Short and tweet: fall's just-hatched proportion would make a chick feel right up-to-date

At the catwalk presentations for fall 2006 in Paris, one of the freshest trends was the preponderance of short-yet-full dresses and coats. Typically, their bulbous shapes were topped by spindly, seemingly endless legs elongated by platform shoes. The silhouette brings to mind the naivety and sweet awkwardness of a newly hatched chick. Balenciaga's sculptural coats and bottom-heavy frilled gray silk manteaus fit the bill. So did Chloe's voluminous smocks and white silk dress with lavish featherlike ruffles and Lanvin's stiffly frilled cocktail dresses and trapeze-line chemises. Taking it one step further, Viktor & Rolf showed a trench coat (a true fowl-weather friend) with egglike, puffed sleeves. Which brings to mind the question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Annabel Tollman is Interview's fashion director.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning