**** International Herald Tribune

STY LE Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11

The limited
edition ‘‘Harlot’’
f ash f i le Suzy
Menkes

from Oliver
Peoples, ¤5,000. Roland Mouret: Back in the folds
don’t draw — I drape and it is so much easier
‘I to explain with the hands,’’ says Roland
Mouret, taking a white napkin from the table at
Costes in Paris and folding it into a stand-away
collar, a panier skirt or the sleeve of a coat.
These are all shapes that Mouret will offer at a
show during July haute couture — the first pre-
sentation since the French-born, British-based
The ‘‘Belle designer walked out of his eponymous company
Vivier’’ with side and ultimately launched 19RM with Simon
buckle, ¤290. Fuller, the media and entertainment mogul fa-
The bubble-gum mous for inventing ‘‘Pop Idol.’’
pink Louis Mouret’s couture debut is in fact a pre-spring
Vuitton ‘‘Ursula’’ 2008 collection that will be in the shops in No-
sunglasses, ¤395. vember — but the designer is trying to re-think
Catwalking.com the fashion system for the ‘‘I want it now’’ gener-
ation. Instead of aiming for a new ‘‘ga la xy’’ dress
— his 1940s style beloved of the star Scarlett Johansson — Mouret has
made a capsule collection of 21 pieces for varied body types.
Top of his list is the bottom-heavy woman whose pear-shape is
gently shadowed by a coat opening up in triangular folds or a skirt with
pouchy pocket. Each piece slots in with others to make an interchange-
able wardrobe where a coat — flat at the front and curving at the back
— can slip over a dress, shorts or slim pants. Betting on a return of eth-
nic inspirations in street culture, the designer has insinuated a Medi-
terranean woven stripe fabric as a panel on a dress or as a jacket.
‘‘I’m doing what Zara and Co. can’t do,’’ says Mouret, referring to the
complex folds and drapes of clothes that look deceptively simple. And
where did the designer learn the skills that are making magic out of the

The last table linen? He traces it back to sitting, bored, in his father’s butcher’s
shop playing with the cloths and unwittingly creating his future career.

af fordable Naoki Takizawa honored

R eceiving the French honor of ‘‘chevalier of
arts and letters’’ at the Quai Branly Museum

luxury in Paris was a fitting tribute last week to Naoki

Takizawa. For the Japanese designer’s creative
instincts are not only driven by the natural world
— like the artifacts displayed by the museum. He
also contributed to the Jean Nouvel building on
The white-
framed 1950s- the banks of the River Seine by making massive
inspired ‘‘Moff it’’ curtain-screens that represent in their patterns
from Oliver and movement the African, Asian and Oceanic
Peoples, ¤288. continents, their soils and falling waters.
In his address, Stéphane Martin, the museum’s
president, called the designer ‘‘a great artist and
Naoki Takizawa Design a magician of form and material.’’
Takizawa wearing his medal. Takizawa, a protégé of Issey Miyake, described
as ‘‘a great experience’’ the result of a cooperation
A pair of with the French factory over a two-year span, as the workers strove to
iconic Fendi Red-hot Chanel shades understand the ideas that the designer brought to their country and to
yellow and with Coco’s favorite realize them in terms of texture and visual effects.
double-F logo camellias adorning ‘‘Mr. Miyake has always said that teamwork is very important,’’ sa id
shades, ¤249. the temples, $375. Takizawa. ‘‘I cannot do anything alone. I am privileged to receive this
honor, but I will share it with my team.’’
Takizawa was creative director of the Miyake brand for more than a
Pale gray Burberry glasses decade, taking over first the menswear in 1993 and then the entirety.
with stoney sides, ¤190. Bottega Veneta’s vintage look with But the Paris ceremony marked a new phase in the designer’s creative
natural horn frames and matching cycle. He is now to launch his own label, under the Miyake umbrella,
strap with butterf ly clasps, ¤1,600. with his debut show in New York in September.

Marc Audibet to Vionnet

By Jessica Michault worn year round. Gone are the days when buying a
pair of shades was based purely on protecting the
PARIS eyes from damaging UV rays. And the current fas-
orget the designer shoes, the luxurious lip- cination with oversize sunglasses reflects a need to
hen Marc Audibet was 14 years old, he visited a
W Paris museum to see an exhibition of Paul Poiret.
The presence of the legendary designer’s elderly wife
and an introduction to the curator, brought the stripling
Audibet to a turning point in his life: a chance to see a
cache of the work of Madeleine Vionnet.
‘‘I was fascinated by the fluidity, the extraordinary
intellectual play — don’t forget that this was the era of

Giorgio
Armani’s
wraparound
shades, with
F sticks from high-end fashion houses and the
sweet smelling scents emblazoned with
brand names on the bottle. When it comes to
“a ffordable” luxury — the eyes have it.
Sunglasses are the last bastion of hope for those
the distinctive who want to bask in the luxury-label sunshine but
GA logo on the ca n’t afford to keep up with the skyrocketing prices
arms, ¤264. for designer handbags and clothing. While shoes,
makeup, and perfume might still be within reach for
most, they will never have the instant impact — even
from a distance — of a pair of logo-labeled shades.
‘‘True fashionistas use glasses to make a bold
statement that they are beyond the benefits of
sunglasses and more into the impact they make,’’
says Marshal Cohen, the chief analyst of the retail
research group NPD. ‘‘Now take this and add it to
the fact that there are many more brands of less ex-
pensive glasses than there are in other accessory
categories and you have the perfect storm brewing.’’
Picking up where the matching of handbags and
shoes left off, the more affordable pairing of
sunglasses to an outfit is now the name of the game.
Putting together a “sunglass wardrobe” filled with
all different shapes, sizes, adornments and details is
an economical way to update an ensemble, keep up
Tom Ford’s with the latest styles and create instant individuality.
‘‘Shelby’’ Aviator Still a staple of summer dressing, sunglasses have
glasses, ¤399. recently become an evergreen accessory that can be
care for the wearer in a whole new way. They act as
a disguise that can mask a multitude of sins: The re-
sidual effects of a late night, the no-makeup pit stops
for a carton of milk, or that all-important function
of avoiding unwanted eye contact.
According to Larry Leight, chief designer and co-
founder of the Los Angeles-based company Oliver
Peoples, the trend in sunglasses is starting to move
away from these “ginormous” styles made famous by
the skinny lawbreakers Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.
For Leight, sunglass styles are starting to turn back
the clocks. ‘‘We are seeing a return to a retro 1950s
style,’’ says the designer. ‘‘Plastic frames are back,
with a modern take on the cat’s eye — think Marilyn
Monroe — very popular right now, also crystal trans-
parent frames; they are the new black.’’
Time is of the essence when it comes to building a
collection of brand-name sunglasses. Start snapping
them up before these affordable luxury lenses find
their way onto the same fashion endangered-species
list that is the home to the reasonably priced designer
handbag. The first signs can already be seen as brands
start to promote the use of rare materials (Bottega
Veneta’s new natural horn frames), jewels (Oliver
Peoples’ 20th-anniversary Harlot sunglasses set with
diamonds), and that current fashion favorite, the “lim-
ited edition,” to entice consumers to aspire to shades
that sell for thousands instead of hundreds of dollars.
Courrèges and of fashion architecture,’’ says Audibet,
52, who went on to develop stretch Lycra with DuPont
in the 1980s, to work with Miuccia Prada from 1990 to
1996, then at Hermès and Ferragamo.
Now Audibet is coming back to his first love as
design director at Vionnet. The fact that his mother was
a dancer meant that he was fascinated by ‘‘the idea of
liberty of movement’’ and he says
that Vionnet’s fluid, bias cut dresses
fit precisely with his own aesthetic. Vionnet
‘‘My work started with Vionnet,
via McCardle,’’ he says, referring A new sketch
Claire McCardle, the American in- by Audibet.
ventor of feminized sportswear.
The Vionnet label was dusted off last year by its
family owner and chairman, Arnaud de Lummen,
who did an exclusive deal with Barney’s New York,
after picking the designer Sophia Kokosalaki. But
she left after the Italian Diesel company invested in
her own fledgling label.
Audibet says that he defines fashion designers as
those from the school of construction — like Chris-
tian Dior and those who focused on the body, like
Vionnet and Madame Grès. The former dealt in
side seams, zippers and buttons. But he is with the
latter’s slithering ease — even if his tough mission
Vionnet is to capture couture draping as ready-to-wear in
A 1930s Vionnet original. just six weeks.