All in Fun
“There’s too much seriousness in our lives,” says New York hotshot designer Byron Lars, who does what he can to lighten the load.
He starts with American classics, such as men’s shirts, and puts a clever spin on them for women. His ideal offering for a last laugh on New Year’s Eve is a strapless tuxedo shirtdress with peak collar, jet buttons and ruffles that commence at the bust line rather than the neck.
The dress is fun, but it isn’t frivolous. And it shares a common thread with many amusing garments already in the stores or about to arrive for spring. While there is humor at any price for both men and women, the more expensive items have workmanship, details and fabrics that make them collectibles.
They also have good reason to be called conversation pieces . If you study them, you will find they say something about the wearer and the designer.
Los Angeles artist Luanie Kologi, for example, inherited laces and other antique bits when her mother died. She put some of the memorabilia on one of her father’s vests, wore it with jeans, and soon she was in business.
Now she buys antique castoffs, such as wooden spools and old photographs, which she affixes to vintage jackets and vests that are sold in Bullock’s. Kologi encourages customers to add their own treasures to her assortment. “That makes the piece really theirs,” she says.
Bradley Bayou, a Dallas real estate developer-turned-Los Angeles designer, says his customers include “movie stars and women who are so shy they have a hard time meeting people.” He likes to think both “get mobbed” when they wear something such as his beaded “American Gothic” dress.
Bayou, whose evening wear is at Saks and Neiman Marcus, has separated artist Grant Wood’s couple, putting “the man on the front. He’s smiling, but he doesn’t have any teeth. She’s on the back, and she’s had her hair and makeup done.”
In all likelihood, the customer doesn’t know she’s looking at a private joke. “They’re much happier separated,” the designer explains. “That’s my sense of humor. I’m divorced too.”
