FASHION : AROUND TOWN : What’s in Store for Men? : Sy Devore: An old-timer gets a face-lift.
In the Hollywood of the ‘50s, Sy Devore was the clothier to the stars. John Wayne, Count Basie, Rock Hudson and Elvis were a few of the regulars.
Devore’s was so well known that Bob Hope made the store the brunt of a joke in the late ‘50s: “In a very good year I have my choice between a Rolls-Royce, a new house in Beverly Hills or a suit from Sy Devore.”
Sy and his brother Al opened the original store on the corner of Vine and Sunset in 1944. By the end of the next decade, Jerry Lewis had the dubious distinction of being the biggest Devore clotheshorse in town.
Sy and Al were gone by the mid-’70s, and the four Devore stores passed to Al’s daughter, Marty, and her partner, Leonard Freedman.
Almost immediately Marty began to dismantle her legacy and seek out a younger customer. She closed the original location in 1979; the Las Vegas and Palm Springs stores went a few years later. She centered her revival efforts on the remaining shop in Sherman Oaks Fashion Center in the San Fernando Valley. The store straddles the ‘80s (gray carpet/black fixtures) and ‘90s (natural woods and rough-finished metal) retail molds.
The fashion mix ranges from Ralph Lauren’s bright blanket-print bathrobes to Charles Jourdan’s slick European tuxedos to colorful Marienbad sweaters to Format ties with the popular ‘40s hand-painted look.
Although pricey at $1,200, the custom-made suits cost considerably less than a home in Beverly Hills. The off-the-rack prices are $395 to $1,000 for suits, and sport jackets run $295 to $795.
The entertainment industry continues to be vital to the store’s well-being. Devore estimates that 25% of her business comes by way of television. The handsome gents of “Twin Peaks,” “L.A. Law” and “Doctor Doctor” are costumed from Devore racks.
Now that the business is doing a multimillion-dollar annual gross, Devore is planning her next move. She says she may add women’s clothing next fall, and she is casting an appreciative eye toward Santa Monica’s Montana Avenue as a possible location for a second store.
