Runways Poem by gershon hepner

Their dresses strumpet-poufed and short,
with boots black damask held by garters,
they asymmetrically hold court,
to fashion the most willing martyrs,
princesses, mermaids, saucy sirens,
unvestal muses of my vision.
I’m Harold, naughty Childe of Byron’s,
and lose my every inhibition,
imagining that I am dancing
on runways to erotic skies
with women whom I find entrancing
diplaying sexily the size
of their entrancing boobs, and shape
of thighs I seek with my dark tower;
as I observe the models drape
themselves, I need to take a shower.


Amy M. Spindler writes in the NYT, July 9,1997 (“New Word in Couture: Fun”) .

Couturiers aren't making clothes for a matron in the front row. They are designing, as J. D. Salinger wrote in ''Franny and Zooey, '' for the fat lady ''sitting on the porch all day, swatting flies, with her radio going full blast from morning till night.'' Or more aptly, for the lady sitting in front of her television. No one who tunes in would not understand how the technical outrageousness of Gianni Versace's jeweled, squared-shoulder dresses, Alexander McQueen's jet-beaded jackets or John Galliano's embroidered frock coats and lean skirts might cost $50,000. It is much more difficult to explain why a minimalist suit, with all the technique hidden, could carry such a price. ''I was against it in the beginning, but it is the only way, the only solution, for couture now, '' said Maria Luisa Pomaillou, the influential Parisian retailer, just after witnessing the fabulous grotesque that was the Givenchy presentation. ''It's no longer a private joke for a few people.'' So the cloistered days of clients with the attention span, time and desire for the three fittings required to obtain the simplest, most boring suit in the world are over. Couture's new spirit is for women of the world, like Kate Capshaw and Rita Wilson, who came to the shows here to have fun. Fun? Couture? There were days when such a notion would have seemed perverse. The temple of couture was not for fun. Actresses in their own rights, Ms. Capshaw and Ms. Wilson (Mrs. Steven Spielberg and Mrs. Tom Hanks, respectively) are as well financed to shop as any wife of a Saudi prince. They came here, while their husbands are filming together in London, as a lark. As players in the global entertainment culture, they are exceedingly hip to the references of the new couture. Ms. Wilson deemed one surgical accessory at Givenchy as ''Helmut Newton, '' and Ms. Capshaw said a silver finger on a model in a voluminous ballgown was straight from ''The Piano.'' They immediately tagged Mr. Galliano's inspiration at Christian Dior as ''William Morris, '' just by the Arts-and-Crafts-style fan placed on the seats. They like clothes but they don't live for them…. Inspirations went from Klimt, for black sheer dresses with precise geometric beading, to Toulouse-Lautrec, for cheerful-strumpet poufed minis worn with boots in black stretch damask held by garters. One dress was made of 1,000 pieces, sewn together to become a peacock tattoo down the model's body, with dragonfly wings at the shoulder. There were cloaks inspired by Ndebele women, with silver collars elongating necks, and sheer shirts embroidered like Moroccan henna tattoos….Mr. Versace wrote the book on making fashion fun. Minimalism and sobriety defined the past five years, but couture is now about having a good time because you can afford to. As superficial as that might seem, it is hypocritical to pretend that fashion is anything but that.


7/10/97,6/17/09