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THE FIORUCCI PHENOMENON

BY MIKAL SNELL

FIORUCCI

hose dazzling Italian fashion supermarkets, the Fiorucci emporiums, have definitely arrived here in the States. When the first American Fiorucci shop opened in 1976 on Manhattan's affluent Upper East Side, headlines screaned "a hip, mod, trashy, tossaway look," "freedom dressing is here," and "throwaway chic." If Fiorucci has not exactly made a conquest of Middle American style, however, it's rather unique merchandise has made in roads on the national imagination.

Founder Elio Fiorucci is probably the greatest single influence on European exports of the so-called New Wave or punk style to the United States. He began marketing new, outrageous styles with considerable success. Europeans were expressing their raucous, fanciful temperments in the clothes they wore, reflecting the emotional climate of the times. Today, he continues to perceive fashion design as a pop-art form that expresses social moods. "Clothes are instant communication and our most accessible form of selfexpression," Elio asserts.

Fiorucci designs are produced in a 6,000 square-foot loft in Milan by 36 different designers. Each is required to produce one original design per day, and every afternoon they meet to decide on the best. The winning design then goes into production immediately.

Although New Wave (the artier term for punk) was ostensibly born in Europe, it's roots, in music as

well as fashion, are straight out of the American fifties. Punk was revived rock and roll, macho look of the slicked-back hair, dark sunglasses, leather jackets, torn T-shirts with a cigarette pack rolled up in the sleeve, skin tight jeans, and kinky boots. But early eighties punk is also more outwardly aggressive, more ominous, more adamantly angry and outraged; it demands more attention and acknowledgement than the mood of the fifties. Fiorucci's New Wave look exaggerates these elements to the point of caricature and adds a note of irony and fun. It's Fiorucci's frivolous quality and sense of parody that have captured our attention. And our wallets.

The Fiorucci stores are as much a place to visit as they are a concept of fashion and marketing. All the stores are cavernous spaces full of fluorescent and neon lights. Loudly throbbing rock, punk and disco sounds charge the air as young salespeople gyrate to the music and slip customers' purchases into brightly colored shopping bags with Day-Glo airplanes flying low over palm trees into the sunset. On all sides, there is movement, sound and light, but mostly, you are overwhelmed by a feeling of carefree youthfulness and excitement.

There is no way of characterizing Fiorucci's typical customer. Although much of the clothing appeals to teenagers, well-heeled Bloomingdales patrons crowd into the shop alongside the young adult imitators of punk stars like Elvis Costello and Patti Smith. But that is not to give the wrong impression, everyone goes to Fiorucci to buy unique items. Not everthing is "New Wave." Fiorucci carries all

totally unique and one of a kind items you won't find anywhere else.

Fiorucci is famed for attracting the famous; last April, Greta Garbo stopped by the New York store to take a look. Lauren Bacall and Joel Grey buy Fiorucci jeans and even Calvin Klein owns five pairs of them. Barbra Walters purchased a denim and leather dress and Andy Warhol frequents the store to pick up new things every so often. Dustin Hoffman, Richard Gere, Jacqueline Onassis, and Ringo Starr are all Fiorucci customers as well. Mick Jagger recently pondered away a mere $5,000 at the Los Angeles store and Brooke Shields and Linda Ronstadt occasionally stop in to browse. It is an electric if not exotic group.

What makes people put on gold lame' jeans and T-shirts stamped with high-heeled shoes in punk, chartreuse, and purple? One stock answer is that people are attracted by the outrageousness and absurdity of such apparel, in a time of social apathy and boredom. Or possibly they make their purchases under the spell of the outrageously seductive Fiorucci environment.

The ideas of silly and expensive is an integral component of the Fiorucci concept. Given the surrounds and the aura of the chic they project, the stores rap out a message that anything can be sold, at almost any cost. A rather simple plaid taffeta dress sells for $95. A cookie jar with a window built in runs $29. Fiorucci dinner plates go for $18 each and Fiorucci pants run from $55 and up. By the way, Fiorucci pants are cut slimmer and longer than most other designer dungarees. Elio Fiorucci comments, "This is one way of doing a favor

for humanity," speaking on his cigarette-leg style jeans. "I prevent ugly people from showing off their bad figures. Only well-shaped people can fit into my jeans.

Other merchandise comes a bit more dear. A leopard disco dress Cher bought is $1,875. A pink-andred draped silky dress costs $35,000. While paper bathing suits that melt off in the water costs only a few dollars.

With new merchandise constantly being presented (store policy dictates that window displays be changed at least twice a week), it is difficult to pass by a Fiorucci shop without stopping in for a peek, particularly if you're in the mood to be surprised, startled, or shocked. As one journalist quipped, "it's the place to go when you feel you haven't outraged anyone lately."

Fiorucci is also a good place to study an extremely effective approach to merchandising. In the short years Elio has been running this specialized market, he's made a nice bundle. Fiorucci is posh, chic and trashy all at the same time. If you're ever in the neighborhood of a Fiorucci store, stop in to spend a bundle on your favorite teenager or your lover, to feel like a teenager or just to speculate on what Fiorucci will come up with next.

Here in Detroit, a few establishments periodically stock Fiorucci clothes and products. Currently, CIAO fahsion clothing, located in Downtown Detroit at 1326 Broadway, is stocking an extensive line of Fiorucci clothing, ranging from stylish t-shirts to colored jeans and high fashion blue jeans. Stop in and check them out!

METRA MAGAZINE 11