How the West Has Won
Paris, Milan and New York City used to be the undisputed capitals of style, but suddenly Los Angeles is the source for up-to-the-minute must-have fashion
By Kate Betts
Fall 2005 Style & Design
For years, residents of Los Angeles have been deemed incapable of
spotting a trend, not to mention wearing it well. But the city long
dismissed as a gauche province of sweat pants, midriff-baring tank tops
and women who wear fur coats with sneakers has suddenly become the prime
influence on high fashion. In the past two years, the balance of power
has shifted dramatically as more and more of fashion's big ideas
originate in California and migrate east. Style edicts that once emerged
from the runways of Paris and Milan or the pages of Vogue now move into
the mainstream via paparazzi photos or trend reports from the terrace at
the Ivy or the pool at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Fashion's current fascination with bohemian style—for example, peasant
skirts, slouchy suede boots and giant fringed hobo bags—can be traced
right back to Malibu, pioneered by natives like Kate Hudson and Cameron
Diaz, then picked up by European designers like Phoebe Philo at Chloé,
Anna Molinari and Matthew Williamson, all of whom have had great retail
success as a result. "That rock-'n'-roll vibe is very much California,"
says Rachel Zoe, a stylist who dresses Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie,
among others. "It's what people here have always worn, but now it's
popping up on Kate Moss, and you see it on the streets in Paris and
London."
The sea change can be attributed in large part to digital technology.
Images of the latest celeb-driven fashion trend are zapped across the
globe in a matter of seconds, and merchandise moves off the shelves
almost as quickly. Celebrities ducking in and out of specialty boutiques
like Tracey Ross and Kitson are photographed by paparazzi, and their
look—a slouchy Vince cardigan, a pair of Frye boots—becomes the
must-have of the moment. After Jennifer Aniston was snapped on a movie
set a few weeks ago wearing a bright green C&C California T shirt, a
thumbnail-size picture of her appeared in PEOPLE magazine. The shirt
sold out at stores around the world in a matter of hours, and C&C
presold another 800 units.
The city's influence can also be felt in the way clothes are being
retailed. Instead of single-brand designer boutiques that sell
head-to-toe outfits, consumers are flocking to stores that offer a mix
of high- and low-priced fashion. They want the $40 T shirt with their
$1,400 Chloé jacket. Retailing a look as opposed to a brand has become
Big Business and, one could argue, a trend pioneered by L.A. boutiques
like Fred Segal. Nowadays every department store from Barneys to Saks
Fifth Avenue has caught on.
The West Coast stores were also the first to catch up with the
lightning-quick consumer. "The California retailers and designers follow
the pulse of the consumer and provide new merchandise every month
instead of every six months," says Khajak Keledjian, a founder of
Intermix, an early adapter of the high-low retail formula with 10 stores
on the East Coast. Now even big department-store mainstays like Dana
Buchman have adjusted their delivery schedules to refresh merchandise on
a monthly basis.
"People used to laugh at L.A.," says John Eshaya, creative director of
womenswear at Fred Segal. "But California has really been influencing
all of America for the past four or five years. We're finally getting
recognition."
Yvonne Green, a California-based fashion scout who works for stores like
Henri Bendel, Selfridges and Lane Crawford, says it all started with
Juicy Couture. "Buyers have been coming to L.A. for years, but never as
much as now," she says. "A lot of it is because of Juicy. They really
started this amazing lifestyle brand."
What the Juicy girls—Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor—captured
with their comfortable and sexy sweat suits was California's
intoxicating combination of sunshine, glamour, opportunity and rebellion.
Juicy sexed up the sweat suit just as a handful of similar
California-based companies had sexed up denim, which was only fitting
given that Levi's originated in the state. In the 1980s and early '90s,
brands like Guess and Earl revolutionized the jeans business with
details like decorative zippers and low-rise cuts. While premium denim
may represent only 3% of the $12 billion denim business, it's the
perfect example of how L.A. has become the land of instant opportunity.
Seven for All Mankind, a brand launched in 2000, now sells almost
100,000 pairs of jeans a week and has stores in 35 countries.
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