46 ~ Sunday, February 10, 1991 - North Shore News FASHION Underlying message Carol Crenna Lingerie means invisible luxury THE UNDERLYING message for spring focuses on sleek, sensual lingerie. Take a tip from devotedly feminine French women, and pay more attention to what goes beneath your clothes, even if you will be the only one who will see it. West Vancouver’s Christine Morton designs luxurious lingerie for women all over the world. Her designs are for women who enjoy their femininity, and those who appreciate a more intimate view of the world, seen through nostalgic eyes. “Chrisiine designs offer room for a woman’s expression. A woman who wears my lingerie has a love of beautiful things, and the desire that women have to want to feel beautiful no matter what they may be wearing,’’ states Morton, designer/owner of Christine and Co. Morton agrees that a woman’s intimate apparel should disclose something about her personality. Even your strictly serious, woman-of-the-90s business suit can be softened with a subtle glimpse of lace or satin. Turn your day wear from tough to tender with some unpredictable lingerie. “I try to bring an element of surprise and specialness to my designs. There should be little discoveries when a woman looks more closely at the details in the design and sees the special touches such as tiny silk roses, beading, pintucking and lace insertions,’’ Morton explains. Christine and Co.’s lingerie has contributed to the feminine images of several famous women, and has been shown on television shows including Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Dallas, and As the Worid Turns. Other women who wear her designs are Elizabeth Taylor, Bianca Jagger, Cher, Madonna, Bette Midler and Lauren Bacail, who actually chose a silk pajama design that was inspired by Bacall herself. Morton’s Spring 91 Trousseau collection features silk separates with a blend of Victorian and modern themes. Charmeuse camisoles, teddies, and chemises have co-ordinating sheer georgette kimonos, which slide overtop. Her sultry one-of-a-kind fantasy wraps in silk duppioni are very detailed FASHION STATEMENTS LEFT — polyester satin charmeuse teddy with buttoned back, $80 at Eaton’s. Right — sheer poiyester georgette chemise with roses, $85 at Eatons. with huge antique lace collars. Her designs are highlighted by intricate details including large sections of insertion lace with em- broidered swiss lace, wide straps of georgette, covered buttons and little silk fabric roses. The lingerie line is available in peach, pink, mint, cream and white with accen- ting ecru lace or white lace. Morton has recently introduced a collection in polyester charmeuse with co-ordinating pieces in polyester crepe, to supplement her pure silk lingerie lines. The lesser priced lingerie is almost one half the cost of her regular silk lines. Morton says that her attempt is to draw Christine and Co.’s image away from the one-of-a-kind, strictly special occasion item to more affordable everyday wear. She adds that her collection will always include the original silk designs, yet she wants her label to be accessible to all customers. The designs make their premier appearance this spring at lingerie boutiques and department stcres. Many of the larger stores that regularly carry her designs, in- cluding Neiman Marcus and Nordstrum stores in the U.S., have ordered both her polyester and silk collections. The silk intimate apparel designs are duplicated in the syn- thetic fabrics with the same atten- tion to detail. The firm has designed its own polyester fabric prints for the new line which are imported from Japan. Her look for sleeping apparel is a superbly sophisticated mix of Carole Lombard lacey peignoirs and Cary Grant loose pajamas. The relaxed ease and comfort of a man’s silk night shirt adds a sexy casualness to antique lace and dressy satin. And, most lingerie wearers are waking up to the fact that sleck, simple and just a touch of daring are far more feminine that frilled and baring. “First, I want to create designs of the finest quality, and I want a woman to feel comfortable when she wears them,’’ Morton says. Morton moved to Vancouver from her home in Scotland when she was nine years old, but mem- ories of her grandmother’s antique lace finery led her to a career in lingerie design. She began collect- ing vintage lace as a student, and eventually started using the lace for creating blouse and camisole designs. She began manufacturing gar- ments in West Vancouver in 1976 as a small custom design com- pany, and now employs 40 seam- stresses for her business. Her sales have tripled in the last five years. Silk lingerie represents 75 per cent of her business, with bridalwear, heirloom blouses, dresses and ac- cessories comprising the balance. FZ QUICK SNIPS © Le Chateau redresses men Le Chateau Homme, a new chain of Le Chateau stores geared to more formal and higher quality merchandise, recently opened in the Pacific Centre Mall. This store is the only one of its kind in Western Canada, and it is said to be a test market for the firm. This shop carries menswear suits, dress shirts, sweaters, sport- swear separates and accessories in cotton, wool and silk. It carries similar merchandise to the other Le Chateau stores in fashion for- ward styles, but it includes more suiting and experimental menswear designs. The shop’s interior is very dif- ferent from the majority of Le Chateau stores. [t combines wood and glass in a more traditional setting for its business clothing. ‘Suits sell from -$129 to $269. There is a great selection of unique ties, and pure silk styles start at $19.95. * A aew Renaissance in Gastown A clothing shop for men and women called Renaissance just opened at 348 Water St. This de- signer boutique features an inter- national group of labels including knitted separates from Japan, leathers from Los Angeles, Italian and French shirts and jeans, and silk suit jackets and pants from Vancouver. Owner James Bebyck says that his store caters to ‘‘discerning cus- tomers looking for something new and different. Our bouticjue prescribes a Renaissance of fash- ton — it’s new and fresh.”’ The majority of the clothing is exclusive to this store, including Jeff Hamilton leather jackets, designed for Arsenio Hall and Michael Jackson. This shop has a jacket with a bold flag in blocked colors that is half American and half Russian with stud accents. Renaissance also carries silk crepe de chine men’s jackets by Vancouver’s More and More, which average $180 to $280, but are on sale for half price. Italian cotton shirts are regularly $60. Powerline from Montreal makes high quality wool lycra pants for $80. The interior contrasts neo-tech glass and minimalist furnishings with Renaissance era — like plaster columns that reach to the ceiling. In 1981 she established herself in the U.S. market, and began selling her designs to the prestigious department stores Bloomingdales, Henri Bendel and Bergdorf Goodman in New Yorks Christine and Co. lingerie is also chosen by French women now as the perfect base to an out- fit. The firm has a new Paris- based agent who is selling the col- lections to boutiques such as Paris’ Les Follies d’Elodies. The future looks promising for Morton, who was hesitant to disclose any secrets, but she did confirm that the intimate apparel lines will also be travelling to Germany’s and Spain’s best lingerie boutiques next fall. Christine and Company's ex- clusive designs are sold at only two shops on the North Shore, at Something Special in The Lons- dale Quay and at Morton’s manufacturing/retail outlet at 250 18th St. in West Vancouver. «wt.