Anna’s Darker Side

The folks at www.fashionweekdaily.com must need glasses. In their Tuesday, February 22 ‘Discuss’ column, under the heading “Will Anna W. wear Prada next season?” they noted, “Vogue’s top chien is well known for not wearing black, but she may have to rethink that decree if she wants to don Miuccia’s goosebump inducing Fall 05 line. Carine Roitfeld, Grace Coddington, and V’s Cecilia Dean will be pleased that black is back; stay tuned to see if Anna gets in touch with her dark side”.

You must be kidding. Where have you guys been? I have seen Anna at high profile events uncharacteristically clad in all black for months now. I first spotted her at the Roberto Cavalli sponsored “Wild: Fashion Untamed” press preview at the Met’s Costume Institute back in December, donning none other than Miuccia Prada’s chicly tailored black broadtail coat, worn over a black dress and black suede knee high boots (apparently the same outfit she wore that evening for the dinner and gala). And during Fashion Week, at Tuleh’s Sunday night show to be exact, she wore the same coat (or a similar version anyway) again, a vision in black. Obviously, the editor-in-chief of Vogue knows what one of the most influential designers is planning for the coming season. It even prompted me to speculate that this would be the case, and it was.

Black has long been the fashion world’s most favorite color, but has been somewhat out of favor (if not maligned) in recent seasons, if not years (thanks in large part to Miuccia’s hefty power). Suzie Menkes even wrote an article awhile back, about this backlash against black and the newfound embrace for saturated color, as seen on front row fixtures. She observed that while black had been the uniform of choice for the chic, the tables had turned and now to embrace color was to considered hip, cool, imaginative, and well dressed. Ah, but that was then and this is now. With her fall 2005 collection just shown in Milan, Miuccia has once again waved her magic wand and decreed black is back subtlety, restraint are the order of the day, banishing tricky accessories, needless ornamentation, over the top patterns, and saturated color from her runway and heralding a new era. It is a no brainer that the fashion flock (who are hungry to return to their favorite hue and were waiting for this moment) will follow suit, and you can bet this will be HUGE on runways for the next season – or two or three. Expect a veritable blackout.

– by Marilyn Kirschner