New Theodore Moves Into Malibu
A new Theodore was born March 1 to retailer Herbert Fink. Theodore Beach in Malibu is No. 10 in the Fink family of specialty stores. There are eight sibling Theodores (using such aliases as Theodore By Design and Contents by Theodore) stretching from Newport Beach to Woodland Hills. Fink also owns two French designer boutiques, Sonia Rykiel and Claude Montana, on Rodeo Drive.
You’ll recognize the sand-and-surf version of Theodore when you see it. The store has the family look: The displays are slick; rolling library ladders are used to reach the uppermost shelves; there are lots of little baubles to touch in colorful baskets. The apparel prices range from three to four digits and the sales personnel are helpful rather than the decorative but non-functional types you find in so many boutiques.
Fink uses a successful recipe for his stores. He fills the racks with the sportiest offerings by some of Europe’s most sophisticated designers--Issey Miyake and Byblos, for example--and he mixes in hey-look-at-me-clothes the local body beautifuls like to wear.
The Theodore stores are the backbone of the Fink fashion empire. They fill the coffers that support the money-losing Montana boutique. Fink claims the free-standing Montana shop brought him status and respectability on Rodeo Drive, but it is the Theodore store on the same street that pays both rents.
Theodore Beach is the most laid-back of the Theo group, but it’s nothing like the local surf shops. There are minuscule bikinis and blue jeans, to be sure, but at $225 for the white fringed swimsuit by St. Tropez and $340 for Blue System’s jeans with hand-painted dragons crawling up the legs, the resemblance is short lived.
Theodore Beach, Fink says, is a “very elitist type of casual.”
For example: What looks like a chambray work shirt hanging on one rack is, in fact, a washed silk work shirt by GoSilk for $230. Floral print linen jackets are one of the spring staples, but at Theodore, the colors are brighter, the patterns are bolder, the label is Byblos and the price is $555. Cotton knit dresses from Sonia Rykiel are priced from $170, and knit separates from Dorothee Bis go for $110. Theodore’s private label, Theodore Design Studio, designed by Fink’s wife, Norma, start at $45 for rayon separates.
Alain Mikli sunglasses, Kenzo black linen boots, Liza Bruce swimwear, watches by Daniel Mink, and Kenzo and Byblos shoes fill out the accessory displays.
On the men’s side of the store, white linen jackets, a must for any semi-socially active beach dweller, are available from Claude Montana for $1,370; they have his signature body-shaping seams and large silver buttons. Just because it’s L.A., there is a Montana black leather jacket (the pinnacle of black leatherness) for $2,185. There are Hawaiian shirts, by the British designers Keith Varty and Alan Cleaver, for the Italian line Byblos.
The store’s decor reflects its beach setting. The sun-washed white walls, sisal carpet and rattan furnishings are de rigueur ocean-front decorating touches. The merchandise would look equally as appropriate along the Wilshire corridor. This is an uptown boutique that happens to be seaside. It is for those Theodore customers who just can’t make the drive into town with the regularity they used to. “We save them miles, but no money,” said Fink bluntly.
Theodore Beach in Malibu is in the pink shopping center next to the Malibu Colony at 23733 W. Malibu Road; (213) 456-7719.
