FASHION : Cool Breezes, Cozy Stores and Nothing Too Fussy
Mary Ann Cohen looks down at a table topped with colorful ceramic dishes--each piece hand-painted with artichokes or watermelon slices or neat rows of fish and bones. “ This is what Malibu is all about,” she says triumphantly.
In some senses, Cohen is right. Her Gallery Milieu in the Malibu Country Mart is filled with an “eclectic mix” of colorful canvases, gaily decorated furniture and unusual jewelry. And “eclectic mix” is what shopping in Malibu is all about.
“Malibu is a little left of center,” Cohen says, meaning locals--with or without celebrity status--want something “whimsical, not too finished and not too fussy. It has to have good color and it can’t look like Beverly Hills.”
Shopping Malibu-style is not shop till you drop for the most expensive and luxurious item. It is shop till you find something slightly out of the ordinary to give, to wear or to decorate the house. It is discovering a well-priced treasure (perhaps the $52 lace petticoat Cher bought recently) in a cozy store that faces a little park or a flower-rimmed fountain.
Especially on a hot summer day, the ocean-cooled strip of coastline is a welcome escape from mall mania--although you may have to fight your way through traffic to get there.
There are two major points of interest on the Malibu shopping tour: the cluster of stores on both sides of Cross Creek Road, where it intersects Pacific Coast Highway, and Malibu Colony Plaza, at PCH and Webb Way. Heading north along the coastal route, the first stop is Cross Creek Road. The Malibu Country Mart--converted years ago from an old motel--and the Malibu Country Stores are on one side of the road. On the other is Malibu Creek Plaza, anchored by the local cinema and Wherehouse Records, and a row of separately owned businesses called the Cross Creek Center.
One of the most sophisticated stores in the area is Thee Foxes Trot. It is filled with the requisite eclectic Malibu mix. Merchandise runs the gamut from the latest stereo equipment to fine pens and watches to a collection of neon-bright, straw-look plastic bags--one of which could possibly be the world’s largest beach bag--and an assortment of imported ethnic clothing and home furnishings.
Down the row sits Jo Ella’s Malibu Style & Dressy Drawers--where singer Sara Fleetwood says she finds terrific velvet bras, $30 silk stockings and special tops she can wear on stage. It is also where Cher bought the lace petticoat.
Many Malibu retailers decline to discuss their celebrity customers, but a few, like Herbert Fink, will drop names. Last March, he opened a branch of his Beverly Hill’s Theodore in the Malibu Colony Plaza. He says his list of local celebs reads like a Who’s Who of entertainment.
Dustin Hoffman, Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Darryl Hannah, Tom Hanks and Pat Riley are a few of the famous who drop by to use the restrooms and the telephone. Luckily for Fink, once they get off the phone they tend to stock up on what he terms “easy, casual clothes” in the $100 to $3,000 price range by Go Silk, Byblos, Proline, Claude Montana and Sonia Rykiel, among others.
Theodore’s is an expensive oasis in a shopping center that doesn’t thrill everyone. Those who dislike the imitation Spanish Mediterranean architecture refer to the place as Taco Bell Plaza. And critics are hardly looking forward, as others are, to the opening of Granita, the newest restaurant from chef Wolfgang Puck and interior designer Barbara Lazaroff, which is still under construction under the eye of Lazaroff.
But even detractors talk enthusiastically about the “fun, friendly” Hughes market, the only supermarket for miles around. And they give thumbs up to Coogie’s--a spacious yellow and green restaurant with a Caribbean spirit that prides itself on “Malibu lifestyle” dishes such as whole-wheat pancakes.
The shopping center’s other points of interest include Malibu Florist, where there are bargain-priced flower arrangements, handblown glass vases, antiques and locally made objets d’arts. Nine 0 Two Six Five (the Malibu Zip code) stocks a nice selection of coffee beans and baby gifts. Nikki’s carries Joan Vass separates (a favorite with German tourists, says owner Tanya Dorn), Lycra separates by Michael Kors, colorful shorts sets and glitzy $92 T-shirts.
Inside Sunglass Safari there are 40 lines of shades, priced $5 to $1,500, including 144 styles of Ray-Bans on display. And in Becker Surfboards there is the quintessential mix of beach gear: surfboards, skateboards and in-line roller skates, brightly printed active wear and swimwear for both sexes as well as Mossimo’s sexy stretch-Lycra separates for women.
A few stores down is Malibu Yogurt & Ice Cream--a less quaint version of the same shop in the Malibu Country Mart. It is a good place to sit outside, view the scenery (construction work, parking lot, flower-ringed fountains, new palm trees, old mountain range), watch the action and make hasty mental notes:
Not a single fat person lives here. Everyone is tan and in love with white. Or blue--as in blue jeans (pants or shorts) worn with black cowboy boots. Everyone is courteous and friendly. For an affluent zone, prices are surprisingly reasonable--sometimes even lower than the going mall rate. Women wear very little makeup and look terrific. They have superb athletic legs and own at least one incredibly short tennis skirt. Everyone should move to Malibu and live the good life, which of course wouldn’t be as good if they did.
Identical thoughts occur while sitting outside at Malibu Yogurt & Ice Cream in the Country Mart. Or while having lunch in back of John’s Garden--where the salads and sandwiches are incredibly fresh and a sign warns patrons about aggressive wild birds.
A stone’s throw away is Malibu Laundry, a charming place that, despite the name and old machine out front, does not take in dirty clothes. Specialties of the house are fresh white sportswear and lingerie, pretty floral dresses and straw hats.
At Indiana Joan’s, owner Joan Bryant decorates straw hats of all sizes with flowers or adds a lavish supply of pins and charms to $26 black baseball caps. Her specialties include $125 to $300 vintage tuxedo jackets trimmed with whatever strikes her fancy--charms, buttons, lace handkerchiefs, braid, costume jewelry, a glove.
Enter tiny Leather Waves and the first thing you see is a sewing machine on a big worktable where owner-designer Jackie Robbins turns out custom garments, including a red and blue suede bikini for $150.
Robbins is one of the Malibu retailers with staying power. She has been in business 15 years, a record almost equaled by Encore--in the two-story, Spanish-style Malibu Country Stores--where the merchandise includes hip sportswear from Los Angeles designers, such as Anne Ferriday and Lianne Barnes, plus an exclusive line of made-in-L.A. cotton hand-knit sweaters for $250 to $320.
While Malibu is low on menswear, there is a trendy selection, including Shy Guy embroidered rayon shirts ($90) and sport coats ($180) at Dean’s, a mini-department store in Malibu Creek Plaza.
No first trip to this enclave of the rich and famous would be complete without buying a souvenir T-shirt. The biggest and best selection is at Malibu Beach Club in the Malibu Country Mart. The $18-and-up choices include pastel T’s patterned with thin stripes and a discreet logo. To complete the good-life-look, there are chic, beachy baseball caps for $18.
Malibu Manners
* Dress casually and comfortably but with style. Keep makeup to a minimum.
* Come prepared with suntan lotion, sunglasses and a politesse you may have forgotten if you live in Los Angeles.
* Don’t ask where celebrities live or where they shop. No one wants to tell you.
* Typical store hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.