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| April 1998
Professional Insider Style Trends What's hot this spring? ... flourishes in footwear made their debut as Candies, the slip-on shoes that women love, adopted gold design finishing elements by jewelers Angela Cummings, Robert Lee Morris and Barry Kieselstein-Cord. Cummings opted for a simple squared gold button atop the shoe. Morris went for gold studs and a gold tassel effect. Kieselstein-Cord chose heart-shaped gold studs that dot the shoe from front to back. ... Call it "junque," collectibles, flea market bargains or vintage, the rage continues for old stuff in clothing, jewelry and housewares. And it isn't just kids coming out of college anymore. Fashion designers such as Isaac Mizrahi, Anna Sui and Dolce & Gabbana have all incorporated flea market aesthetics into their lines. Meanwhile, the Vintage Fashion and Antique Textiles Show, held in New York City four times a year, attracts big-name designers and design crews from upscale retailers and catalogs. All are looking for inspiration. "It's far more interesting than nightclubs to see what people are wearing," designer Vivienne Tam told The New York Times. Attendance at the shows has tripled in four years, says Alan Boss, who runs the operation. Accessories such as jewelry vie with clothing for attendees' attention. ... Keep your eye on InStyle. Jewelers all over America were heartened when Time Inc. spun off InStyle from People magazine a few years ago. The spinoff quickly defined style as more than clothing and started to show jewelry not only on famous people, but in separate features even before the fashion magazines went back to it. Consumers must like it, because the trend-rich magazine recently made the top 10 among circulation performers in a survey by Capell's Circulation Report, a magazine industry newsletter. Newsstand sales are phenomenal (600,000) and a staggering 90% of its subscribers pay the full price of $19.95 for the magazine (many magazines now get into homes through discount routes). ... In the Art Imitates Life category, luxury jeweler Bulgari ran advertisements last year that showed subway tokens on a fancy necklace to encourage people to visit its Madison Ave. store in New York City while its Fifth Ave. flagship store was being renovated. Women loved the style so much that now Bulgari makes 18k gold subway token pendants that sell for $390.
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