did say they'd give it a go before too long, once they figured out how to wear them.
(With a long top, preferably belted, or under a skirt, experts advise.)
"Leggings - you kind of have to try them," said Suzanne Mahle, 24, of Allendale, N.J., as she headed into Anthropologie on her lunch break. She was wearing a trend-right metallic-thread scarf from H&M, chunky button earrings and a black, peplum-jacket skirt suit.
She envisions wearing them under a pleated skirt or with a long sweatshirt. New accessories - especially headbands and boots - will help pull together her autumn look, she said.
Megan Howard, 28, of Manhattan, already has two pairs of skinny jeans that she got at Barneys New York, one pair by J.Brand and one by Edun. "I went for it with big oversize sweaters with flats. I'm looking for boots to wear with it, too."
"I follow trends. I read last year that skinny jeans would be big but I waited to see if they'd really still be around," said Howard, who wore slim reddish corduroy pants, a denim blazer, brown-check Vans and oversized sunglasses.
She's also considering a pair of skinny black pants - thanks, in no small part, to the Gap ad, she said.
Marisa Finger, 30, of Manhattan, walked down the street in a black tuxedo-style shirt with French cuffs and dark gaucho pants. She carried a J.Crew shopping bag filled with a just-purchased herringbone blazer and those slim-but-not-skinny cord pants.
"Fall is my favorite time to shop," she said. "I have yet to try the skinny pant but I probably will."
Before that, though, she'll buy some high-heel, high-shaft boots. "It's next on the to-do list."
But 40-something Felecia Bell-Schafer, of Bayonne, N.J., still wasn't sure what to buy. "I'm kind of thinking about shopping for fall - I'm looking at windows. I noticed in the Abercrombie (and Fitch) window, there were no black clothes. I like black clothes, so I guess I won't be shopping there."

CHICAGO WOMEN GET 'DRESSED'
CHICAGO - Don't talk to women here about skinny pants. One shopper says they didn't flatter her the first time around. Another fears they'll make her hips look huge. One boutique owner even jokes they only look good on small boys.
So that's one trend for fall that may be plentiful on Chicago-area clearance racks in a few months.
Instead, women - some interviewed while shopping in the hip neighborhood of Wicker Park and others headed to a downtown fashion show - are looking to add dresses to their wardrobe. And they plan to make them Windy City-wearable by pairing them with boots, tights, shawls, blazers and even leggings.
"Dresses are great because they are so versatile. They're easy. You pull them on the body and it's one thing. Poof, it's on and you don't worry about it," said Stacy Wallace-Albert, a Chicago-based style editor and founder of thefashioneditor.com, who also recommends a good coat as a similar single solution for a making a good first impression.
She said while dresses often scream feminine, they can be powered up with a boot, and dresses with empire waists can cover a multitude of sins.
Katie Woodrick, 27, who works in advertising sales, said she hasn't done her fall shopping yet - "I'm kind of in denial" - but expects to add some dresses to her closet. She was wearing knee-length black shorts, a beige V-neck top and black heels to an event called Fashion Focus Chicago, meant to highlight the city's fashion industry and designers.
She won't be looking for a certain style of dress until she gets it in the fitting room. "Whatever looks good on my body. Everything has to be tried on," she said. And she'll likely pull her dresses out on mornings when she has something special later in the day - like a client meeting or a dinner date.
Shirtdresses or wrap dresses, in particular, can be great for the day-to-night transformation, Wallace-Albert suggested: They're proper for the office, then they can be unbuttoned or paired with leggings and a belt for the night out.
For Chicago residents Kat Rojina, 33, and Elizabeth Crowley, 40, some of the other fashions for fall - such as short boots and skinny jeans - are a bit too close to what they wore in their teen years. They're going in a different direction.
Rojina, who works in commercial real estate, donned a buttery yellow suede jacket and a silk scarf with a pair of fancy blue jeans and high heels for their girls' night out at the fashion show, while Crowley wore a bright blue sweater and a necklace made of chunky black and white beads.
Crowley has already made at least one fall purchase, a black crocheted wool capelet. "That's the updated version of the poncho, which is so over," she declared.
Rojina's take on skinny pants? She points out that the Gap was able to find one woman who does look great in them - Audrey Hepburn. "And she's dead," she said with a laugh.

LOS ANGELENOS BUCKLE DOWN
LOS ANGELES - Wide belts are bringing together the diverse pieces that are driving fall fashion here. They cinch the waist of dresses, highlight the hips when worn low-slung with leggings and give the bust a boost when fastened empire-style.
On Melrose Avenue, a shopping destination for the fashionably funky, store windows show wide, stretchy belts worn over T-shirts paired with miniskirts and leggings. Chunky leather belts - woven, studded or plain - rest on the hips over tunics and tight pants. You'll also find them in places like the uber-trendy Kitson on Robertson Boulevard.
"I like the buckle off to the side," said Jasmine Copeland, 19, a sales clerk there, who wore a red patent-leather belt over a cherry-print tank and leggings. "I like thicker belts, and I don't put them through the belt hoops."
Kitson is showing wide belts in patent leather with snakeskin or cheetah-print trim, weathered leather with macrame accents, stretchy, studded, woven and plain. Buckles range from the traditional and familiar to dramatic, artistic and jeweled.
Hillary Reed, a shopper on Robertson, said wide belts are a trend she'll try.
"If you have hips, they accentuate the waist," said the 21-year-old.
Jayna Pellagrino, 24, a travel coodinator for the MTV reality show, "Laguna Beach," who was wearing a loose white vintage blouse cinched at the waist with an elastic black belt while out one recent evening, said she's happy belts are back.
"The belt trend works for me because I have no hips, so for me to cinch the top of the waist usually will expand the rest and make it look longer and flow-ier," she said.
She said she usually wears belts at the waist or higher - "The higher up that they are, the tinier it makes you look."
Belts look especially fresh when worn just below the bust, agreed Amanda Pelisek, a manager at Jigsaw Melrose, a shop popular with Eva Longoria and Carmen Electra.
"Belts aren't just for the waist," she said. "Whether it's over a blouse, a 'wife-beater' or a tea-bag dress, girls are turning every outfit into an empire-waisted one."
That versatility means belts work on all kinds of body shapes.
"You're actually creating another silhouette with the belt. You can wear it low or high and it gives you range," said Andrea Linnett, creative director at Lucky magazine.
Belts transform the season's long, loose dresses into figure-flattering looks, she said. But with all the interpretations - from leather to velvet and plain to embellished - they also make their own style statements.