Designer Leaves the Masses for the Classes

So why did you leave Hollywood, Ronnie?

“I had enough movie industry stress, work shortages and indecisiveness,” Ronald Mann says over a pink table in Bullocks Wilshire’s tearoom. “I was sitting around wondering if another industry strike was coming along. I thought: ‘This is time for a change.’ ”

So last year, this TV costume designer sold his Melrose Avenue-area home, took an apartment and used the cash to pursue a longtime goal: designing an L.A-based Ronald Mann Couture line.

Recently at Bullocks Wilshire, Mann presented the third collection--fall ‘87--of his poufy, sometimes feathered cocktail and evening dresses, which, admittedly, are mainstream and society-bound.

“I started safely,” said the 37-year-old Kansas native. “Once women trust that I make things that sell, I can be more innovative.”

As an assistant to costume designer Julie Weiss, Mann helped create the backwater mid-America tone of the film “Independence Day,” the hill-people look of “The Dollmaker” and later, on his own, the early-’60s garb of the short-lived TV series “Call to Glory.”

Now he’s calculating a style that’s playful, flirtatious, “sophisticated and fun.” In his new collection, priced about $900 to $3,800, he delves into feathers, painted laces, velvets and taffetas for silhouettes ranging from strapless, full skirted and short to contoured and long.

In joining the slim ranks of L.A.’s dressy designers, Mann notes things might have been easier in New York. Store buyers tend to say: “ ‘This doesn’t look like California,’ ” he explains. “They think of casual wear.”

But Mann says he’ll stay, and possibly add tailored and “tasteful” sportswear to the line.

He also will keep his understated personal style. “I dress the part. You have to,” said Mann, in a dark suit.

“I’m dying to have my hair platinum,” he said, “but customers would probably look the other way.”