Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303180269
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NEW BLUES REVIVAL
MEN, remember these words this spring: black and white, new blues and naturals.Guaranteed, you'll walk into a men's clothing store when that next burst of warm weather hits, looking for something to drag your wardrobe out of the winter doldrums, and what will you find?
Black and white, new blues and naturals.
"Colors have swung away from olive colors of the past to more classic, neater, tailored colors and patterns," said Tom Julian, fashion director for the Men's Fashion Association, the New York City-based publicity arm of the menswear industry.
"Black and white began to present itself in a lot of collections for the fall `92 season. That has carried over into the spring in very classic houndstooths, mini-checks, glen plaids and tick weaves," Julian said.
So small are some of the checks and plaids that they "almost look like a solid," said Tom Hudson, store manager of Mitchell's, a men's clothing store in downtown Roanoke. "They are very muted."
Olives and browns also have given way to new blues, said Larry Davidson, president of Davidsons, which has stores in central and Western Virginia, including Roanoke, Lynchburg, Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
"For a while, blues were very petroleum. Now, there are classic blues like Baltic, charcoal, slate - blues with grayish tones," he said.
Navy is a traditional spring clothing color, and men will continue to find it in everything from pin-striped suits to sport coats to nautical-themed casual wear. But Davidson is betting that once men get a glimpse of the new blues - at least in suiting - they'll skip right past the old reliable.
"The new blues are a further definition of navy, in indigo, cobalt, azure - mixing them all up so you get more of a tonal statement," Julian said. "Navy always has been a year-round classic basic, but for spring it takes on a lighter presence because of the . . . varying tones."
Neutral colors have woven their way into the spring spectrum in hues labeled with such earthy-sounding terms as "jute," "raffia" and "flax." The trend has been labeled "The New Naturals," a color story ranging from tan to cream to beige and a whole family of pale shades.
The colors alone look like spring. But when presented in such "eco-friendly" fabrics as linen, cotton and silk, the clothing has a monochromatic, natural finish, Julian said.
The lightweight, light-colored clothing mesh appropriately with today's looser interpretation of "dress for success."
Suits remain the first choice for the boardroom and business executives, but there is a greater acceptance that a man can "close a deal in a sport coat, slacks, chambray shirt and conversation-generating tie," the fashion association reported in January.
"As certain companies have loosened up the workplace, sportswear is becoming more important," said Jeff Wendell, owner of and men's buyer for John Norman stores in Roanoke's Valley View and Tanglewood malls and Towers Shopping Center. "People who only wore suits now end up with jeans and a knit shirt."
The National Association of Men's Sportswear Buyers in New York reported in December that in 1993, men would mix the "unmixable" in interesting ways, such as combining the casual with the dressy - a blazer over a running outfit or a business suit over a turtleneck.
Davidson agrees.
"There is no reason for a man to give up function when he gives up formality," he said.