Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 12, 1993 TAG: 9312300010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHLEEN WILSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
(Somewhere, Coco Chanel must be turning over in her grave, rattling lots of those little gold chains.)
Think of it as the ``strong foot'' revolution. At least that's what Calvin Klein is calling it. ``It's not about being delicate right now,'' he declares in Vogue. ``It's about being tough and strong and hard.''
``It'' is footwear. And this season's essential is the boot.
You'll find them in leather and plastic. Suede and velvet. They'll lace up to your ankle or pull way up to your thigh.
Your floor-skimming gossamer or velvet eveningwear just won't look right this holiday season with last year's platforms.
No, this year you'll need to pick up clunky chic.
Those in the know in the fashion world will have you convinced you may as well go barefoot than pass up a combat or biker or engineer boot in velvet or suede or even brocade.
And designers say there is no such thing as a woman who can't wear a boot.
``Even ladies with huge awful legs - like huge columns - they get very masked by the boot,'' exudes yet another Vogue-quoted designer, Manolo Blahnik. ``The best idea for covering up terrible mistakes of nature is the boot.''
Manolo seems proud of his foot fetish. ``I LOVE the idea of a z-z-z-ip, and you take it off. Oh, goodness gracious, the revealing! The idea of taking it off - like a glove - is a very sexual sense of gesture. Taking a boot off the leg is beautiful.''
The boot is destined to be SO popular this season, that Calvin Klein can't think of a single fashion occasion where a boot won't be called for.
Which is why the models in an upcoming runway show of his underwear won't be going barefoot.
Calvin's models will be wearing boots with their panties.
by CNB