Behind the Scenes : Leather Is Accessory to a Climb on the Roof

On the edge was the right place to host a gathering of hip junior-wear designers, even if it was just the edge of a parking structure.

“Spring Break on the Roof,” sponsored by Nordstrom’s Brass Plum and Rail departments, drew a few thousand gawkers to the top level of a South Coast Plaza parking high-rise Saturday.

Three local bands--Texas Tunnel, Sweet Mary and Suburban Rhythm--played away the afternoon while 28 manufacturers showed their wares.

Robert Anderson, owner and designer of Roadkill in Anaheim, saw the event as a chance to expose his line of ‘60s- and ‘70s-style leather bracelets, rings, hair clips, chokers and pendants (available at Nordstrom and Urban Outfitter stores). His rough, handcrafted accessories are created with vintage pot-metal stamps, reproductions of those stamps or Anderson’s drawings.

For unusual bracelets, butterflies and daisies are embossed on leather, then painted; or studs are added, or rawhide is stitched on top.

Natural products and earth-tone colors attract young grunge and urban wearers, Anderson says.