FASHION : Top Designers Offer New Lines That Cost Less

As the economy continues to sag, even high-ticket American designers are starting to feel the pinch. And they are making an attempt, in their own way, to do something about it.

“People aren’t buying as they once were,” laments Bill Blass, the New York-based designer whose signature-label evening dresses cost up to $10,000. “Women are much more careful and tuned into what they need.”

In an effort to accommodate at least some of these women, Blass and other designers are offering secondary lines that are simpler in style and less expensive than their signature collections.

Blass is shipping his first Bill Blass Sport collection to stores now. It is a revised version of Blassport, the lower-priced line, launched 20 years ago, with which he has become less involved. He says he is taking a hands-on approach to the new collection, priced from $60 to $400.

Other top-name New York designers--Michael Kors, Geoffrey Beene and Ellen Tracy--are launching lower-priced lines for spring. Like Blass’, theirs will be priced about 30% to 50% less than their signature collections.

For fall, Perry Ellis designer Marc Jacobs will revive the Portfolio label, and Anne Klein designer Louis Dell’Olio, whose company offers the lower-priced Anne Klein II, will introduce A-Line Anne Klein, a more casual but comparably priced line--about $100 to $300 per item.

Some of the new collections rely on simpler versions of higher-priced styles made in less expensive fabrics. More often, however, the secondary lines consist of more basic styles in the “spirit” of the designer.

The secondary-line market is made up of two kinds of women, said Susan Rolontz of the New York-based Tobe Report, a fashion forecasting publication.

“One can . . . buy a showpiece jacket, like a Donna Karan label, and fill in her wardrobe with pieces from her lower-priced DKNY.

“The other is the woman who wore Carter’s (children’s wear) as a kid and is now buying Anne Klein II because it’s the label they trust.”

Of course, in either case, affordability is in the eye of the beholder. Traditionally, even secondary lines reflect the fact that much of the high in high fashion comes from its prices. The attraction depends on the value a woman places on a prestigious name, along with the style and quality the name implies.

The concept of a secondary line is not new. Blass was one pioneer, but he recalls that Paris designer Pierre Cardin regularly included more affordable items in his boutiques in the 1960s.

A number of leading European designers--Emanuel Ungaro, Valentino, Gianni Versace and Franco Moschino among them--have introduced lower-priced collections. And when Anne Klein II was launched in 1982, it set the standard among American design companies as a complete secondary line that turned heads--and managed to maintain the quality and styling of the pricier signature label. Today, Anne Klein II does about $125 million in annual sales.

Of the new lines debuting for spring, Ellen Tracy’s Ellen Tracy The Company is unusual because the $100-to-$300 price range compares to that of the original line. The difference, company executives say, is the styling. The new line consists of very casual, weekend wear; the original line is dressier.

The collections of Michael Kors and Geoffrey Beene are perhaps the most eagerly awaited of the new lines. Kors, known for his sleek and sporty signature clothing, will launch the Kors Collection, priced from $85 to $500. Beene, who takes a handcrafted, artistic approach to design, will premiere Mr. Beene. While prices in his signature line start at about $3,000, the new collection will run from $800 to $1,000.

Beene admits his new line is not priced for the average woman. “A designer cannot be everything to everyone,” he says matter-of-factly.

But success depends on more than a label, or even a price tag. Designers, Rolontz says, must be “very hands-on.”

Blass concurs. “The customer is very aware of something that bears a designer’s name but does not reflect his or her personality and style.”

While designers hope their new lines will jump-start sales, some women already have complaints about the secondary-line concept.

Kathy O’Rear, a costume designer for ABC’s “Anything But Love,” makes her living by shopping for the sitcom’s cast. But when it comes to buying for herself, she says, the lower-priced lines are still a real splurge. “Now I’m getting into real estate, how much money can I throw away on clothes?” she asks.

O’Rear, who says she would never pay more than $300 for a jacket, buys the DKNY label, but waits for it to go on sale. (Donna Karan’s DKNY collection, introduced to stores in spring, 1989, recently featured an outfit--leather and wool baseball jacket, wool unitard and cotton T-shirt--that cost $715.) And she would never part with the kind of cash ($1,000 on average) required for one of Karan’s primary-collection jackets. “That’s a partial down payment on a condominium,” she says.

Nancy Solazo, a Los Angeles textile merchandiser, keeps her eye on secondary collections, but tends to buy the items when they are on sale. Among her favorites is the Anne Klein II label. She still wears a 5-year-old black wool crepe tuxedo jacket that she bought off the markdown rack for $200, a purchase she describes as “expensive but worth it.”

Los Angeles designer Mimi Levitas-Cox, whose Opera collection features separates priced from about $48 to $270, recently launched her lower-ticket Soprano line. Prices top out at $150, and styles are variations on items from her pervious Opera collections.

Her goal with Soprano, she says, is to appeal to the women of middle America. And to do so, she finds, she’s got to adhere to their bottom line.