Y2K: A Fusion Of Time & Place
By Heather Harlan

If there’s one word that captures previews of the first season of the new millennium, it’s fusion. Meldings of not only diverse cultures but of different times predominate in collections from Yeohlee, Vivienne Tam, David Chu of Nautica and Anna Sui.

They and dozens of other designers, including Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Nicole Miller, Marc Jacobs, Vivienne Westwood and Rebecca Taylor, were among those showing spring previews at last month’s Fashion Week, centered around New York’s Bryant Park. Among them, one basic theme always seemed to emerge: the almost quintessentially American desire to push forward into the future, but this time with elements that incorporate not only the past but also cultures far beyond our shores.

It all makes sense. Any spring, and especially a millennial one, represents a new beginnings for a perennial cycle of regeneration and rebirth. So high-tech fabrics combine with design themes taken from worldwide history: shiny synthetics embroidered with dragon motifs that decorated Asian emperors’ robes hundreds of year’s ago; sports jackets inspired by American sailing traditions; a bustle from an 18th century French painting re-emerges, deflated to a more wearable proportion.

Stealing elements from period underwear, designer Anna Sui unveiled eyelet cotton camisoles, skirts with bustles, and silk corsets at her Seventh on Sixth showing. Drawing inspiration from 18th century rococo paintings and gypsy culture, Sui presents a romantic spring collection with highlights of cut-work embroidery, antique floral prints, smocking, lace and ruffles. Dusty, pale colors predominate -- mauve, sage and faded denim-blue.

“I was interested in how gypsy culture appropriated elements from many cultures and at the same time remained unique and not ethnically specific,” explains Sui. She weaves in plenty of exotic detail, like Moroccan chokers, gypsy coin jewelry and beaded sashes. Denim, that quintessentially 20th century fabric -- gets an update in skirts and jeans studded with faux jewels.

For evening, Sui leans toward rococo with creations soft and pastel -- as in iridescent mauve, aqua, peach and lavender. Silk-taffeta pleated skirts with embroidered panels are topped by silk duppioni jackets decorated with embroidered rose trellises.

Hong Kong-born designer Vivienne Tam incorporates Eastern culture into her first millennial works -- a fitting tribute to the Year of the Dragon.

The ancient motif appears throughout her collection: Purple sequined dragons shimmer across a metallic blue dress; dragon faces burn out the back of a black knit top; a colorful sea-dragon print winds its way around a net dress.

“The dragon represents individuals who are always full of life and enthusiasm with a reputation for being fun loving and innovative,” Tam says. “This perfectly describes the woman for whom I design.”

Consistently striving to combine “the classic with the new,” her second major inspiration for spring came from Tan Dun and Peter Sellers’ recent avant garde production of the Peony Pavilion, a 16th century Chinese opera.

That motif repeatedly emerges in her collection: Hand-embroidered peony blossoms in violet, yellow and blue are stitched on shiny lilac nylon skirts. A sage-colored nylon jacket with a long fringe swings from the back. A nylon halter dress boasts a brown and coral print recalling the finish of antique Chinese ceramics. (The dress also has a mesh collar that can be worn up, circling the neck as a choker or scrunched down for a different look.)

Speaking of versatility, Yeohlee Teng -- whose long-wearing, waterproof fabrics have made her a darling among well-dressed subway riders -- is taking her trademark functional, architectural shapes in new directions. This spring’s collection, she says, is designed for the “Renaissance woman” of the new millennium: a person whose complex life requires easy-to-wear clothes that look and feel good.

She doesn’t take the easy way out. Nothing in her Seventh-on-Sixth preview is black -- a hide-all-stains shade that usually anchors her palette. Instead, she relies on navy blue and on hues inspired by the epitome of functionality: building materials like stone, cement, concrete, plywood and limestone.

This season, Teng brings us a white elliptical collar coat constructed from a machine-washable lightweight wool, a teak-colored cotton canvas vest and skirt, and a plaster-white bubble shirt that are all treated with DuPont Teflon for stain resistance. Her dominant images are lean, geometric silhouettes, narrow pants, and skirts with back fins and oblique triangles along the hem -- as well as cropped jackets and geometric shawls.

For men, David Chu (for Nautica) presents a collection that’s functional and high-tech. Inspired by the America’s Cup competition, Chu creates a “street naval” look: white nylon “sailing” pants, nylon jackets and khaki shirts, crafted largely in 21st century fabric: micropolyester mesh and oxford nylon. While the line leans heavily toward classic white, khaki and gray, bright touches of orange set it apart, as do innovations like large side zippers, articulated knees and asymmetrical zippers.

For spring, Chu also introduces designs he dubs as “Indochine” -- a look he says was inspired by “the relaxed elegance of the tropics.” Some examples: a deep-red and khaki cotton knit leaf print short-sleeve shirt, paired with khaki cotton polyurethane pants and a Teflon-coated short raincoat; or a cotton batik-print shirt with canvas linen cropped pants.

But Chu hasn’t abandoned the clean, college look that made him famous. Updated classics abound, among them red cotton henley shirts, hooded anoraks, drawstring pants with cinched ankles and cotton and nylon jackets.

Fusions of cultures and time permeate the collections of non-Asian designers as well, as Giorgio Armani demonstrated at his Milan preview last month. Teenage models for his younger Emporio line sashayed down the runway in ultra-soft embroidered silk clam diggers worn under sarong skirts, matched with micro tank tops, all in soft pastels. Half-cut boots in super-soft chamois completed the look.

Elsewhere in Milan last month, retro styles prevailed, with inspiration ranging from ethnic to peasant, glitzy socialite to scruffy punk. Short skirts -- which went from fashion statement to a way of life long ago -- abounded, and low-waisted cropped pants were everywhere. Both were accompanied by little silk slip tops.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.