BEADAZZLED : Evening Wear Sparkles With Sequins and Crystals That Are Itsy-Bitsy--but Glitzy
They are the unofficial uniforms of Orange County’s glitzy galas, those slinky beaded sheaths that look positively poured onto the body.
Evening wear that’s embellished with rhinestones, bugle beads, sequins, crystals--anything that sparkles--has long been the preferred party clothes of the area’s glittering social butterflies.
One local party-goer has a simple explanation for the appeal of beading:
“Men look at you,” she says.
Beading, she adds, can attract attention to the right places, drawing the eyes up toward the face or bosom and away from the hips.
Beaded evening wear can range greatly in price, from about $500 for a simple, off-the-rack dress, to $40,000 for an elaborate couture gown. The average price for beaded evening wear is from $1,000 to $2,000.
There are many ways to wear beads. This fall they’re being seen on silk jackets, pantsuits and skirts. Often they’re sprinkled lightly over a short lace dress, or doused over an entire silk gown.
Many designers added beadwork to black turtlenecks and bodysuits for subdued elegance. Donna Karan created a marcasite-colored jeweled bodysuit with a long satin draped skirt. Anne Klein did a black bodysuit adorned with jet beads. Karl Lagerfeld designed a long sculpted jacket with white and red beaded appliques in crescent moon shapes.
At a recent fashion show staged by Neiman Marcus at Le Meridien Hotel in Newport Beach, designer Arnold Scaasi sent one model down the runway in a slip of a dress made of tulle and loaded with silver and gold jewels over its skin-tone lining.
“It looked like someone had thrown jewels on her body and they stuck,” says Marcia Barrett, head of fashion presentation for Neiman Marcus in Dallas.
Designer Diane Freis uses beading to enhance her sometimes frilly, always feminine creations.
“Beads bring focus to areas that require visual highlighting,” Freis said. “I love the natural shimmer and sparkle of beaded garments because the effect is exciting, glamorous and stunningly beautiful for evening.”
Her latest collection features beaded accents on colorful, kaleidoscope-print jackets, bustiers and dresses. One ensemble has heavy gold and ruby Moroccan-style beading on a black velvet bustier and matching jacket with a pencil skirt.
Freis will appear at a showing of her fall collection from noon to 3 p.m. Sept. 18 at Neiman Marcus in Newport Center Fashion Island.
Orange County and Los Angeles probably have more beads and sequins per square inch of fabric than any other area of the country.
“Beaded glamour gowns tend to fit closer to the body, and ladies in this area are in better shape to show that off,” Barrett says.
“The rest of the world looks at this like Hollywood glamour. A lot of women in Dallas, Boston and Washington think of a beaded gown as flashy, but it isn’t necessarily.”
Pieces such as the black bodysuits have just a touch of beading for what she calls “low-key glamour.”
Those who want to shine in the spotlight prefer evening wear lavished with beading. For pure showmanship, there’s nothing like a gown with beaded fringe all over, such as the black sheath with sculpted neckline and a bodice highlighted in gold, copper and silver by Riazee at Neiman Marcus at Newport Center Fashion Island.
“When a woman moves, the beads do, too,” Barrett says.
Beading sparkles, shines and makes the wearer stand out.
“You make an entrance when you wear beads,” says Rita Fuentes, owner of Beaujon Paris in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. Her boutique is filled with beaded clothes, from denim jackets to wedding gowns.
“It’s something that can’t be worn all the time so it makes you feel very special,” Fuentes says.
A fresh alternative to the traditional sheath is the beaded halter dress, a hot silhouette for fall.
“A lot of women can wear them because you’re covering up the front and showing off the back,” Fuentes says. The halters are covered in liquid beading--bugle beads stitched so close together one can’t see an inch of fabric.
“They’re very body-conscious,” Fuentes says.
Beading also turns heads simply because of its artistry. The intricate beaded appliques on a bolero jacket must be stitched by hand, one bead at a time. Usually when beaded evening wear is mass-produced, it shows.
Gildas, a Newport Beach designer known for his theatrical beaded evening wear, shakes his head in dismay when he sees some of the sloppy beaded garments being sold in stores today.
Often the garments’ sequins are sewn too close together so they don’t lie flat but stand on end--what Gildas calls “the domino effect.” Or inferior beads are sewn on “horrible chiffon that doesn’t hold anything.” The weight of the beading stretches the garment, hence the wavy hemlines and shapeless silhouettes seen on some of the cheaper beaded dresses.
“They are all like bags,” Gildas says.
When done properly, though, beading has the magic quality of transforming anything it touches into something special.
Among his favorite creations was a double-quilted navy bolero jacket with a jeweled applique of a Tiffany canary diamond worn by developer Kathryn Thompson to the opening of Tiffany in South Coast Plaza.
Gildas’ latest project is an Elizabethan-style wedding dress with a crisscross pattern of rose and jade beadwork on the sleeves, corset and front panel. He’s also designed a navy and white striped bolero jacket with gold trim, all in beading, with a navy and gold bead-encrusted bustier, turning the nautical look from resort wear to black tie.
Gildas learned how to properly stitch on beads in a Paris couture house. It takes him about six hours to stitch a 1-by-1-foot square of solid beading. He stretches the fabric over a loom, attaching the beads by a chain stitch through the back of the fabric.
With his Parisian sequins, colored glass beads and fake jewels, he can create the mermaid scales, rainbows, stained windows, animal prints and rococo swirls that have made his designs a favorite of Orange County socialites.
“Intricate beading is a work of art,” he says. “People realize it’s like a little painting.”
