Europe opens eyes of UH fashion students

• A take on trends from the top

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Fashion Writer

Each student kept a sketchbook while visiting Europe. This page is from Jen Yoo's.

In Europe, we met world-renowned designers and the originators of the fashion Web site Worth Global Style Network (www.wgsn.com). We visited textile design studios, toured fashion-related museums and historical retailers, and examined costumes backstage in London theaters.

And we shopped.

The timing couldn't have been better. We were in London for the Queen's Jubilee, a four-day celebration marking the 50th year of Elizabeth II's reign, with a million people crowded into the area surrounding Buckingham Palace and Green Park.

Several students shared elegant picnics with British families on the lawns. An all-day rock concert provided entertainment by Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Rod Stewart, Boy George and Tony Bennett.

Everywhere, there was fashion. For the design students, the trip offered a wealth of inspiration; for the future merchandisers, a new way of seeing how things are done in Europe.

Style makers

In London we met with Prudence Spiegel, a free-lance couture milliner for 13 years. She creates the hats worn on the runways of Tom Ford and Vivienne Westwood. She gave us her candid take on European fashion trends. (See below.) Spiegel characterized the fashion capitals this way: London is new; Paris is creative and Milan is commercial. New York, she said, is safe. Designers there take what was new the previous season in Europe and make it comfortable and wearable.

Zandra Rhodes, an icon of the '60s, is still designing her signature hand-screened silk chiffon confections. Her personal style, complete with hot-pink hair and dark-rimmed eyes, hasn't changed in 40 years. What a thrill when she allowed us to try on her fabulous samples, some of which dated back several decades. Among the lessons learned: Travel is the greatest inspiration for her textile designs.

At Vivienne Westwood's Paris atelier, it also was a trying-on time. The mother of punk, this provocative creator, who brought us back corsets and bustles, is ever the innovator with her complex construction. What's newest? Her radical men's wear, offering a distinct alternative for the man who's confident enough to wear it.

Perhaps the biggest thrill: We happened to be in the Louvre's Musée de la Mode et du Textiles (museum of fashion and textiles) when designer Karl Lagerfeld came to see how couture was being represented in the exhibit we had just toured. (Yes, he is extremely slim now, and arguably the most elegant man any of us had ever seen.)

Scene on the streets

London and Paris are all about the three R's: ruffles, ruching and rough edges. In the antique markets at Portobello Road and Camden, throughout the Harrods and Galeries Lafayette department stores, and in youth-oriented shops in both cities, the Bohemian and Victorian looks were de rigeur, just as they are in Hawai'i.

Student Cindy King noted, however, that European women "are more daring in their fashion sense. They seem more willing to accept the new trends ... and to go for the whole look." In Hawai'i, she observed, women will buy trendy pieces but wear them with jeans or denim shorts.

Kevin Sanada, on the other hand, was disappointed with how few chic women he saw in either city. The only truly trendy women were the Japanese tourists lined up outside Louis Vuitton and sitting on benches outside Onward Kashiyama.

It was evident in Europe that skin is not in. Midriffs were covered, and spaghetti straps, halter tops and shorts were seen only with another piece layered over them. Skirts were tea length or longer. Tops were body-forming but not tight or revealing. "When we showed some skin, we got attention drawn to us," said student Julie Blue.

The look among well-dressed women in Paris is understated chic. Simple, beautifully tailored black pants, the perfect white shirt and red accessories (red flat shoes were everywhere, even on men and children) were standouts.

European women wear scarves to stretch their wardrobes far more than we do. They fold them into belts, drape them over their shoulders or tie them in their hair.

Shops and more shops

Fashion students are among the world's most savvy shoppers. They read all the fashion magazines, keep up with the trends and know exactly what they want.

Among students' favorite shops in London:

• Topshop, an Oxford Street megastore full of designer knock-offs at affordable prices.
• Kookai, for classics with an edge.
• Mango, a super-trendy Spanish chain with low prices on the latest styles.
• Portobello Road and Camden Market, the ultimate flea markets for vintage clothing, antique jewelry, and Indian and Moroccan accessories.
• Harvey Nichols, the hip and haute but expensive Knightsbridge hangout of the international fashion flock. Swimsuits were a favorite.

In Paris they discovered:

• H&M, the Swedish chain with Old Navy-esque prices on trendy items.
• Zara, for high-end clothes at lower prices.
• Plein Sud for sexy separates.

All in all, the coolest shopping is not in the expected places.

Forget Oxford Street and the Champs Elysees. Neighborhoods such as Notting Hill, Covent Garden and Soho in London, and St. Germain de Pres and Le Marais in Paris, offer unusual shops and hidden designers' ateliers.

A take on trends from the top

Prudence Spiegel, who works in the world of haute couture, advised UH fashion students to choose accessories or men's wear as a career. The market for women's wear is declining, she said, and it's time to redirect careers accordingly.

Spiegel's take on the trends:

• Men's wear: pants are going to be wide-legged in the style of the 1930s, with deep cuffs at the hem. Waists will ride low at the front and high in the back. Pinstripes will be big.
• Women's wear: light, flowing and ephemeral, with lots of flowers and prints inspired by the 1930s. It's all about looking hand crafted — a reaction against technology. Chunky hand-knits and crochet are popular.
• Women are not spending on their clothes, but will pay whatever it takes to buy the hottest handbag from the latest haute house. At the moment that means Gucci, Hermes or Louis Vuitton.
• Embroidery and embellishments will continue to be big, but with a hand-sewn quality and feel. "It's a reaction against technology, yet they're using technology to achieve the look," Spiegel said.
• The Kate Moss influence in Europe is notable, with women dressing down in casual clothes that look like they belong in the gym. (This was evidenced in Harrods, where women dressed in sweats carried Hermes Kelly bags and wore Jimmy Choo shoes.)
• No one in Europe is now, or will be in the near future, wearing high heels. The flattest of flats are hot.
• The design houses to watch are Prada, Chloe and YSL Rive Gauche.