NEW YORK — On paper, 27-year-old Stephanie Schur sounds like your typically connected Angeleno designer. Her new label, Michon Schur, will soon be on sale at Fred Segal where she was a sales associate a few years ago. Her clothes are already fodder for A-list actresses: Penélope Cruz borrowed a few pieces late last year for a trip to Paris, while Rosario Dawson wore a Schur gown to the “Alexander” premiere in November. And that’s not even mentioning her high-profile husband: Geffen Records president Jordan Schur.
Reality, however, presents a different story. In person, the soft-spoken designer exudes the sort of sweet naïveté that you imagine she had when she left her hometown of Reno for San Francisco to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising eight years ago. “[My line] is so precious to me. I have a hard time showing it other people,” Schur says with a shy laugh. “But I’m getting better at it.” Hardly the words of a slick self-promoter. And her fairy-tale story of meeting her husband is the kind that is tough to feign. For the record, she claims love at first sight when they met some three years ago at a party at his house and promptly moved in together. “It was crazy, but really sweet,” she says. They eloped to Jamaica in June of 2003.
Schur had her fashion coming-out party, so to speak, last October at the Chateau Marmont. The public relations firm Bismarck Philips arranged an event for stylists such as Jessica Paster, Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig and Christina Ehrlich to see her small holiday collection. “I had a really good response,” Schur recalls. “I had nothing left at the end of the party. People were just snatching things up.” In fact, Ehrlich, who dresses both Dawson and Cruz, became an ardent fan. “Stephanie is so sweet and quiet,” Ehrlich says. “She has kind of a silent roar in terms of what she does with her designs. We had every designer and every couture gown under the sun sent for Rosario for this premiere, and she put on Stephanie’s dress and it was a no-brainer. We were all sold.” Ehrlich also provided the connection to Fred Segal buyer John Eshaya. “I was so impressed,” Eshaya says. “I kind of knew her from just working on the floor and she comes up with this really pretty, beautiful line that is so well done.”
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Schur’s feminine wares have a vintage influence that combines a touch of Fifties lady and a dash of Hollywood glamour. She nevertheless manages to create a fresh look that keeps fustiness and literal references at bay. Her crisp white cotton dresses and skirts, for example, are lightly embellished with passementerie trim or insets of vintage lace. She tones down the preciousness factor of a cabbage rose lace skirt by obscuring it with a layer of plain navy tulle. A silver-sequin tank top livens up swingy skirts in cotton eyelet and colored satin. And a strapless cocktail dress in navy cotton eyelet is made supremely simple with a ribbon belt. In short, they are the sort of cute-girl clothes that don’t make their wearer look like she’s trying too hard. Retail prices range from $450 for the sequin tank and $680 for a cotton dress to around $1,200 for the gowns.
Looking forward, Schur plans to expand her business slowly and sensibly and is even shying away from the klieg lights of Tinsel Town. “Being in Los Angeles, you can really get caught up in designing red-carpet and event dresses,” she says. “You could forget the market that you’re trying to appeal to. To me, that’s not the most important element.”