Smart Set: Jill Platner
There’s not a single 14-carat bangle bracelet or hoop earring in jewelry designer Jill Platner’s brand-new studio-cum-retail space (113 Crosby Street; 212-324-1298). Just loads of matte silver necklaces and bracelets threaded onto slender strips of water-friendly black Gore-Tex cord. Why buck this season’s gold rush? Because she waited out the last big jewelry trend, Platner says, when she kept hearing “We’re only buying rhinestones this season” from buyers. “Silver is just as elegant and timeless” as gold, says the 31-year-old Parsons grad whose line was picked up by Barneys when she was just 21. And if someone bought one of her organic-shaped necklaces while sporting gold hoops? “I’d say, ‘You gotta ditch the hoops.’ “
KRISTINA RICHARDS
Stable-ized Market
Unless you’re a serious equestrian, an eccentric acting coach, or an infantryman in a World War I-reenactment troupe, it’s unlikely that there’s a pair of jodhpurs hanging in your closet. Yet the riding pants once favored by Hollywood starlets like Bette Davis are making their way back into the beau monde. During Fashion Week, Visionaire’s Cecilia Dean was spotted in a pair of the becoming breeches at the Rubin Chapelle show. Antwerp upstart Angelo Figus stitched an update of the singular silhouette (not yet available in New York), Costume National did a traditional pair ($525 at Jeffrey), and AF Vandervorst’s version ($895 at Jeffrey) fits nicely over a pair of bridle boots. Just resist the urge to accessorize them with a riding crop.
JOEL FERREE
Year of the Tiger
First it was leopard prints, then tiger prints. Now the big cat is ready for its close-up: Downtown designer-cum-D.J. Sally Penn has patched a tiger-head decal on the back pocket of her boot-cut jeans ($178 at Henri Bendel), while Clements Ribeiro offers a Dynasty-fabulous version of the cat on a cashmere tank (pictured, $625 at Kirna Zabête), sequined in menacing rhinestones. And PETA prima donna Stella McCartney, who refuses to use real animal skins, has stamped her Chloé cotton tee with a satin appliqué of the Bengal beast ($375 at Language). Who says fashion isn’t catty?
MONICA ROY
Goody Got It
If the recent spring 2001 fashion collections are any indication, it’s time to retire those paddle brushes and grooming creams – and beg your mom to do your hair. Marc Jacobs set off his tube dresses with sea-shell-trimmed butterfly clips; the models in his Marc by Marc Jacobs show pulled back their tousled playground hair with ball-tipped rubber bands. At Anna Sui, they wore floppy “Lucky Star” headbands. In Paris, models accented their Chanel sweats with side ponytails and gold hair combs, and pranced down John Galliano’s Christian Dior runway in multicolored banana clips. Goody had better step up production of those 79-cents-a-three-pack classics.
SHYAMA PATEL