Calvin Klein Moves In
What does Calvin Klein think of Orange County women? “They’re young, attractive, American-looking and healthy,” the designer told us Wednesday, just a few hours after his first West Coast store opened in Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza.
Klein’s memories go back about three years, when he introduced his Eternity fragrance to Nordstrom customers in the area. “I was so impressed with the clientele. The women who came to meet me were my customer. They wear the clothes.” And now, nothing can come between them and their Calvins.
The designer says “all the collection clothes, accessories, jeans and casual sportswear I make for women” will be in the 5,000-square-foot mahogany-and-cream store. There is also some casual wear for men. SINGING THE BLUES: Levi Strauss & Co. has been very vocal on MTV recently, thanking the 802,000 consumers who called the San Francisco-based blue jean company’s 800 number to sing the praises of 501 button jeans. Dan Chew, Levi’s marketing manager, says 13 of those consumers, ranging from “ball-shaggers and gravediggers to surf heads” were culled from the phone lines to be featured players in a $20-million series of highly visual, Spike Lee-directed commercials, which encourage wearers to “button your fly.”
THE SHOW GOES ON: Despite the cancellation of its women’s wear designer awards earlier this year, the California Mart’s annual West Coast menswear designer-of-the-year award will be presented. Richard Tyler and Emil Rutenberg head the list of nominees for this year’s “Marty” awards, to be presented at the Men’s Fashion Assn.’s opening-night cocktail party Jan. 17 in Los Angeles. Other nods on the prestigious list include David Cline, last year’s winner of the Rising Star designer award; Mossimo Giannulli of Mossimo Sport and Sandra Serebreni of ETC.
BALMAIN PLAYS HOLLYWOOD BALL: Deborah Raffin has $250,000 worth of couture gowns from the house of Pierre Balmain as part of her costume wardrobe for the miniseries, “Night of the Fox,” scheduled to air on the Fox Network beginning Monday. Generally, that much money could buy a trunk full of clothes, but at couture prices, it might buy only as few as four or five dresses. According to Lisa Shawn, Balmain’s New York spokesperson, the company agreed to do the show because it wants greater name recognition in the United States. “You know, in his heyday, Balmain was known as the couturier to queens.”
PROFIT SHARING: Two aspiring fragrance barons in Los Angeles, Fred Hayman and Herb Alpert, are redistributing the wealth this holiday season. With the purchase of any of Hayman’s “273” fragrance products at Nordstrom, $2.73 will be donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, benefiting children with life-threatening illnesses. Alpert has teamed up with the American Forestry Assn. to create Listen/Global Relief. With any purchase of “Listen,” Alpert’s fragrance, a tree will be planted in the purchaser’s name or any name the buyer requests.
