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CNN Live At Daybreak
Fashion Preview For Spring 2002
Aired September 10, 2001 - 08:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Some of you may still be in your shorts and flip flops, but it's already time to look forward to next spring. So what are you going to be wearing?
Well, with a preview now from our beautiful and elegant CNN's Gail O'Neill. I'll tell you right now, she is not wearing flip flops, ladies and gentlemen. You know her from "CNN'S TRAVEL NOW." She is near the runway in the Big Apple covering "Fashion Fast Forward" for us.
You should be on that runway, Gail.
GAIL O'NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What an opening. Thank you so much, Kyra.
I'm actually just behind the runway, not more than 10 feet behind. And what most people don't know is that it's pretty hectic backstage.
I'm in the makeup area right now -- hair and makeup for Girls Rule. It's a combination of seven designers, all female, who have figured out that young girls spend a lot of money on fashion, on music, as the Spice Girls taught us. So we're backstage. The show starts at 9:00, I think in about an hour-and-a-half from now. And just beyond me about 10 feet away is the runway itself.
Let's see. I'll tell you a little bit about Fashion Week. It's actually a bizarre. Think of it as a marketplace, where all of the top designers in New York get together every year and show magazine editors, fashion photographers and people in the marketplace of fashion in general what's coming up for Spring 2001 (sic).
Now, there's a lot of noise here too. There are some gentlemen back here fixing the runway at the very last minute, a lot of drilling going on there.
We're going to go onto Tommy Hilfiger right now. Tommy Hilfiger showed this weekend, a lot of buff young men, a lot of plaids. We're going to walk out here to the runway right now -- a lot of plaids, a lot of youth and good energy for the show.
People are saying that black is coming back for the spring 2001 (sic) but we really didn't see that with Tommy. We also saw a lot of runway shows from Valentin Yudashkin, who is a Russian designer. This show was very, very sophisticated -- a lot of bare skin, a lot of women in beige. Yudashkin actually designs for politicians, the Russian Ballet and celebrities throughout Moscow. So he has quite a reputation back home -- is new to the New York runway scene, and got a very good reception, as I hear.
PHILLIPS: All right, now, Gail, the clothes that we're seeing now on the runway, I mean, this is not something that we'd be wearing as we're anchoring the news. You know what I'm saying? How do these feathers and open tops, et cetera, end up in the stores when we actually go shopping? We don't really see this stuff.
O'NEILL: You don't see it, Kyra, and that's because buyers have a lot of power. What you see on the runway is going to get to us eventually, but where you see opaques and a lot of bare skin, there will be -- or rather where you see sheer fabrics, you will eventually see opaque fabrics; where you see hemlines that fall inches below the hips, it's going to be lengthened.
Buyers tell the designers when they're ready to sell, look, I cannot move this merchandise if it looks like that, so change it, and make it adaptable to our buyers. So we'll be in those fashions eventually.
I have Leslie here, one of the designers from Girls Rule.
Leslie, tell us the name of your line.
LESLIE GARDNER, "SMASHING GRANDPA": "Smashing Grandpa."
O'NEILL: "Smashing Grandpa," the name alone makes me feel quite old, Leslie.
What is the look? What are we going to be seeing today?
GARDNER: Oh, pure rock and roll. For this season, it's a little more punk. I'm calling it "Sex Pistols in the City." So it's like upscale punk with a little bit of glam thrown in.
O'NEILL: And I understand we have a celebrity from "The Sopranos" in the show.
GARDNER: Right. Right, she's not walking in my particular collection, but she's in the show.
O'NEILL: Tell me a little bit about how you got -- is it Meadow from "The Sopranos" who is walking today?
GARDNER: Yes. Yes. I guess she was chosen, because she's kind of a role model for a lot of teenage girls that we're going to be showing to. So, yes, you know, they chose her. She's just perfect for the show.
O'NEILL: Speaking about role models, I have friends who have teenage daughters, and they are horrified by the belly T-shirts and the low-slung pants. And this is what kids are wearing to school.
Is there any sense among the designers that we need to please parents as well as our young consumers?
GARDNER: You know, I think it's like a pendulum, though. I really feel like if we wait it out, the waistline is going to go back up again. It's just the pendulum swings so fast for these trends that I really feel like we're getting away from that now anyway. So I'd like to see it go. I really would.
O'NEILL: I think I would, too -- Kyra, how do you feel about that?
PHILLIPS: I'm feeling pretty frumpy, Gail. How about you?
O'NEILL: You feel pretty what?
PHILLIPS: Frumpy.
O'NEILL: Pretty frumpy?
PHILLIPS: Yes.
O'NEILL: Well, you know, like Leslie said, the waistlines will be coming up, and the hemlines will be going down. So I think we're right on target.
PHILLIPS: Very good. Gail O'Neill, thanks so much. And we'll definitely be checking out...
O'NEILL: You are very welcome.
PHILLIPS: ... or checking in with you during the week. All right.
O'NEILL: OK.
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