Sharpening Up the Cutting Edge of O.C. Fashion

As an Orange County resident who works in Los Angeles on trendy Melrose Avenue, Christine Do is caught between two different worlds of style.

“When I’m in Orange County, I know I’m being looked at,” says Do, a Huntington Beach resident and office manager for Fred Segal, a fashion-forward clothing store. “My whole style is completely different.”

Although she could work closer to home, Do commutes to Los Angeles so she can be on the cutting edge of fashion. People in Los Angeles are more daring, more creative with clothes than people in Orange County, she says.

“Body-conscious, tight clothing--you get away with that up here, but in Orange County they stare,” Do says.

Los Angeles might be just across the county line, but many followers of fashion say it’s a world away in style. Although some say Orange County has become more cosmopolitan in recent years, the area still has a reputation for more conservative dressing than its neighbor.

“My customers tend to be more wary,” says Cristy Scheuer, owner of Red Haute Couture in Newport Beach. “They see if a trend will last before they jump into it.

“They want to fit in down here, whereas in L.A. they make it a point to be different.”

No trend gets very far if it doesn’t make her customers look good.

“It’s difficult to sell the hard-edged urban European fashion that you see at Beverly Plaza. We want things that are more flattering, not the clunky shoes or the weird hemlines” or unflattering silhouettes, Scheuer says.

Many people, especially in Newport Beach, work out and don’t want to hide their well-toned bodies beneath a garment like the flowing granny dresses in vogue on the streets of L.A. Yet they’re prim enough to avoid any sheer, ultra-tight styles that expose too much.

“We were in the L.A. (design) mart yesterday and saw things that, to me, looked bizarre, but in L.A., these things sell like hot cakes,” says Behjat Shirazi, manager of Just Looking in Laguna Beach, which carries mostly European lines.

She saw showrooms filled with bodysuits and leggings in “incredibly bright” colors and loud abstract designs. Some had silk flowers patched all over them and some showed a lot of skin.

“I think it’s fun, but I would feel very self-conscious if I walked around in that,” she says.

The difference between Orange County and New York style is even more pronounced.

Scheuer finds her customers like bright, outspoken colors, while New Yorkers favor black or dark earth tones.

“The most embarrassing thing I ever did was march down Seventh Avenue in a hot pink suit,” Scheuer says.

“People were staring at me. Construction workers were whistling.”

One also finds more color here than in Los Angeles, she says. In Los Angeles black is considered chic, while Orange County favors white.

Scheuer points to a woman who enters her boutique wearing a bright yellow tunic and white skirt that falls a couple of inches below her knee.

That’s the Orange County look, Scheuer says. The colors stand out, but “the hemline is down there.”

Despite their conservatism, Orange County residents love glitter and glitz. They’ll wear attention-getting garb as long as it’s not too far out, she says.

“Nobody really wants to stand out too much,” Scheuer says. “They just want to be more beautiful.”

She stocks her store with clothes that are flamboyant but not unflattering: a skin-tight fire engine red romper made of nylon and studded with rhinestones; a black blazer with brass hot and cold faucet handles in place of buttons; a white denim jacket heavily embellished with white satin ribbon and drop pearls; a green suit with an applique of a cow crossing a highway on the skirt.

On this day Scheuer wears what she considers a typical Orange County outfit: silver Lurex tank top, white cotton blazer adorned with crystals, bold silver belt and white jeans.

“It’s a little glitzy. You’d never see it in L.A.,” she says.

While it still lags behind Los Angeles in keeping up with trends, Orange County has a growing contingent of fashion-forward people who want more trendy attire.

“Los Angeles is a little more ahead of us because the mart is there and things hit the street faster,” says Debbie Chuckas, manager of the new Jakeez’ boutique in Fashion Island, Newport Beach. “But there’s a better bridge between the two than there used to be. We’re getting less conservative.”

Jakeez’ received a surprisingly strong response to hand-painted jeans by Leslie Hamel that are all over Los Angeles and striped cotton shirts with embroidered appliques of cartoon characters.

“I never thought this would be such a hit in conservative Orange County,” says Cynthia Degen, a clothing buyer for Jakeez’ who is showing off a shirt adorned with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. “This has flown out of here.”

Among Jakeez’ other bold offerings: a tuxedo jacket with a lace-up back and matching shorts; sequined bomber jackets adorned with candy bars; a zip-up color-blocked jacket in vivid hues with leggings embroidered in multicolored polka dots, and jeans, T-shirts and jackets festooned with ribbons and beads.

Mykonos, a boutique for men and women that recently opened in Orange, also saw a market for the kind of cutting-edge clothes seen in Los Angeles, according to Paul Stephens, store manager. He’s carrying a lot of short-short skirts, mixed plaids and polka dots this season to satisfy more avant-garde tastes.

“Orange County has a lot more fashion-minded people than it’s given credit for,” Stephens says.