“It’s new, it’s cool, it’s fresh” say designers
NEW YORK CITY, May 2, 2007 (VNS) – Coco Chanel once said every woman needs a little black dress. These days, that little black dress might be made of vinyl. Designer Cynthia Rowley introduced one for Spring 2007 during the prestigious New York Fashion week. Narciso Rodriguez (who designed Caroline Bissett’s wedding gown for her marriage to John Kennedy, Jr.) weighed in with a black PVC coat. Meanwhile, Prada and Gianfranco Ferre lit up their vinyl palettes with men’s shorts, jackets, and coats in shiny solids of red, yellow, orange, and blue.
What draws fashion designers to vinyl?
“Vinyl is cool,” declared Ingrid Johnson, professor of textile development and marketing at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and co-author of industry’s standard textbook, Fabric Science. “Vinyl can give that leather look without being concerned about the expense or concerned that an animal has given up its life. It gives you a great bang for the buck.”
This is not the old, hot vinyl rain slicker everyone remembers sweating in as children. “Today, working with these ‘test-tube textiles,’ we can use technology to integrate different, advanced qualities,” Johnson said. “For example, we can specify we want [a fabric with] holes of a certain size, so it is breathable, and you don’t get hot. In addition to making the fabric very comfortable,” she said, “we can also make unique colors; we can make the fabric very thin and still very durable. We can improve on what nature gave us.
“With the new thinness of the material comes ‘new drapability’,” she said, “and we can add smocking or puckering to enhance the look.”
Test-tube textiles are constantly evolving. “Microfiber is OLD,” Johnson said. “Now it’s nanotechnology. Technologies move from other arenas, such as medicine and the military, into clothing and accessory design. And the new generation of design students, which takes so much of this technology in stride, likes using vinyl,” Johnson said. “They enjoy what’s new and cool and looks fresh. Besides,” she added, “it’s easy to clean.”