Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Dressed to kill Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 15:11:15 EST Message-ID: \SE E;LIFE \HD Dressed to kill \SH Fashion takes fangtastic turn as designers count 'Dracula' inspirations \BY Ann Geracimos \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Black is back, red is the heavy accent color, makeup is pale with - believe it or not - pink lids. Sound Gothic enough for you? What about the sight of previously blond model Linda Evangelista floating like a dark-haired spirit in the November Harper's Bazaar and a glossy red-lipped Winona Ryder staring out from Esquire's cover as the very embodiment of evil? Vampire fashion will get you this season if vampires themselves don't since, increasingly, what Hollywood makes, the world takes. The current cult is primed in no small measure by the publicity machine for Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula," opening here today with Miss Ryder as one of its stars. Just in time for the holidays - retailers' best season - comes a special marketing project inspired by the movie. "Ghoulish" products being hawked include sheets, ball gowns, cosmetics, towels, books, bodysuits and jewelry in addition to designer sportswear. Whether the merchandising moves can equal those of last year's "Batmania" is anybody's guess. The director declared early in the project that the costumes would be the key factor in determining the quality of the film, says artist Eiko Ishioka on the back of a lavish $40 Collins Publishers' book titled "Coppola and Eiko On Bram Stoker's Dracula." This one is considered the art book. Two other movie tie-in books are already in the stores. The Eiko designs are billowing fantasies, operatic in scope and predominantly colored - what else? - black, red and white. Needless to say, her budget for the latest interpretation of the Gothic classic was generous. Often regarded as the escape vehicle for Victorian-era repressions, the original book by Bram Stoker probably never has had such a gorgeously stylized treatment on film. Count Dracula in the 1931 version with Bela Lugosi was evil incarnate in his impeccable white tie and black cape; the death maidens did their deeds in diaphanous dress. That, apparently, was too simple for Mr. Coppola's vision. "Every costume is designed to cause a fresh sensation each time Dracula appears on-screen," Eiko Ishioka says. Her sources, she notes, ranged from armadillos and frilled lizards to Buddhist figurines and the culture of the characters - representing Transylvania in the 1500s and London in the 1800s - "a mixture of East and West reflected especially among the aristocracy and royalty." As trends go, vampire vibrations could be felt months ago in the revival of dandy or "crossover" dressing with tuxedo styles for women one of the clues. At fall/winter '92 shows, Seventh Avenue designers put models on the runway in slim, figure-hugging jackets, vests and ties. The Madonna phenomenon - something of a media-eating vampire itself - may also deserve some of the credit for getting the public enthused over the alternately wanton and willowy look. * * * To outfit yourself in the season's fad, women need only add fangs, cape and stovepipe hat, with the option of taking on the reverse, purely feminine role: the elaborate romantic modes used in "1492" as well as the Coppola film. Only be sure to leave your neck bare above the bodices, bustles and laces. Joan Pekin, owner of Creative Costumes in Silver Spring, reports a heavy run for this year's Halloween parties on the bosom-baring, narrow-waisted "Elvira" dress fashioned after the late-night cable talk-show hostess known for her camp approach to introducing horror flicks. Mrs. Pekin rented out every dress for $52 a day, she reports. Another big item: teeth that paste on, called "Fang-Tastics," $7.50 the pair. Terry Melville, formerly Macy's East fashion director, formed her own company to develop a number of Dracula "events" under a licensing agreement with Columbia Pictures. "This movie is extraordinary, so visually wonderful and rich in so many ways that I felt we should go beyond the usual T-shirts and caps," she says. Some of her efforts are on view in Macy's New York store at Herald Square; others are displayed in Fred Hayman's boutique on Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive. Vests, jewelry and, yes, T-shirts, are expected to be sold at Macy's Pentagon City but definitely not the $1,000 "special limited edition" designer sheets "made of the finest cotton in the world." There are three different style sheets available through Macy's New York. The big attractions at Macy's New York were original "inspired by Dracula" designs - available by special order - from several of California's and Seventh Avenue's young talents. A few drew on last season's collections for their contribution and say the Dracula effect will carry over until the spring and even until next fall. * * * If so, the cut of things to come might include, from Anna Sui, an elegant dandy suit featuring a metallic-weave tapestry vest and a ruffled faille blouse to go under a red velvet motorcycle jacket and black velvet pants. The hat is a tall red velvet topper. Zang Toi produced a voluminous black silk faille and lace creation complete with high-collared cape and ruffle trim. A bride-of-Dracula wedding dress perhaps? A spokesman for the designer says Winona Ryder was expected to wear it to the Los Angeles premiere. Young New York designer Byron Lars invented a strapless "coffinlike" papier-mache corset over a white gauzy chiffon bustle-back skirt featured in "Entertainment Weekly" way back in September. Macy's New York even put together a special Dracula Shop that includes campy T-shirts, bustiers, nightshirts and ties. Other spooky items being churned out by manufacturers in this latest merchandising blitz are a black knit jersey strap-back dress decorated with a jet cross, a beaded coffin-shaped lipstick holder, rhinestone dagger jewelry and boxer shorts. November's Vogue dwells at length upon the influence of the Dracula story on contemporary consciousness. In explaining its longevity, the magazine notes how vampire images of late have moved beyond the image of female victims under the sway of an evil male force and instead have made them seem glamorous and sexy - Winona Ryder in designer dress. * * * Reaching even further into the significance bag, the article states, "Today's pervasive celebrity worship is a kind of mutual vampirism, in which the adoring masses and the celebrity get their identity and power from each other, and thus never fully become themselves." Vogue should know. What an irony, in this the so-called Year of the Woman, to have dandy dress take hold to such lengths and the filmy fashions of Dracula's bloodthirsty minions be considered a clothing source: This would appear to be too sexist for the times. But since much of fashion today is high camp anyway - like the movie - the current run on men's styles becomes mockery as much as innovation. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. 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