5 Women Share Best-Dressed Tips, Favorite Designers
What does it take to be well-dressed? Money, of course, helps. Connoisseur magazine claims it costs more than a million dollars per season to make the fashion industry’s annual best-dressed list. And that doesn’t include sport clothes.
Those who don’t flinch at pitching $10,000 toward a designer gown several times a season are usually considered pretty snappy dressers.
But several of Orange County’s arbiters of style say more important than money is developing an individual look and building a wardrobe around one’s own personal style. Even those on a budget stress that by carefully choosing a few high-quality, versatile pieces, a woman can dress well without millions.
We asked five women from several walks of life--considered by many to be among the county’s finest dressers--what makes a woman well-dressed, what they like to buy and why.
Maria Crutcher
Recently named woman of the year by Orange County Magazine for her volunteer work (chairing the renowned Angelitos de Oro benefit fashion show three years in a row, for example), she says versatility is her fashion byword.
But Crutcher, 77, doesn’t claim to be on a budget. She readily acknowledges that she shops almost exclusively at Amen Wardy, the pricey, high-fashion boutique a stone’s throw from her Big Canyon home. She is such a key customer, in fact, that she is often consulted on fashion by Wardy and has accompanied him on buying trips.
Versatility is a key element in her fashion scope because it makes dressing easier. One of her favorite fall outfits is an Oscar de la Renta black-wool sheath that can be worn with an endless assortment of accessories.
The simple black dress, a good shade for Crutcher’s coloring of pink skin tones and gray hair, can be dressed up with jewels or dressed down with a casual jacket. Last week, she wore it with half a dozen David Webb jewelry pieces, setting off the black in a blaze of gold. She owns several short Amen Wardy jackets that put an entirely different spin on the basic black.
“I think you’ll find that women today want to be very versatile in their clothes and to be able to go through the whole day and into the evening by only changing a few accessories,” she says.
Her favorite designers are Galanos, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Bob Mackie for evening, Valentino and Odicini, names that crowd her closets. Reaching into her wardrobe, Crutcher pulls out an armload of Galanos suits, many in black and white stripes or checks. Amid the Tiffany boxes and Judith Leiber bags are several Valentino suits, Bill Blass ensembles and Amen Wardy private label jackets that can be mixed and matched.
So far this fall, she has purchased a two-piece black leather suit with simulated alligator skirt and silk blouse made in Italy for Amen Wardy, and a black Oscar de la Renta evening gown of velvet skirt and draped chiffon top for the upcoming holiday parties.
“My philosophy is to add a few good pieces for every season,” she says. “Try to make your wardrobe so it is flexible for any occasion.”
Lydia Wang Himes
President of the Historical and Cultural Foundation of Orange County, she calls herself an eclectic dresser. As a commercial interior designer who grew up in Hong Kong, Himes prefers clean lines in both her clothes and her work. She favors unconstructed suits, uncluttered by patterns or accessories.
“I like good details, I’m not into a lot of drippy scarfs and necklaces but rather well-cut clothes,” she says. She will swing from slightly avant-garde to traditional Chinese dress as long as the look is not overly tailored or severe. She likes unique, feminine clothes and counts Valentino, Issey Miyake and Ungaro among her favorite designers.
“Being in my profession, I can get away with a little more freedom,” she says. “I like unusual things that no one else is wearing.”
Himes--a member of the Angels of the Arts and a trustee of South Coast Repertory, as well as owner-founder of Lydia Wang and Associates in Costa Mesa--needs an assortment of comfortable outfits that travel from the drafting board to the concert hall with ease.
“My philosophy in dress is that you have to be very comfortable with your look and your body,” she says. “You have to dress to please yourself. If you’re comfortable with your look, you’ll look good.”
This fall, she will be searching for work clothes at her favorite place to shop, the designer department of Nordstrom, South Coast Plaza. And she says she has something very special to wear to Saturday night’s South Coast Repertory Annual Gala. She won’t say what it is.
Rusty Hood
“I never (decide) what I’m wearing until I’m in the shower,” says the chairman of the board of the Phoenix House (Orange County) drug rehabilitation program. “That’s why I like to have things in the closet, so I don’t have to plan ahead.”
Hood, like Himes, emphasizes the importance of knowing one’s best look and building a wardrobe around it.
“I choose designers to fit my body,” says the 59-year-old resident of Lido Isle. “I love Anne Klein, but not on someone 5-foot-4.”
She says Valentino and Ungaro are good styles for her frame and personality. She also loves Escada, Mondi and Patrick Kelly. For evening, she prefers Valentino, Ungaro and Oscar de la Renta, names easily found at her favorite places to shop, Amen Wardy and Neiman Marcus.
“I will wear anybody. I’m not bound by labels; it’s just that these are the designers I try on first,” she explains.
Hood, dressed in a two-piece yellow and white cotton Ungaro luncheon suit, describes her personal style as tailored and sophisticated (“far-out is not me”). As a former dress manufacturer, she is always aware of construction, workmanship and fabric.
“I always look inside a dress to see how it’s made,” she says. “I guess I’m what people call an investment dresser. I buy good quality . . . and I keep my clothes.”
For fall, she has bought two new leather suits, a buttery, marigold-colored Ellen Tracy suede bomber jacket and a vibrant-colored Patrick Kelly wool dress. She is considering a Gianni Versace two-piece dress with draping around the waist and an Escada silk blouse and pant outfit. This season’s big colors--greens, rusts and golds--are perfect for her reddish-gold hair and fair skin, she adds.
Betty R. Moss
“Simplicity is what I go for,” says the former model and current executive director of the nonprofit Orange County Business Committee for the Arts.
“I feel that knowing one’s own personality and style is the most important thing (in dressing well), and understated is the right look for me,” says Moss, who has lived in Santa Ana for 31 years.
Her favorite designers, Anne Klein, Calvin Klein and Adrienne Vittadini, are chosen for their luxurious fabrics and tailored, neat lines.
“The one I like but can’t afford is Chanel, probably the designer I’ve liked best since the early ‘50s.”
Moss’ philosophy on fashion is to choose classic, understated designs that will stay in style for years.
“One doesn’t have to have a tremendous budget to dress well, if the choices are classic, basic styles and things of good quality,” she says. “Look at women who can afford the finest classic designer clothes and you see they wear them for 20 or 30 years.
Best colors for Moss, who has blond hair and green eyes, are black, ecru, red and white, tones chosen as much for their versatility as well as for their compatibility with her hair and skin.
She just returned from a trip and hasn’t had time to shop for fall but says she will soon be browsing her regular haunts--South Coast Plaza (especially Nordstrom), Neiman Marcus and Bullocks Wilshire--for a new black or red suit she can wear during the day and into the evening.
“I’m not a Wardy,” says Moss, referring to the Fashion Island boutique. “I shop sales or if I see something I want, I wait until it goes on sale.”
Margie Shackelford
Creativity is the key to dressing well, says the director of development and public relations for the Newport Harbor Art Museum. Shackelford, 56, believes women should be choosy in selecting what is promoted by the fashion industry.
“The smart woman adapts a new fashion to her own style of dressing, but doesn’t go out and buy THE hot item of the year,” she says.
Shackelford likes the sophisticated styles of Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and Ronaldus Shamask and prefers the neutral tones of black, beige and brown.
“I’ve never been comfortable with a lot of color,” says the 5-foot-5-inch blonde. “I don’t want anything to detract from me as a person and I don’t want my clothes to (outshine) my personality.”
The Dana Point resident favors suits for work and evening and this fall has chosen a two-piece gray Shamask suit with wide-legged pants and jacket in wool gabardine. It illustrates her style perfectly: sophisticated but not frilly.
Like a lot of busy career women, Shackelford doesn’t have much time to shop or think about fashion.
“I get up very early and don’t have time to make a lot of decisions on what I’m going to wear,” she says. “You can always put on a pair of black pants and a black and white jacket and look terrific. I want to look terrific but I don’t want to have to think about it.”
