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American Morning
New York's Fashion Week Strides to Finish
Aired February 15, 2002 - 10:44 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: New York's Fashion Week strides to a finish today.
Our Gail O'Neill has been covering the semiannual event, and joins us backstage. She is at Vivienne Tam today.
Gail, good morning.
GAIL O'NEILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
Being backstage has been pretty great for us, because we get to see how the models get to look so picture-perfect. I'm going to give you a little preview of that, and then we're going to come back and talk to Vivienne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
O'NEILL (voice-over): It looked more like Vegas than New York. But when designer Bob Mackie showed his latest collection at Fashion Week, it all came together splendidly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They catch an energy from those clothes. And, think about when you were a kid, and you dressed up in some outfit for Halloween, you took on that role. It's the same thing here, you take on the role of what you are getting to wear.
O'NEILL: But a model can be just as inspired by the hairdo.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I really feel better if I have something going on that suits the costume from head to toe. When I feel the secureness of the chignon at the top, I think it straightens me up a bit more, and puts me more in sort of a proper lady-like kind of attitude, with a little extra sexiness.
O'NEILL: Of course, the perfect chignon is nothing without the make-up to match.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know how makeup transforms anybody. I mean, the most beautiful girl with a little more makeup on can probably look a little better, you know, if it's expertly applied.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look up for a sec.
O'NEILL: And the expert in this case is Bobbi Brown, whose very name is synonymous with understated make-up, but even Bobby will apply a sequin to an eyelid when called for.
BOBBI BROWN, BOBBI BROWN ESSENTIALS: The clothes, and the makeup and the hair, it's a show, and we all want to make a statement and show a point. If it was what you did on the street everyday, these shows would be really boring.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'NEILL: It is a whole other world out there, but as we saw, just like any woman walking down street, you need the hair and the makeup to really up the volume. I'm standing here with Vivienne Tam now. Vivienne, the collection is extraordinary, and I see a very Asian bent to it. What was your inspiration.
VIVIENNE TAM: My inspiration is I derived it from Mongolian costumes, especially shaman clothing, because he is a medicine man, he's a doctor, a medicine doctor, and a healer, and a priest, and I think it's what we need now at this moment, you know.
O'NEILL: Let's take a look at a couple of the outfits. Tell me about the coins here. What are we seeing?
TAM: This is representing like the histories, and it's like nomad clothing, and Mongolia, and it's just inspired from it, you know, and it's like, instead of, like the costume, I inspired with the coins. I liked when they walking, they are the sounds of healing, healing and of history.
O'NEILL: And the young lady to her left.
TAM: This is like a shaman custom print, and you see here that is -- this is chippert (ph), it's a matroplate (ph), but it's a print now. So it's becoming -- make it more modern, and I really feeling what, you know, the shaman clothing, what person wearing has a healing effect to the person, the people also looking at it, too.
O'NEILL: And finally, we have this...
TAM: You can see the whole feeling of it, you know. This is a shaman costume, where they're performing the practice.
O'NEILL: Let's pan up to the hair. Again, Daryn, you see, I saw this being done this morning, this took at least 45 minutes to an hour, very, very intricate work, but you know hair and makeup people take their jobs very, very seriously. We're going to take a look at one more outfit. Is that Mongolian fur?
TAM: Yes, Mongolian fur, and I derived it also, you know, from the costume call, like a captain, and it is like without the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) this time, with the fur, because in Mongolia, it's so is cold; I want to give a warm feeling, and also the plating and the damp (ph), they are -- and also the boot, I want to mention is also inspired from the Mongo boots, too, but it bring it to modern shapes.
O'NEILL: Something that would look good on any city streets, and I don't know, maybe even suburbia. What do you think, Daryn? TAM: The words wash and wear don't come to mind.
O'NEILL: Gail, the words wash and wear don't exactly come to mind. Wash and wear, it's not about wash and wear. In fact, you know I don't think would take too much wash and wear, but just you wear these, and have people go, ooh and aah, they are very, very special, and there is spiritual feeling behind it, which is very, very special.
KAGAN: Speaking of feeling, Gail, I wanted to get your feeling on the Fashion Week as a whole. As we mentioned to our viewers, the last fashion week started on September 10. They didn't even get halfway through when the events of September 11 of course brought it to an end. And this week, this part of Fashion Week was supposed to be much more subdued than in the past. How would you assess it?
O'NEILL: Our fear was that things would be more subdued, and certainly the clothing has reflected that. It has been more introspective and lot more ladylike. And Vivienne is taking us out in a different direction, but things have been more tailored and pulled in. However, the mood here has been just as joyous, just as ebullient as Fashion Week is known to be. So I would say that people have bounded back. There has been a sense in the fashion world what we are doing, is it significant? Do people need this? But in fact I think it brings a lot of joy, and that's exactly what people need right now.
Part of humanity is being joyful and having a lot of fun and being superficial sometimes, as well as being profound. So this is all very necessary, and people are having a ball, Daryn. It's going to be hard to come back to Atlanta. If it weren't for you and Leon, I wouldn't be too happy about coming back.
Well, actually, Leon, is somewhere near you in New York City today, but, Gail, I want to thank you for doing an excellent job in Fashion Week for us.
O'NEILL: I have had a ball, as you can see.
KAGAN: It's been a lot of fun to have you on the show. Gail O'Neill, in New York City, reporting from Fashion Week.
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