LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan, who once epitomized denim chic, wore a black-and-white dress with a halo of lace around the shoulders and a ruffled underskirt by Christian Lacroix for Elton John’s Academy Awards viewing party.
Jennifer Aniston, known for her unadorned, sleek style, stepped out last month in a black Yves Saint Laurent dress with flamenco-inspired ruffles.
The fashion winds are shifting in Southern California, birthplace of the jeans-tops-and-heels look. Feminine, formal and, yes, frilly, are back and retailers are responding.
“The whole jeans-and-pretty-tops thing had an amazingly long run,” designer Trina Turk said. “In L.A., that’s been the uniform for something like seven years, but now it looks tired and old. I think that whole way of magpie dressing has run its course. People look more pulled together now — it’s this whole idea of more of an ensemble.”
Dresses are the top six bestsellers in her Los Angeles and Palm Springs boutiques, she said.
Rachel Zoe, the high-profile stylist for Lohan, Molly Sims, Mischa Barton, Nicole Richie and Keira Knightley, among others, said the new trend is fundamentally about wearing lighter fabrics.
“My clients are saying they want to wear dresses; they want to look pretty,” Zoe said. “In all the spring lines, it was all about the dress — all we’re seeing is ruffles and lace and embroidery and all the flouncy skirts.”
Both Lohan and Barton have changed their looks. “They were more hard-edged before and now they’re more feminine,” she said.
Michael Fink, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue, welcomes the return to more ladylike dressing. “It’s a very subtle and sophisticated way to present yourself,” he said.
Christos Garkinos, co-owner of designer vintage haven Decades II and an arbiter of Los Angeles style, said, “I’m seeing lots of girls in pencil skirts and round-toe shoes. I’ve also been seeing tulip skirts.”
Lindsay Johnson, assistant buyer for Tracey Ross, said the retailer stocked billowing, summery, delicate tops and dresses for spring.
“Everyone’s turning toward a more classic, modest look….I think people are realizing how easy it is to just put on a dress,” she said.
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Lisa Kline, who owns four eponymous stores in the Los Angeles area, recently signed a lease on a retail space on the border of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles for a fifth boutique that will carry women’s apparel only. It will be more collection-based — as opposed to merchandising around a handful of hot items, a proven recipe for stores in retail areas such as Robertson Boulevard and Third Street. Kline’s plans, though still soft, are for less denim and more dressy fare.
“It will be smaller lines that you can’t get everywhere,” she said
As the change in direction takes shape, three new boutiques in Los Angeles — Sienna, Milk and Iconology — are trying to carve a niche by creating ultrafeminine shopping environments to merchandise more formal looks.
Though the failure rate for specialty stores in Los Angeles is “distressingly high,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., the three retailers agreed that Southern Californians were ready for something new.
The boutiques feature a warm but uncluttered aesthetic, with single rows of custom-built racks lining the walls, creating lots of open floor space — a rarity in Los Angeles specialty stores because of the high per-square-foot costs. And for now, at least, inventory is being chosen largely on instinct. Selling space is used as much to create a vibe as it is to merchandise apparel.
“We want to bring back a more feminine silhouette,” said Jennifer Mastracco, co-owner of Sienna, an 800-square-foot store that opened in March on Melrose Avenue. “We’re going against the grain of casual L.A.”
Mastracco and partner Carter Hancock, two boarding school friends who did stints on the wholesale side of the industry at Theory in New York, are trying to differentiate themselves from their retail neighbors around the corner on Robertson Boulevard.
“I feel like we’re in a totally different ballpark,” Mastracco said. “Everything on Robertson is about the new hot thing. We’re so antitrend.”
The products, including brocade jackets from Casch, cashmere sweaters by Karoo Mark Eisen and preppy-jaunty dresses by Pink Tartan and Christopher Deane, are displayed evenly on the racks, creating space around each piece that allows customers to see each item long before they are within inches of it. A black-on-black floral wallpaper with a Twenties look covers the ceiling.
Hancock said the business’ focus on service and convenience was inspired by early department stores, such as Marshall Field’s, which opened in Chicago in 1865, and promised to “Give the Lady What She Wants.” Sienna, which bears the tag line “Women’s Finery” on its business card, features a dressing area with a bearskin rug.
Fraser Ross, owner of Kitson, expressed skepticism about Sienna’s ability to survive in an item-driven market. “The lines that they’re carrying seem really beautiful, but they’re contemporary, not commercial contemporary — there’s a difference,” he said.
The pair said they feel little pressure to compete with existing specialty stores. And their financial expectations for the year are leagues lower than those of their Robertson Boulevard counterparts. They said they hope to reach a mere $100,000 in sales for 2006, the amount they spent in start-up costs. In comparison, Kitson is expected to exceed $15 million in sales for the year.
Michelle Dalton Tyree, a former WWD editor, opened Iconology with her sister, Jackie Dalton, on La Brea Avenue in February.
“Los Angeles has become so item-driven,” Dalton Tyree said. “I think a lot of stores buy that way and merchandise that way. It ends up looking very overcrowded and you can’t really see what you’re buying anymore. You also can’t see how it works back to other clothes. We are trying to bring in a more feminine, ladylike place — like the old stores where you actually wanted to spend time.”
The sisters’ “first idea for the store was a Parisian atelier, a dress store of yesterday, the way Henri Bendel began,” she said.
They achieved an atelier-like look by creating a spare storefront that leads into a luxurious interior. Pink velvet Louis XV-inspired chairs mingle with Louis “Ghost” chairs by Philippe Starck and faux Baccarat chandeliers, which hang from ornate circular moldings on the ceiling. Genuine Baccarat sconces light the spacious dressing rooms.
“It feels very intimate, like I was in someone’s salon,” said Fink of Saks Fifth Avenue, who visited the 900-square-foot store last month.
Like Sienna, Iconology merchandises better contemporary collections, along with a handful of smaller brands with under-the-radar appeal. Come fall, the boutique also will offer pieces from the long-awaited Lagerfeld line. In addition, there are sinuous gowns by Doo.Ri hanging near cashmere sweaters from Lutz & Patmos and skirts and frocks from famously feminine brands such as Jill Stuart and Nanette Lepore.
“There’s no question that denim is a staple in our wardrobe today, particularly in L.A.,” said Dalton Tyree, who set a sales goal of $1.3 million for 2006. “But I think that people are tired of only seeing denim and T-shirts.”
Milk, which opened last October, may be the most fashion-forward of the boutiques in terms of product, carrying adventurous brands such as Myself by Kai Kuhne and McQ by Alexander McQueen. Still, its owners share the belief that shopping and style in Los Angeles are poised to return to something kinder and gentler.
“We wanted the store to be warm and cozy, kind of like a closet,” said co-owner Marni Flans.
Flans and her first cousin and partner, Bari Milken, the daughter of former financier Michael Milken, are free-spirited entrepreneurs.
Asked about sales goals for the year, Milken couldn’t pinpoint a figure. “We’re doing over $75,000 a month in sales on average,” said buyer Ilaria Urbinati.
The 1,800-square-foot boutique on Third Street dwarfs the other two stores in size, but manages to retain a feeling of intimacy. Dresses and separates rife with feminine embellishments are arranged around stacks of vintage suitcases and shelves topped with vintage milk bottles.
The store carries a small selection of jeans from Siwy, but “denim doesn’t really sell for us, which is so funny because denim sells for everyone,” Milken said.
But if Angelenos continue to play dress-up, denim sales will surely matter less. “Denim dressing for evening is so expected, it’s not even interesting,” Fink said. “I don’t want to hear that a jacket looks great with jeans again. Wear denim when you’re working in your yard.”