Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- As 64 couturiers head into New York Fashion Week, sobered designers plan to slash prices and offer practical clothes in more subdued colors and with fewer flourishes.

Their efforts to avert deep losses and bankruptcies may produce some compelling fashion that is easier on the wallet, retail analyst Patricia Edwards said.

“No woman wants to have her choices limited to shapeless, lackluster recession-wear even if the economy stinks,” said Edwards, founder of Storehouse Partners LLC in Seattle. “This is, after all, fashion, not a wake.”

The fashion world faces an uphill battle. Consumers have curbed discretionary spending as they cope with mounting job cuts and slumping home values. U.S. women’s apparel sales fell 3.3 percent in the 12 months through November after jumping 3.5 percent in the year-earlier period, market-research firm NPD Group Inc. says. Retailers including Macy’s Inc. and Saks Inc. have announced plans to reduce buying for the fall.

Fashion Week, which brings runway shows and glitterati to Manhattan’s Bryant Park today through Feb. 20, has felt the squeeze. On Jan. 21, Fern Mallis, senior vice president of show producer IMG Fashion, assembled about two dozen reporters and publicists to her office for some damage control.

‘Accentuate the Positive’

She admonished them for focusing on big-name designers who had pulled out of the tents, including Vera Wang, Betsey Johnson and Thakoon. Some designers chose to present their clothes in their showrooms. Halston is e-mailing a music video featuring its new collection, instead of doing a show. The star is model Dree Hemingway, daughter of Mariel and great granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway.

“If we can accentuate the positive and not just look at how bad things are, there might be hope that retailers will place orders and that people will go back into the stores,” Mallis said in a telephone interview. “The industry needs this week more than ever.”

The number of shows in the tents is about equal to a year ago, Mallis said. Sponsorship has held steady, and she expects attendance to remain stable as well at about 100,000.

“It’s not like people are going to say, ‘Forget about Fashion Week, I’m not interested,’” she said.

New entrants this season are Justin Timberlake’s brand, William Rast, best-known for its premium jeans, and Christian Siriano, a winner of the “Project Runway” television show.

A hot ticket was the off-site show today of Jason Wu, designer of the white dress with organza flowers that was worn by Michelle Obama to the inaugural balls. His RSVP telephone line was offering waiting-list only.

Sharing a Tent

Tommy Hilfiger is returning, after a three-year hiatus. Mara Hoffman, Nicholas K and Sergio Davila are combining their lines in a joint show to save costs that can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the amusements of the week is a show celebrating Barbie’s 50th anniversary. Fifty designers, including Michael Kors, have created human-sized Barbie-inspired looks that will be worn by real models, and then exhibited at Bloomingdale’s.

“The business environment out there is definitely challenging,” said Mark Badgley of the Badgley Mischka duo. “Women who went to a trunk show used to pick up four pieces, now she is picking up one.”

Badgley Mischka, whose design house is owned by Iconix Brand Group Inc., is focusing on less-pricey, more-practical dresses, and toning down colors and the embellishments they are known for, Badgley said in a joint telephone interview. Their emphasis this season is on vintage metallics.

Thinking Cocktail

“Evening gowns will always be our core business,” James Mischka said. “But they way things are these days, the most important dresses are for cocktail.”

The designers have reduced their prices 30 percent, Mischka said. Before, their cocktail dresses cost $2,000 to $2,500 and their evening gowns, $5,000 to $9,000, he said.

For Thuy Diep, a Vietnamese-born designer making a second appearance in the tents, the pullouts by better-know designers can work in her favor.

“For me, as a young designer, it’s a great opportunity to shine,” she said.

Diep’s strategy is to try to create enduring styles. Most of her clothes for fall are black and gray, with accents in rich, deep blue and green, she said in a telephone interview. She is known for her jackets.

“Women are going to be much more careful about what they are buying and they will want something that is special year after year, not trendy,” Diep said.

She has varied her pricing more, complementing a $1,500 cashmere coat with an $800 version in a wool blend, for example.

De La Renta Resists

Oscar de la Renta appears to have no intention of changing his stripes.

“For a brand like ours, it would be a mistake to try and change what it is about,” Alex Bolen, the design house’s chief executive officer, said. “What we are about is very expensive fabrics handled in very highly skilled ways. It’s a wealthy look, and definitely expensive.”

Mr. De la Renta sells $500 sweaters to $15,000 gowns. He was too busy finishing his collection to grant an interview, Bolen said.

Nicole Fischelis, a Macy’s women’s ready-to-wear fashion director, said she is heading to the shows looking for clothes that are “fun, fresh and appealing and friendly and imaginative and whimsical.”

“We are oversaturated with doom and gloom,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Cotten Timberlake in Washington at ctimberlake@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 13, 2009 00:01 EST