Fashion Report From London

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 28, 1998 / 10:59 AM EDT / CBS

CBS News Correspondent Vicki Mabrey is comparing the British fashion season to a big-budget musical, and she reports that British designers are showing lots of skin.

Sean McGowan (CBS)

The hottest new designer is 27-year-old Sean McGowan; the critics declared him the next fashion meteor, on a par with the early works of Alexander McQueen, who is the undisputed king of London fashion.

"What you see in the show is not necessarily what you see in the showroom," McQueen tells Mabrey. "It is my job to do really what I want to do and to make myselfÂ…excited by fashion. You know, if you design as many things as I do a year, it can be easily lost. So I provoke myself and make myself more excited."

Before McQueen burst on the scene five years ago, there were still the perennial favorites, the commercial designers whose clothes are sold even before they're shown. These include designers like Nicole Fahey, who consistently twists the traditional.

A few fashion trends from London:

Black is out. Pastels are in.
Gingham - little red-and-white checks - has made a comeback. Mabrey says designer Nicole Fahey is showing gingham in elegant biased and tailored cuts.
Skirt lengths fall anywhere from just below the knee - to all the way to the floor. Critics are saying that hemlines will drop and be almost down to the ground.
Pants will be variously tight at the ankles - and very wide.
Hot fabrics are silk, and parachute silk is a big one. Clothes will be soft and dreamy, very "floaty," says Mabrey.
As shown during British fashion week, many creations are incredibly sheer. Mabrey suggests that women planning to wear these clothes buy a bikini thong as a fashion necessity.

Cocooned (CBS)

"McQueen has [designed] incredible things," reports Mabrey. "He's an architect, an engineer. He had dresses on a '50s model, fitted at the waist and very full [skirt]. He took it a step further. There were constructions that stood out with the petticoats underneath. You had coverage and you had design.

"In fact," Mabrey continues, "I think I insulted him a little bit by saying, 'Some of your things reminded me of household items - like a lamp shade'."