One of His Rules: Break the Rules : Consultant Michael Nicklin helps mall-goers look good without becoming fashion snobs.
WESTMINSTER — With his boyish good looks and knack for showmanship, Michael Nicklin is the Pat Sajak of fashion consulting.
Nicklin, a former model, leads wardrobe workshops at shopping malls across the country.
“Do you like it?” he often asks his audience after a model takes a spin on stage in an outfit he’s put together. If the response is lukewarm, he’ll switch a belt or change a jacket until he hears applause. Like a peppy game show host, he passes out prizes to those who show the most enthusiasm.
On a recent Wednesday evening at Westminster Mall, Nicklin has attracted a crowd of about 200 to his “Career and Trends Workshop,” one of a yearlong series of fashion seminars he’s producing for the mall.
Instead of just parading merchandise, Nicklin demonstrates how to put together different looks. His models frequently slip in and out of jackets, skirts, scarves, belts and accessories onstage, then head out into the audience so people can see the clothes close-up and even feel the fabrics.
“People in magazines tend to preach fashion. I try to show how to break the rules,” Nicklin says.
When a model comes out wearing a black-and-white batik print top and a split skirt, Nicklin draws attention to her bold necklace with big gold medallions.
“Is this a belt?” he asks. Those who have seen his accessories seminar already know the answer is yes.
One of Nicklin’s pet themes is getting clothes and accessories to do “double duty”--wearing belts as necklaces, scarves as belts, short dresses as tunics, and on and on. A red A-line tunic, for instance, did double duty as a short dress.
Nicklin is no fashion snob.
Because he is not beholden to any one store, he pulls clothes and accessories for his shows from all over the mall, keeping an eye out for bargains. He’ll even pick up clothes off clearance shelves.
For the seminar, he showed clothes from the Limited, Susie’s Casuals, Ames, Suo and Lerner’s.
He found a black-and-tan wrap jacket from Suo marked from $88 to $48 with a matching skirt for $48. Instead of discreetly whispering prices to patrons after the show, Nicklin cheerfully read price tags from merchandise while it was still on the model’s back.
He put together unlikely pieces that somehow worked. He matched an oversize black sweater with a full-length, multiflounce skirt in earth tones. The model then removed the long skirt to reveal a white chiffon miniskirt.
He dressed all three of his models in identical black-and-white checkered blazers to show how the same garment can achieve different looks: one wore the jacket with a black miniskirt, another with a gold shift dress and the third with white and black pin-stripe slacks and a Picasso-influenced printed blouse.
“If you mix patterns, take a look at how the outfit looks four or five feet away,” he advises.
Nicklin uses color to coordinate garments. He can take a pumpkin-colored blazer from day to night by switching it from matching pants to a sheer black skirt.
“He puts things together I wouldn’t dream of,” says Deidre Shea of Huntington Beach. “I have a hard time knowing what colors to put together. I looked at that peach suit and would never have worn black with it, but it looked great.”
To help members of his audience find their personal style, he recommends looking no further than their own closets.
“Pull six of your favorite pieces out of your closet and jot down why they’re your favorites,” he says. “That piece of paper describes your personal style. All of our favorite pieces are motivated by our egos. If you say, ‘That jacket makes me feel more creative,’ write creative on your list. You can go out shopping armed with your list and really evaluate each piece.”
He tries to show shoppers how to separate “the must-haves from the I-can-live-without-its.”
“Too often when people shop, they buy something because it’s a good price. Those are items that typically sit at home, but they were a bargain,” he says.
Another common shopping mistake is buying “fantasy purchases,” clothes that are a little too tight that one promises to shrink into but never does or evening clothes that never make it to that hoped-for night on the town.
“You’ll buy a fancy dress and say, ‘I know I’m going to be invited to a fancy party someday,’ and the dress sits at home.”
He suggests conducting a “practicality check” before buying a garment. Many clothes that designers and fashion experts say are “must haves” for spring are “dead in the water” by fall. That’s all right for one or two fun pieces, Nicklin says, but you don’t want to build a career wardrobe around too-trendy attire.
“If you buy a dress with daisies all over it, it won’t have a lot of life,” he says. Better to plant daisy pins on a white dress.
“Look for more classic, refined pieces that say spring of ’91 quietly instead of screaming it out. White and black clothing is a great canvas on which to paint accessories,” he says.
To work, accessories must be chosen wisely. Nicklin urges caution when adding belts to an outfit.
“This just screams, ‘Look at my waist,’ ” he says, removing a gold belt from around the model’s neck and holding it around her middle. “By adding horizontal lines, you draw attention to the hips and waist--the danger zone.”
Proportion is another favorite Nicklin theme.
Women who want longer-looking legs (and who doesn’t? he asks) should choose hose that match their outfit to elongate the body line.
“If you want to look shorter, wear contrasting hose,” he says.
Shoulder pads, meanwhile, can balance out a bottom-heavy figure by broadening the upper body, creating an ideal inverted triangle shape. “You read in fashion magazines about ripping out shoulder pads. Don’t you dare get rid of shoulder pads. They can hide a multitude of sins,” he says.
Where to Find Fashion Help
Michael Nicklin is president of the Nicklin Group, a Beverly Hills modeling agency and consulting company that offers motivational programs to malls. He’s serving as Westminster Mall’s fashion consultant for the 1991 wardrobe workshop series.
The workshops are free and open to the public.
Upcoming topics include:
* April 10--Petites
* May 8--Large sizes
* June 12--Men’s casuals
* July 2--How to shop sales
* Aug. 28--Fall trends
* Sept. 4--Hosiery and footwear
* Sept. 11--Over 50
* Nov. 13--Holiday fashions
To reserve a seat, contact the mall at (714) 898-2558.
