Luxury and Restrainta put-down of current Paris runway sensationalism than a statement of
wearable classics for older women?’^19
And this is the key to a more positive reading of such designs. Their simple
forms and subtle colours do not try to dictate a particular ideal of beauty,
either in terms of body shape or age. As Donna Karan’s advertisement
campaign for autumn/winter 1998/99 showed in its images of a statuesque
fifty-something woman clad in a thickly knitted sweater and slim black skirt,
these clothes allow a space, a break from seasonal fashion. Inherent in the
cut of the clothes is a reverence for longevity, for the notion of timeless classics,
which are wearable by any woman, not just the modelesque. And in an era
obsessed by the perfection of the body, the chasing of idealized youth, this
may still be considered liberatingly avant-garde.
- Mower, S. June 1998. ‘Margiela does Hérmès’,Harper’s Bazaar, p. 147.