‘One-of-a-Kind’ Gowns Feature Sequins, Beads and Rhinestones : Elegance: Judy Barry saw a need for special designs in attending social functions and created a business selling her sparkling sheaths.

Judy Barry cringes whenever she sees two women at an elegant black-tie affair wearing identical gowns.

“I’m embarrassed for them,” Barry says. “I’ve seen women seated at the same table in matching dresses.”

Barry is so determined to avoid a similar fate, she designs her own glamorous gowns, traveling to Hong Kong to oversee production of her sequined sheaths.

Her friends, seeing Barry show up at galas in one slinky, sparkling dress after another, commissioned her to make gowns for themselves. Barry, a Newport Beach resident, now sells her one-of-a-kind dresses under the name Judy Lee’s Designs and Classic Editions.

“No two gowns are alike,” Barry says. “I don’t like to see myself standing there across the room.”

Barry’s gowns do have one thing in common: Every inch of fabric is doused in sequins, beads, rhinestones and pearls.

Some dresses have three-inch drops of beads dangling from capped sleeves and hems. Others have beaded leaves or flowers appliqued around the shoulders, hem or bodice.

Like Madonna in “Dick Tracy,” women pour themselves into these breathless gowns. Barry has never designed anything with a full skirt or gathers.

“You have to be fairly thin,” she admits. They’re perfect for Barry, a tall, slender brunette.

Many of her gowns accentuate the body with high slits, keyhole backs and low V-neck fronts. Some have scalloped borders around the neckline or hem.

One off-the-shoulder gown has pink beaded flowers and painted silk leaves floating on a sea of pale peach sequins. A strapless royal blue sheath has swirls of emerald sequins and a scalloped edge bordering its diagonal hemline.

Not all of Barry’s glitzy dresses are long. She designed a halter dress in a leopard print made of hand-painted silk and sequins that falls to the knees, with a simple bolero-style jacket.

Barry began creating her Bob Mackie-style gowns five years ago.

“My husband and I were going to a lot of black ties, and you really have to shop around a lot to find a gown that’s different,” she says. “Everywhere you go, you see the same dresses. They’re all beautiful, but you know out of 400 people someone will be wearing the same thing.”

So began her search for affordable glitz. On a trip to Hong Kong with her mother, Barry discovered a shop that sold jars filled with beads.

“I figured someone back home would be able to sew them on a dress. So I bought a 5-pound bag of every kind of bead in the shop and brought them back here.”

When her search for a tailor who did bead work proved futile, she hired a researcher to track down someone in Hong Kong who made beaded garments. The search led her to Paula Soo (her name, coincidentally, is pronounced sew ).

Soo worked with Barry to come up with designs for the dresses, then turned the sewing and beadwork over to a team of 75 to 100 workers.

“I brought a couple of the gowns back and my friends said, ‘This is wonderful--can you do one for me?”’

Barry now sends sketches of gowns to Soo, then meets with her in Hong Kong when the garments are half completed to position appliques on the dresses and make changes or alterations.

At first, Barry had to steer Soo away from “Oriental-looking” designs. Mandarin collars and sequined dragons don’t sell well in Orange County, she says.

Barry also found that her initial desire to make gowns in solid colors didn’t work--the detail was lost and the dresses didn’t sell. Eventually Soo and Barry hit upon the right formula--colorful appliques or beaded patterns on a straight sheath.

“The basic dress is the same, but then we add capped or long sleeves and beads that dangle or appliqued leaves.”

Customers can help design their dresses, choosing the style, colors and type of beaded appliques. The gowns cost from $450 for a short dress to $1,700 for an elaborate, long gown.

While Barry doesn’t call herself a designer, she has a knack for altering and improving the look of any garment.

“Whenever I buy clothes, even if they’re off the rack, they always go to the tailor,” she says. “I usually change the collars and I always change the neckline and the buttons. I taper everything for a much more fitted look.

“I own nothing with a flared skirt.”

Occasionally her experiments with clothes lead to a new creation.

“I always come up with these ideas I like, not knowing anyone else will like them too.”

That’s how she invented her magnetic shoulder pads, which attach to the outside of a garment instead of the inside. Barry can turn a plain jacket into a Michael Jackson-style blazer by adding shoulder pads decorated with gold fringe and braid, or she can dress up a simple black chemise by attaching velvet shoulder pads draped with jet beads.

To attach the pads without sticking pins through the garment, Barry decided to bury magnets inside each pad so it would cling to another magnetic shoulder pad worn underneath the garment. The pads have sold at Nordstrom and Bullock’s.

Meanwhile Barry’s gowns have become so popular, she’s trying to keep her “fun hobby” from turning into a full-blown business.

Last year she made six trips to Hong Kong to pick up gowns. This year she wants to limit the number of trips to two or three. With each trip, she brings back 25 to 30 gowns, shipping them in boxes because the sequins make them too heavy to carry.

“When I get back from my trip people call and ask, ‘When are you going to unpack?’ I’ve never had a problem selling the gowns.”

For now, she’s resisting the idea of selling her dresses through a department store.

“I really like knowing who my dresses go to,” she says.