Anyone seen these? Any good??
>- The right trousers -
>
>Katayone Adeli is said to design the sexiest trousers in the world but
>shuns
>publicity and can't be bothered with fashion shows. Jess Cartner-Morley
>tries
>them on to see what the fuss is about
>
>Friday February 11, 2000
>
>Talk to any woman about clothes, and one subject is almost sure to come up:
>finding the perfect trousers. While the pomp and pageantry of catwalk
>fashion
>hold the gaze of the media, the wardrobe fantasies of real women are more
>likely
>to centre around that elusive pair of black trousers. This is what the real
>business of getting dressed is all about: trousers that fit like a dream,
>go
>with everything and can be worn anywhere. Oh, and make your legs look
>longer and
>your backside smaller.
>Reader, I've found them. Not that I can take the credit, sadly: Gwyneth
>Paltrow
>let the world in on the secret when she told American Vogue, "I try to get
>every
>pair of pants Katayone Adeli makes." Even before that, Garbage singer
>Shirley
>Manson told American Harpers Bazaar that Katayone Adeli "knows how to dress
>women's arses - more people should learn how she cuts."
>
>If you're thinking "Katayone who ?" you're not alone. The Iranian-born,
>California-raised designer is still little known in this country; Harvey
>Nichols
>is her only British stockist although this is likely to change soon as
>industry
>insiders predict 2000 to be a breakthrough year for her label. Katayone
>Adeli
>(pronounced kat-eye-own a- del -ee) made her name as designer for the Los
>Angeles line, Parallel, before moving to New York and launching her own
>label.
>
>Last year the two-and-a-half year-old label did $20m in sales and won Adeli
>a
>new designer nomination for the Perry Ellis award, given by the Council of
>Fashion Designers of America.
>
>Adeli does not, of course, just design trousers. Her designs runs the gamut
>of
>womenswear from jeans to evening dresses, with shoes - in association with
>Jimmy
>Choo - to be added from next season. But her trousers are legendary. Yasmin
>Yusuf, managing director of the British high street group Warehouse and a
>confirmed Adeli addict, credits the designer as "hugely influential in the
>whole
>trend for low, tight trousers" - the boy-cut, straight-leg hipsters that in
>the
>past five years have replaced traditional high-waisted, tapered trousers in
>many
>women's wardrobes.
>
>In the hip store Scoop in downtown New York, I try a controlled experiment
>to
>see what all the fuss is about. They only have one pair of Katayone Adeli
>"pants" left in my size - and they're turquoise, not generally a sensible
>colour, bottom-wise. I try them on anyway and they look good. Really good.
>At
>first I can't figure out why. Perhaps turquoise is my colour after all.
>
>But no, that's not it. First, there's the low waistband, a simple ploy to
>make
>your behind look more petite, as there appears to be less of it. Secondly,
>the
>back pockets are placed a little wider than usual - later, at Adeli's own
>store,
>it is explained to me that this makes your bottom look narrower.
>
>The legs are cut straight, but taper very slightly around the knee - the
>thinnest part of the leg - to give a lengthy, svelte look. The fabric is
>stretchy enough not to look bulky, but sturdy enough to keep a clean line.
>Had
>there been any colour other than turquoise, I wouldn't have been able to
>part
>with my $128 fast enough.
>
>It is her skill at flattering the female form that inspires devotion among
>Adeli-wearers. Adeli herself is an attractive, limelight-shy 33-year-old
>who
>prefers to let her press officer, Antony Halabi, do most of the talking.
>She
>refuses to be photographed, sending out copies of her publicity picture
>instead.
>She has a no-nonsense attitude to fashion, disdaining catwalk shows as
>"high
>drama for no drama at all".
>
>Suspicious of the media and its constant need for an "angle", she
>appreciates
>perfectly that most women are far more interested in clothes that flatter
>than
>in wearing this season's perfect shade of purple or the latest hi-tech
>fabrics.
>The root of Adeli's body-consciousness lies in her West Coast background.
>As
>Adeli puts it, "you wear less clothing in LA", so the emphasis on body
>shape is
>greater. Almost imperceptible details are used to make the wearer look
>leaner,
>more shapely: a few extra gathers on the top of the shoulder of a jacket
>where
>the sleeve starts, combined with a precisely cut underarm and torso, give
>the
>impression of broader shoulders and a narrower body. Even the colour
>palette is
>chosen to be as flattering to the skin as possible. Knitwear, for instance,
>is
>woven from a subtle melange of colours, as a slight mixture makes the
>complexion, by contrast, look more even.
>
>Although New York has taken Adeli to its heart, the West Coast connection
>continues, Adeli providing clothes for the forthcoming remake of the
>Charlie's
>Angels television series.
>
>"They wanted a look that was timeless, but modern." says Halabi.
>Timelessness is
>a recurring theme in Adeli's work. She avoids "deliberate trends",
>preferring an
>evolutionary and practical approach to her seasonal collections.
>
>Her designs are clean and easy to wear, but with subtle recurring motifs
>which
>add flavour - blanket-stitching on a carpaccio-thin leather jacket,
>pin-pleats
>at a trouser waistband. The legendary American fashion editor Polly Mellen
>describes her as being "about pieces, sportswear and a little touch of
>femininity".
>
>Disregarding the yo-yo of bi-annual trends is radical enough for a fashion
>designer, but shunning the celebrity circuit is quite another. Although
>Adeli is
>"flattered" that Gwyneth Paltrow likes her designs, giving clothes away to
>celebrities is "a practice she doesn't believe in. If you like the clothes,
>you
>buy them." Adeli believes women should buy clothes that suit them rather
>than
>ape celebrities.
>
>The new Katayone Adeli flagship store in New York reflects her dislike of
>publicity. Bond Street in the East Village is a world apart from its London
>namesake: edgy and painfully hip, with a builders' merchant next door to a
>photographic supply centre, a hardware store beside a cult perfumery.
>
>The Adeli shop is spacious and white in art-gallery style, with a white
>plaster
>wall to prevent clothes being seen from the street. "We wanted it to be
>private," says Halabi. "Our customer knows we are here."
>
>Word of mouth has already netted Katayone Adeli a robustly healthy customer
>base. It doesn't take a marketing expert to know that being able to cut
>clothes
>that make women look thinner is, to put it bluntly, a licence to print
>money.
>Expansion is on the cards; she thinks "it would be fun" to design menswear.
>
>OK, Katayone. But please, keep making those trousers.
>
>
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