L.A. Women’s-Wear Stylists Set Designs on Menswear Movement
When Leon Max unwraps his new menswear line in spring ‘88, his will be the latest name on a lengthening list of L.A. women’s wear designers entering men’s fashion.
Once considered a dull sideshow to the fast-and-chic female trade, menswear is attracting such innovative L.A. designers as Max, Michele Lamy, Glenn Williams, Emil Rutenberg and Nancy Heller. From vanguard to classic, all five made their names in women’s wear; all five are aiming their menswear to the newly adventurous tastes of the baby boomer, ages about 25 to 40.
“Menswear has gathered incredible momentum in style and form in the last couple of years,” claims Rutenberg, 38, a South African native making fashion in L.A. “We designers are in a position to ride the pinnacle of that wave.”
LEON MAX
Leon Max--serious in gesture, stark in attire--would have the American male look “less like an accountant, more like a poet.
“I’m interested in the extremely wealthy bohemian, as a look,” Max said from his coolly industrial studio near downtown Los Angeles.
Max, 33, attempts to bring a moneyed yet casual tone to his Max Studio Men collection, which will reach stores next spring, nine years after his first women’s line.
“There’s an appeal in the look of aristocracy--and of the proletariat,” he said. “The boredom comes in when people look decidedly middle class.”
Max’s spare, neutral, knit sportswear, shown to the trade at the recent California Collections Press Week, hardly connotes suburban ennui. There are drop-crotch Moroccan pants, big T-shirts and soft-shoulder blazers that close high on the chest for a romantic look that reminds him of the French Impressionists.
He calls his approach “sophisticated sweat-shirt dressing.”
“This is the most appropriate dress you can wear right now in California. You won’t come across as if you trying too hard.”
Max envisions an admittedly narrow men’s audience: college educated (“probably in liberal arts”), well-traveled, affluent (the line will run $60 to $230).
The loose, drapey quality of the line echoes Max’s fluid women’s wear, which he designs in four divisions: Leon Max collection, Max Studio, Max Studio Sport Product and the generic pieces of Max Studio Basics. Combined, they gross close to $100-million annually, said Max, who projects more than $4-million volume for menswear in 1988.
“It’s easier to predict what men may choose to look like a year from now than women,” noted Max, last year named California Designer of the Year by the women’s fashion industry. “By the same token, it’s more frustrating, because there are only so many shapes a man will accept.”
“‘With men, it’s the harmony of how it’s all put together--and then throwing a kink into that harmony--because men don’t want to look too put-together.”
MICHELE LAMY
French-born Michele Lamy--who sports unruly brown hair and a glad rags, clashing mode of dress--believes women should design for women. Men for men.
Which is why she invited longtime friend and stylist Ricky Castro to put his unconventional strokes to her new Lamy Men knitwear line, scheduled for launch in early 1988.
The two share aesthetic tastes, artistic temperaments.
“I like to be in the middle of chaos,” said Lamy, her wrists a-clatter with coin bracelets, as she sat amid fabrics in her downtown L.A. studio/warehouse.
“I like to complain. I like to fight,” added Castro, who, at 29, already has designed a line of hats and punkish women’s fashions under the I Love Ricky label.
Lamy Men looks like a cross between ‘80s ski wear and ‘30s swim gear, with a dash of modern dance wear in the mix. Priced $28 to $150, Castro’s knits include such outre pieces as leggings and snap-under-the-crotch tank shirts.
“We’re not trying to take Wall Street by storm,” Lamy said wryly, expecting the line will be categorized as “avant-garde.”
Lamy says she gave Castro total freedom with the line, although if designing it herself, she might have added a few baggy pants and more of an East L.A. barrio flair.
Married to performance artist and film director Richard Newton and mother of a 6-year-old daughter, Scarlett Rouge, Lamy, 40, began her career as a jewelry and accessory designer in Paris. She came to Los Angeles in 1978 to open a small Santa Monica Boulevard boutique, first importing clothes, then designing her own.
The resulting Michele Lamy women’s knits, which she says will gross $6 million in 1987, are based on her “casual-but-chic” philosophy rather than on trend watching. “I always hope there will be women like me out there,” said Lamy.
As to why she’s forging into menswear, she responded: “I like beginnings.”
“I’m just trying to work with my friends. Ricky’s one of my best friends.”
NANCY HELLER
Nancy Heller didn’t listen when told that a female name on a menswear label is no way to sell clothes.
“Initially, my feelings were, ‘Nancy, maybe we should just use the name Heller ,’ ” admitted her president for menswear, David Rosenzweig.
“I figured my name is my name,” said Heller, 38. “I’ve always been the rebellious type.”
The rebel prevailed. She introduced her Nancy Heller Menswear in fall 1986, and found an advantage to the choice of name: She already had a reputation in the women’s industry. And women often determine what their husbands and boyfriends buy.
Now in its fourth season, the menswear remains the smaller concern, with an annual volume of less than $4 million compared to $35 million for the women’s wear, a company spokesman says.
And Heller admits she won’t be dashing in new directions for men.
“I’m basically doing almost the same kind of styles as I do for women,” said Heller, named California Designer of the Year just last month for her women’s sportswear. “I’m giving men their classics, but adding a little bit of fashion.”
But Heller finds the men’s market less than straightforward. “It’s tough. The men are real specific about what they want. You can’t talk them into just anything .” In contrast, “women are impulse buyers,” she said.
The L.A. native, now 38, started a decorated T-shirt line in the early 1970s, organizing a full sportswear company in 1979. Three years ago, she added a large-size women’s sportswear division. And she plans to open a new division each year.
Of the male market, she says: “This is one I wanted to conquer.”
EMIL RUTENBERG
With scruffy brown hair and a pensive manner, Emil Rutenberg is the image of the individualist he likes to dress.
He used to think only European designers understood men like him.
“The only interesting stuff being done in menswear always comes from Europe,” said Rutenberg, who decided last year to address what he considered the U.S. shortage of “elegant, contemporary men’s sportswear.”
Since moving to Los Angeles from Johannesburg in 1981, Rutenberg has concentrated mainly on women’s suits, creating an offbeat approach to career dressing. When he realized early last year that some men were buying his larger women’s jackets, Rutenberg changed some of the button closures from left to right--and a men’s business began.
His first men’s group, in fall ‘86, consisted of two jackets, two trousers and one shirt style. The line remains compact.
He prefers an oversize yet structured fit, using the shine and texture of rayon, imported silk, linen and cotton. The men’s fabrics he chooses each season usually cross genders into his slim-fitting women’s suits.
Hunched in a chair in his downtown L.A. showroom, Rutenberg noted that he’s surprised that his newer line, priced $110 for shirts, $275 for jackets, is finding acceptance. In fact, his menswear is selling as fast as the more established women’s line.
“A lot of males today have become peacocks again,” he said. “Men were feeling left out and a little downtrodden. This is their way of making a statement.”
GLENN WILLIAMS Glenn Williams wants to bring an Eastern, dress-up sensibility to West Coast men with a designer sportswear line he concedes is “not for everyone.
“It’s the high-fashion market,” said 30-year-old Williams, who assembled his first Glenn Williams men’s sportswear group this fall, two years after creating his women’s designer-sportswear line.
With earlier design stints at Dimitri Couture and Malibu Sport, Williams has settled into a boxy and basic look for men. For spring ‘88, he will show neutral, monochromatic combinations of pants and rounded-shoulder jackets. He also pairs wide Bermuda shorts with ties and blazers--although he doubts most Americans will go that far.
Despite his head start with the women’s line, which he says will gross $5 million in 1987, Williams said his fashion inspirations now move “from menswear to women’s wear.” He designs for the man first, then brings the same airy fabrics and simple silhouettes to his women’s wear.
Yet he still sees women’s sportswear as the faster track.
“In women’s wear, everything moves so quickly,” the Boston native observed. “It’s so day-to-day, like the stock market.”
The more predictable menswear has a certain satisfaction for Williams. He can, after all, wear it.
“It’s always nice to pick up something in the factory--and put it on that night.”
