Gigli’s Designs Give Gallay a Reason to Smile

Chales Gallay must have read the reviews of the fall Italian ready-to-wear showings with a smirk on his face.

Through it all, it’s become difficult to ignore the name of Romeo Gigli, one of a new breed of young Milanese designers whose avant-garde designs are being hailed by fashion cognoscenti around the world.

Gallay, who closed his prestigious Charles Gallay boutique in 1985 after more than 20 years on Camden Drive in Beverly Hills, opened another store last month in Sunset Plaza. The new store, called simply Gallay, is a virtual showcase for Romeo Gigli.

Although the retailer won’t take credit for discovering Gigli (“Was Columbus really the first person to come to the New World?” he asks), he did become a serious admirer two years ago.

“I believe he’s the new Armani,” Gallay says.

If anything, Gigli’s clothes have found a complementary setting in the austere, black steel and terrazzo shop, which, once upon a time, was Cyrano’s.

Gigli’s designs are emphatically modern (as in “stretch” linen skirts), often radical (with dress sleeves that occasionally extend a foot beyond the fingertips and are meant to be pushed up the arm), muted in color (mostly black), devoid of frills and notably severe.

“Severe?” Gallay repeats. “So are young people--they’re not wishy-washy.”

Gallay also spotlights the designs of Azzedine Alaia (to whom the retailer has already devoted an entire shop on Rodeo Drive) as well as the younger, lesser-known designers from New York, France and Italy, such as Dolce e Gabbana and Carla V.

Prices in the store range from $15 to $1,000, dramatically lower than in Gallay’s previous store, with Alaia’s clothes being the most expensive.

The only requirement for shopping Gallay seems to be possession of a perfect body.

“There’s a new concept and it is clothes for beautiful, young people,” he says. “That is the basis for modern fashion. When you have a great body, fashion is almost non-existent. It becomes an expression of your identity as a person.

“I opened the store on Sunset Plaza,” Gallay explains, “because it is an area that attracts beautiful, young, hip people who aren’t interested in buying status labels on Rodeo Drive. That’s a passe generation.” He adds: “I’m turned off Beverly Hills.”

B everly Hills? Well, Charles Gal lay isn’t the only one to have a change of heart.

The courtly Athos Pratesi found that after four years on Rodeo Drive, it was time to relocate his costly Italian linen, lingerie and now baby linen store to the tinier, nearby business district of Burton Way.

“Perhaps Rodeo is a good street,” Pratesi allows, “for someone selling little items like costume jewelry. But the customer who is refined doesn’t feel comfortable in that environment.”

Before the move, Pratesi says, he would sit in his store and watch tourists peering through the windows eating ice cream cones--and then walk off.

Coincidentally, Pratesi’s newest line of sheets and towels, which arrives in the store in May, is based on ice cream colors, Italian ice cream colors.

“Imagine an ice cream shop with all the soft colors,” he trills. “People have a tendency to go for strong colors on their tables--black and white linens work very, very well on a table, especially with black plates. But in the bedroom, there is a rediscovery of a softness and graciousness that was lost.”

Something is happening to Jose Eber. Something big.

First there’s his new Beverly Center hair salon. Then there’s his line of shampoos and hair-care products, distributed by Faberge, which will be on sale next month.

“This is the beginning,” coos the flashy, pony-tailed hairdresser, who moonlights as a beauty expert on “Hour Magazine.”

But what is it the beginning of?

Quite possibly a hair empire.

Next month, a salon opens in Palm Desert. “And then I go on and on,” Eber says.

For now, the salons will remain in Southern California, accessible enough so that Eber can drive to them in his black Rolls-Royce. But soon the Rolls won’t help. Texas is next on the map.

“I have a very good feeling about Texans,” he says. Other states will undoubtedly follow.

The only problem is, even if your name is Linda Gray or Ali MacGraw or Victoria Principal, it’s undoubtedly going to become harder to get an appointment with Eber.

“To everybody who asks for Jose, I say, ‘Jose doesn’t cut anymore. I consult.’ ”

A consultation costs $25. A haircut (by another stylist) runs from $35 to $45 in Beverly Center; $45 to $60 in Beverly Hills.