One-of-a-Kind Clothes
“Diversity” is the name of the newest fashion game in town, and it debuts today on the fourth floor of the Cooper Building in downtown Los Angeles. Key players are graduates of the Fashion Industry of Design and Merchandising, who will sell their one-of-a-kind clothing and accessories for men, women and children every week from now on, Thursday through Sunday. Along with jewelry and hand-painted T-shirts, there are more unusual, wintry items, such as alpaca coats and real-fur earmuffs. According to an FIDM spokesperson, the idea for Diversity came from London, where Hyper Hyper, a company formed by a group of young fashion designers, is causing quite a stir.
Supermarket Sweep
John Candy let the folks in Brentwood see that he’s just a regular guy when he parked his Mercedes outside the Vicente Foods market and did the family grocery shopping all by himself. He even loaded up the car on his own--filled the back seat with at least six hefty bags full. As for his attire that afternoon, Candy chose a white polo shirt and a Perry Como-style, navy cardigan.
Comic Flair Royally
“She had every designer in the world to choose from, but she chose me,” said Tere Tereba after funny lady Sandra Bernhard wore a dress from the designer’s spring collection to perform in London for Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The dress is ankle-length, off-the-shoulder and tight fitting, with an embroidered net shawl to go with it. Tereba says it is available at the Shauna Stein boutique.
Astonishing Reproductions
“Astonish me” are the words art director Alexey Brodovitch would snap during his reign at Harper’s Bazaar magazine, from 1934 to 1958. The astonishing results, including photographic masterpieces by Richard Avedon, are part of an exhibit of over-sized, magazine-page reproductions at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Look for Audrey Hepburn, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra among the famous faces. The exhibit is open to the public through June 31 and free of charge.
Liza’s Vacation Wear
Liza Minnelli was in town doing a little shopping for her upcoming vacation in Cap d’Antibes, where she and husband Mark Gero are borrowing a friend’s villa for three weeks of R&R.; While taking in the Riviera, stepmom Lee Minnelli reports, Liza will be wearing L.A. designer Louis Estevez’s new matador look: white high-waisted silk pants and his full-sleeved, white-and-black Dalmation spot blouse. When she tires of that, she can switch into the black version of same, which she also bought at Estevez’s Melrose Avenue shop.
She’s Definitely Not Fur It
Actress Julianne Phillipes, celebrity photographer Greg Gorman and fashion model Janice Dickinson gathered together at Chantal Cloutier’s house (she owns Cloutier, the styling, makeup and hair agency) to reconsider fashion’s role in protecting animals. Cloutier announced that she will exercise her considerable clout from now on, by refusing to book her clients on fashion projects that involve real animal fur. “Wearing real fur advocates cruelty to animals,” she feels. If that’s not enough: “Wearing fur is simply unfashionable.”
Very Accessible
Hey Bubb! That’s Brian Bubb, who designed the Perry Ellis menswear line until he departed from the company a year ago. (Roger Forsythe replaced him.) Bubb now plans to launch his own collection of neckwear and evening accessories, starting with Holiday 1989. He’ll include neckties, bow ties, vests and cummerbunds, label the line simply Bubb and market it as “exquisite and expensive.” (Ties retail for about $50-$60.) He says he has an animal-print group called “Oh Sauvage” in his first collection. And he can explain why: “People get too deadly serious about fashion. You should have fun with a tie.”
Just the Short of It
Not everybody thinks Gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts is a fashion wipeout. Even though he boasts about his bargain-basement suits and his frayed shirt sleeves, he managed to make the top of this year’s shorter men in America fashion “in” list. Listen hears from Bob Stern, who owns Short Sizes Inc., the Cleveland store that issues the verdict, that Dukakis is No. 1 because he knows the secret to shorter-man dressing with style. “It’s proper proportions” Stern asserts. Others in this year’s lineup (all of them 5-foot-8 or less) are composer Leonard Bernstein (5 feet, 8 inches), publisher Malcolm Forbes (5 feet, 7 inches), talk-show host Dick Cavett (5 feet, 3 inches) and actor Danny DeVito (5 feet, 1 inch). Stern, who measures in at 5-feet-2, also tells us that his mail-order-catalogue business is booming, especially in Japan.
