Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 24, 1991 TAG: 9103220218
SECTION: SPRING FASHION PAGE: E-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WOODY HOCHSWENDER/ THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In the men's business, of course, a quarter-inch here or there can be a big deal.
"No, what we're talking about here is at least an inch and a half," said Nick Hilton, the president of Norman Hilton, in all seriousness.
What is actually happening is a series of subtle changes that could affect the way men dress for years to come.
Driven by the worst retail season in decades, American designers are taking the hallowed shape of the traditional man's suit and pumping it up.
Shoulders are broader, lapels wider and chests fuller, with a drape that permits freedom of movement.
Inner construction has been minimized, taking advantage of new lightweight canvases.
Fabrics are lighter, too, reflecting a desire for comfort and a perception, if not the reality, that the weather is warmer in major cities.
The new jackets weigh as little as 32 ounces, in some cases a pound less than stodgier antecedents.
Among the traditional U.S. companies that recently have introduced higher-priced suit lines of this type are Polo/Ralph Lauren, Norman Hilton and Alan Flusser.
Hartmarx, one of America's oldest and largest manufacturers, announced a licensing agreement last week with Karl Lagerfeld to design two new suit lines.
They are expected to compete with Giorgio Armani and Hugo Boss, two labels that have sold well while traditional brands languished.
While not entirely new, the bigger, lighter, more comfortable suit has in the past been marketed to the "fashion customer," a younger man more interested in style than absolute appropriateness.
Now the target is the traditional man, who by all accounts has been a reluctant shopper.
"I've been in the business more than 20 years, and I've never seen such a basic change," said Hilton, whose company has made staunchly traditional men's clothing for a century. "It took a recession to do it."
Hilton recently introduced a new collection, under his own name, incorporating the roomier silhouette.
"Every 20 years there's a major revolution in fit and style," he added. "What Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent did for the fitted suit of the 1960s and '70s, Armani and Hugo Boss have done for the '90s."
Ralph Lauren, who has long championed a traditional look in men's clothing, is more guarded about his new suit model, with its fuller, sloped shoulders, wider lapels and lightweight construction.
It looks like his other suits but with a bit of air pumped into the upper part.
"Is this a new model?" Lauren asked rhetorically. "Yes. Is it important? Yes. But it couldn't be more Wall Street, more chairman-of-the-board."
Lauren said he was not influenced by others. "A broader shoulder is not necessarily Italian or English," he said. "It's just what's happening."
Tracing the causes of the new silhouette leads to a labyrinth of conjecture.
Certainly Italian menswear companies, like Giorgio Armani and Ermenegildo Zegna, have been influential.
But Hilton said his stylistic inspiration, and perhaps the original source for the Italian designers, was old Hollywood: Joel McCrea in "The Palm Beach Story," or Cary Grant in "Notorious."
But designers who always have stood firmly for traditional Anglo-American principles, including the natural shoulder, now see relaxed fit and fuller silhouette as an inexorable force in the market.
"It's a change in thinking for me, no question," said Alan Flusser, the designer who made the suits for Michael Douglas' portrayal of Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street."
In his new ready-made clothing collection, Flusser made a decision to broaden the shoulders - from 19 to 20 1/2 inches, point to point - and soften the look.
"In the mid-'80s there was a fashion for the Old World look," Flusser said.
"The killer suit arose at a time when you didn't mind standing out and projecting a power image. Today you surround yourself with the same kind of quality, but it's softer, less intimidating.
"These garments are much sexier. Clothes for men used to be directed toward other men. This clothing is really directed toward women."
by CNB