THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506070049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CAMMY SESSA, SPECIAL TO THE DAILY BREAK
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
RIGHT NOW, fashion's a bust.
No wonder, either. The recent American designers collections fall short of actual style; fashion makers seem to be as confused as the women who want to be fashionable.
Skirts are long and short - very short - with one or two Seventh Avenue fashion rulers, among them Calvin Klein, showing an unflattering, just-below-the-knee hemline.
The questions that dog consumers are natural: Are pants skinny or full? Are shapes body-hugging or billowy?
All this makes women edgy about shopping; frankly, most don't have time to deal with style schizophrenia. That's the reason, no doubt, so many fashion houses and specialty shops have gone under in the past five years.
With fashion in such disarray, I decided to seek a new approach to current style, which led me to New York and the recent Fashion Accessories Expo, which was attended by nearly 500 exhibitors, company reps and manufacturers.
Instead of body covering, body adornment - inspired by lifestyles, political correctness, nostalgia and the movies - seems to be the prescription for lifting fashion out of its doldrums.
Milliners can thank the producers of ``Four Weddings and a Funeral'' for showing how chic young women look in hats. Manufacturers were kept busy throughout the four-day FAE writing orders for hats that, a few years ago, consumers wouldn't touch.
``I think women are discovering what an asset hats are to their fashion persona,'' one milliner gladly told me.
The hat craze has spread to Hampton Roads. At a fashionable wedding last month, I noticed more women than ever wearing hats.
But the flick that's had the biggest impact on fashion accessories is ``Jurassic Park.''
``There is an obvious link between `Jurassic Park' and the appeal of amber,'' said Maria Ellefson of New Orleans, who was showing her Mysterium Collection of amber jewelry. ``Women really want amber; it's a hot product right now.''
(Yellow or brown amber is a fossil resin. In ``Jurassic Park,'' dinosaurs are hatched from DNA extracted from mosquitoes embedded in amber.)
Amber is mined all over the world, but the best quality, according to Ellefson, comes from the Baltic states, particularly Poland. ``Baltic amber takes a great polish,'' she said.
Another jeweler with plenty of amber in her collection was Amy Kahn Russell from Wilton, Conn., who sells to specialty, department and jewelry stores. Her pieces have been featured on Madonna in Vogue, Iman in Essence and on a variety of models in almost all fashion magazines.
Her designs, however, go beyond amber to include other fossils and semiprecious stones, which are fashioned into sculptures of turtles, frogs, fish and birds. Each is then set on a bed of sterling silver to make earrings, brooches and medallions. On one brooch, a carved soapstone fish is juxtaposed next to a dollop of amber. On another, a carved lapis turtle stretches its neck up out of the raised stone as if it is about to move. Incredible!
``My things combine the art world with the jewelry world,'' Russell said. ``It hasn't been done before and everything is natural. We use wood, nuts and semiprecious stones, and each piece is one of a kind.''
The show also featured more traditional jewelry, including etched gold and silver pieces from designer Davi Besares of Kingston, N.Y.
Besares said that gunmetal - a kind of gray flannel in metal - is the newest look in costume jewelry, adding, ``It's especially nice if the gunmetal is combined with gold or silver.''
A revived classic making a comeback is the small box handbag with a handle rather than a shoulder strap - like the ones Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis carried when she was first lady. These little handbags are crafted in a variety of leathers for day as well as beaded and brocades for after-5.
There's no doubt that Onassis' death has spurred a retrospective of her incredible style. Scarves, for instance, were featured at FAE, and Onassis was known for keeping her bouffant in place with generous swatches of silk.
But forget those puny little squares; these scarves are big and diaphanous. Gracefully feminine, one can change a simple dress or pant outfit into couture chic.
Vests are a wonderful way to update an old ensemble or to add a bit of class to a new one; they were shown in an assortment of textures and fabrics, including tapestry, quilting, crewel embroidery, velvet, sequins and brocade.
The most unusual vests at FAE had jewels, coins and tiny plastic animals quilted inside double layers of stiff nylon netting. They were all handcrafted by Ellen Silberlicht of Studio Editions from Lancaster, Pa.
``Vests are the easiest way to change last year's outfits into something exciting,'' says Silberlicht. ``That's why they are so popular.''
Come fall, don't worry about clothes. Just buy a hat, accessorize with amber or gunmetal jewelry, carry a small handbag, throw a generous scarf around your shoulders or don a vest.
You'll be in fashion without spending big bucks. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BILL TIERNAN /
Jewelry designer Amy Kahn Russell from Wilton, Conn., uses amber in
her pieces, which include turtles, frogs, fish and birds.
by CNB