PARIS, March 14— It now seems clear that designers' fascination with the 1980's is likely to take fashion right up to the year 2000. Designers' other pursuit these days is artisanal work, a trend forecasters link to turn-of-the-century nostalgia.
The twin interests are producing a peculiar but interesting marriage on runways: hard-edge 80's style like perforated leather, big shoulders and stilettos with earthbound leitmotifs like hand knitting, crochet and smocking.
That Veronique Leroy, Martine Sitbon and Lamine Kouyate for Xuly-Bet all dipped into this well but came up with different ideas indicates that for better or worse, we will probably see the 1980's as a reference for many seasons to come.
Most designers have just begun exploring the previous decade, but Ms. Leroy was ahead with her Claude Montana-style suits last season and nouveaux-riches touches a year ago. Why this talented young designer is not more heralded is a mystery. Her clothes are not available in the United States but her prescience and wit mark her as a potential leader of her generation.
One wonders whether Ms. Leroy and Ms. Sitbon -- who also turns out consistently strong collections without much fanfare -- would receive more attention if they were men. Of the 96 designers on the Paris schedule, slightly more than 20 are women. On both sides of the Atlantic, female designers have complained that the industry's star-making machinery gives short shrift to women. Both Myriam Schaefer, the designer for Nina Ricci who once worked for Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the American designer Anna Sui have expressed concern about a fashion scale seemingly tipped toward men.
The curious situation has thankfully not dimmed Ms. Leroy's or Ms. Sitbon's creativity. Ms. Leroy continued her 80's odyssey with tan mini-skirted suits trimmed in white, their strong, femininely curved shoulders and nipped waists partly obscuring the sexy white shirred halters underneath.
She offered up shiny, flirty disco dresses in bright cobalt or red, and threw cardigans and V-neck sweaters over sleek jewel-colored sateen pants suits and shirtdresses.
While Ms. Leroy reveled in 80's high style, Ms. Sitbon used cutwork, devore, flocking and perforations to produce a beautiful collection that smoothly pointed the way from fashion austerity to baroque-free glamour.
Her perforated leathers, paired with black stilettos and ''Flashdance''-style leg warmers, suggested the dawn of the polite punk. Openwork on delicate chiffon was finished prettily with velvet. A weathered leather jacket went over a soft gold-flecked satin skirt; a fitted chinchilla-pattern golf jacket was worn over a white pencil skirt with black flocking and a spectacular semi-transparent evening dress had cutwork that yielded to an arranged mess of weblike beaded straps.
Ms. Sitbon's show glided from edgy fashion to a new softness. In contrast, Mr. Kouyate's show for his Xuly-Bet label was a frenetically paced romp for those who yearn for the days when fashion was served hot: scads of groupies, show time at 10 P.M., an eclectic mix of the certifiably cool -- Seal, the English designer Oswald Boatman and the photographer Juergen Teller -- some groovy design ideas and clothes that gave one the giddy feeling that they may have just been pulled from a sewing machine backstage.
Mr. Kouyate is the kind of iconoclast who can effortlessly create such a demi-happening. Pert and cheeky, the collection built from a base of Mr. Kouyate's recognizable polyester bodywear with red serge stitching. Over these he added fancifully colored fake-fur chubbies and coats.
Mr. Kouyate has made an art of recycling clothes or making them appear to be such and his knitted Afghan dresses were the height of vintage chic, some worn separately and others as a second layer over clashing brightly colored body stockings. And he paired shiny metallic mini-skirts or asymmetric sequined ones with halters and furry boleros, the kind of get-up one might expect to see on leggy kids hitting the newest rave clubs. Much of Mr. Kouyate's work seems well suited to young nightclubbers.
Ocimar Versolato, too, has an innate understanding of what women want for their nightlife but his evening dresses are of an entirely different sort. They're for grown-ups who pose, not dance.
Newest among Mr. Versolato's plainly sumptuous creations were his smocked gowns and smocked mini-dress. A short black viscose super-mini -- it might have doubled as a tunic -- was given a band of smocking around the hem. A plum chiffon gown done entirely in smocking brought to mind the Grecian columns of Mme. Gres, with its lyrical cut, asymmetric neckline and slim bell sleeves.
What Mr. Versolato accomplished with his smocked dresses was an important softening of his hard-edged, sexy evening clothes. The femme fatale remains but he has proven that he can also expand his range to serve women who desire a less aggressive approach to feminine eveningwear.
Below are three videos by designers and their inspirations. Please take note to their mood boards, fabrics, drawings and how they all come together. After you watch the video answer the question below and complete the task for the deadline of November 13th - - our first class after our two day break. Please be prepared to discuss the blog and your task.




1. Question: Please answer on the blog and post:
A. What styles which are trendy right now do you think were inspired by the 80s (Name specific garments in our wardrobes today)?  B. Decribe where each designer in each of the fashion videos got their personal inspiration, they all reference how they begin, what they narrow in on. . .include it in your answer.

2. Task
A. Fill one page of your idea book with pictures of those garments from today, which show inspiration of the 80's based on what was referenced in the article.
B. Find 1 object in your house (ex: tooth brush, boby pin, kitchen utensil. . .) which could be used as inspiration for a design. Do not bring in something that does not already show promise - - that does not immediately get the juices flowing in your creativity! Please bring to class on November 13th.