The Chanel Jacket: An Icon Adorned

After the costumes and theatrics of the first days of the spring and summer ready-to-wear showings, the clothes have begun to demand some serious attention. Well, maybe not all the clothes, but certainly the decorative elements. The embellishments make the difference this season, and no designer knows it better than Karl Lagerfeld. He took probably the best-recognized designer jacket in the world, Chanel's, and gave it pizazz with gold braid, pearl edging and gobs of chunky gold jewelry. He paired it with short chiffon draped skirts, long sheer pants, stretch miniskirts: almost anything but the conventional below-the-knee skirt Chanel herself favored. The finale was a brilliant medley of the basic jacket in ivory-colored monotone tweed tossed over clothes of every possible description, including long evening skirts and draped dresses. It showed a magnificent understanding of fashion as it is today. Other versions of the jacket in beige cotton with lace edges or linen were swinging and casual as the models skimmed along the runway in flat shoes including T-straps in beige linen and clear plastic. With bright cerise, aqua or orange jackets and draped black chiffon skirts, they wore tall spool-shaped heels. The Durability of a Classic