FTV Review

Fashion and Fetishism

Valerie Steele has a new book, "Fashion and Fetishism". She spoke to Jennie Beker on VH1.

Valerie Steele: "Today, sexually suggestive fashions have become commonplace on the runways. Yet it doesn't necessarily mean that society has become more permissive. It doesn't really reflect reality, not literally. It's a heightened exaggerated image of certain features of contemporary reality. So, it's not that there's so many dominatrixes or white trash people running around, but something about these images catches the popular imagination, and it gets stylized and put into fashion. A lot of taboos have broken down so that clothes that used to be kept in secret sexual sub-cultures have spread out on the street. These clothes represent sex to a lot of people. If you see someone wearing a leather mini-skirt or rubber dress, it doesn't mean that she's into S&M or bondage, these clothing items have come to signify extreme kinky liberated sex. So a lot of other people are wearing them just to project a sexy image."

Jennie Beker: "In the past few years there's been so much play with hemlines, and legs have been so much matter of attention. Why the obsession with the leg?"

V.S: "I think the legs are the pathway to the genitals, and many cultures regard the exposition of the leg as an invitation to to keep moving upwards. We've had thigh-high stockings held up with garters being traditionally pornographic images; the black stockings against white skin, or with a woman of colour, the white against black skin - this has a very strong appeal to a lot of men. What's new now is we're starting to see that look on the street as women are wearing thigh highs with the exposure of flesh right above it, and traditionally you would not see that outside of someone's bedroom."

J.B: "Do you think that we will ever do away with clothes altogether?"

V.S: "I think people would find that total nudity wasn't as erotic as as they thought. Everyone fron Casanova to Freud agree that a little strategic concealment is far more erotic than total nudity."

Malcolm McLaren at the London Shows

Malcolm McLaren: "Most fashion designers are caught up in this world just like the record industry or any other industry. And the world is fast becoming homogenised where no subtext, no seduction, no foreplay is involved. It's all about instant gratification, all about instant orgasm, and we all know that becomes dreadfully boring because without subtext, without romance, without foreplay, you can't have character."

McLaren and Friends

MM: "Here I am with a long lost friend, who I haven't seen in many, many years. Her name is Bella Freud. I saw her show - and I've never seen a Bella Freud show before, so it's the first time. I just saw 40 Bella Freuds walking up and down the catwalk. I don't know what that means; girls designing clothes to make everbody look like they do?"

Bella Freud: "Well I suppose I rather look like they do."

Later at London Fashion Week's Speciality and Accessories Hall..

MM: "I thought I'd have a conversation with Dinny Hall. Her jewellery sells all over the world, particulary in London and Tokyo. So, Dinny, tell me, is it true that you got into the business by sleeping with a very good friend of mine?"
(This appears to be a personal joke)

Dinny Hall: "I did and it was a very great help to me..."

MM: "Explain to me how jewellery works for you in fashion."

DH: "My work tends to reflect nature in a very simple and subtle way."

MM: "What do you think of British fashion today - of these designers that are here today?"

DH: "I think they've all gone to Paris."

MM: "This is Emma Hope"...

"These are her shoes. You sell where Emma?"

Emma Hope: "We sell quite a lot in the States to Barney's and Bergdorf's."

MM: "They're very sexy. Thanks Emma."

Betty Jackson Spring Collection

MM: "Are you into all that new technology that's happening in fabrics?"

BJ: "It's really extraordinary the revolutions that are going on. Polyester is no longer a dirty word.

I think London is a great place. It's the most exciting place in the world to work in, otherwise I wouldn't work here."

MM: "Have you had the choice to work elsewhere, in NY or Paris?"

BJ: "Yes, and I wouldn't do it. I think we have a good viewpoint. I love the wit that is still around. I love the energy."

MM: "That national spirit. That identity with a particular environment. It's politics and it's a whole social behaviour which still plays an important part in the minds of some fashion designers. London has a part to play in fashion terms for people who live here, more than other parts of the world. So I think fashion is still alive and well in London and I believe will remain so."

Vogue Celebrates 1964-1994 in Milan.

Karl Lagerfeld: "I'm a little bit against anniversaries. Fashion is important today and tomorrow, but I suppose business is business. And I think Franco Sozzani is the best European editor. She's great and she brings things out in people. Very few people have that gift."

Giorgio Armani: "These images are very moving. You need time to appreciate them one by one because each of these pictures represents a magical moment."

Photographer Bruce Weber: "I think what's different about Italian Vogue, is they let photographers take their own pictures."

Franco Sozzani: "Artists are left alone to create, but sometimes they need a pick-me-up. I'll do that if necessary."

Paris

In Paris this tradition lives on at the Debutante's Ball.

Emmanuel deBrantes, Social Columnist, Vogue Homme : "The interesting thing about this Debutante's Ball is that it's very jetset. There are some girls from America, some from Belgium, from Italy, Spain and I would say two thirds from France. Approximately 30% are aristocrats and the others are bourgeoisie."
This is the fourth anniversary of the Debutante's Ball marketing venture to push couture dresses, expensive jewellery and the hotel which it is held in - all donated for the evening. The debs have been hand picked from a Who's Who - which just happens to be published by Helene Hebrard's father. And like her mother did a generation ago, Helene is about to make her debut.

Chantet Herard - Helenes Mother : "It will be fun for her because she comes from a family of a certain milieu, which allows her to wear a beautiful dress and to join in a beautiful evening."

Helene Hebrard: "It lets you network with girls you haven't met before. So you meet new people; play the games, but you can't get caught up in it."

Stephanie de Wanger - one of the debutantes : "One of the organisers is a friend of my mother's and she asked could Stephanie come, and my mom says well she's in Paris. So she met with me, she was fantastic and I said of course I'd love to. That's how it works."

Fiona Shakerly and Flora Astor: "The French girls know their escorts, but our boyfriends couldn't come so we have a chance to have a bit of fun."

Later that Night...

Helen: "It went very well. It was very gracious, you felt very confident right away. The atmosphere was great, so were all the girls. We were nervous at first, but it all turned out so well."

Herve Pieree, Couturier : "The only thing that's changed over the last 30 years is that the debutantes used to buy the dresses that they wore to the ball. They supported the couture houses, but now the dresses are on loan. It's a shame that the so-called rich families don't buy the dresses from the couturiers. So I hope the girls find rich husbands ready to spend lots of money so couture can continue."

Backstage New York Upstaged in Paris

Linda Evangelista: "That was the most glamorous show I've ever done in my whole life, so fantasy, so beautiful, he's so clever and so good."

John Galliano: "I think it's important to give the clothes an ambiance, a space and an atmosphere. For me it's part of the design process. I wanted the clothes and the girls to be like divas and I thought the best backdrop would be like a filmset. I wanted it to recreate sexual chemistry, like a Brando movie. Make the clothes appear harder, stricter, more glamorous."