Perks From the Boss : Konkret Examples of Power and Exclusivity in Menswear
W hat a businesswoman. What a wife. Cornelia Steinmetz-Keller dug the praise her husband received when done up in Hugo Boss so much that the German transplant opened Konkret Fine Clothing for Men in Irvine five years ago. She sells European sports, business and evening wear as well as accessories.
As one of the county’s few purveyors of two Hugo Boss labels, Steinmetz-Keller attracts lots of CEOs and upper management people, she says, because her store is geographically centered for business types.
“I’m kind of hidden away in a building facing the Sports Club/Irvine, in a business area, not a shopping center. I thought, ‘Men don’t like to shop to start with, so why not be there where they work and have no excuse not to look,’ ” she says.
This is another in a series of first-person columns that allow people connected to the fashion industry to talk about their encounters.
The primary brand that I carry is Hugo Boss, which has become a very popular European name because of their sponsorship of the Formula One and Indy Car Racing as well as major tennis and golf events. As a result, American men hear about the brand, and they love the look.
Some people are not aware that Hugo Boss has been divided into three separate, very high-end menswear lines, including one that is handmade. The Boss-Hugo Boss label speaks for the slightly softened “Euro-style” power business suit for the conservative world of high finance and banking. Hugo-Hugo Boss fashions are for the more casual crowd: entrepreneurs, entertainment-types, artists and the free spirits--men who like to play with coordinates made of natural fibers, like sports jackets, but hate wearing ties.
Baldessarini is the handmade, very high-end, very classic line. I carry the Boss and Hugo line, as well as another sophisticated sportswear line that is pretty new to Orange County, called Joop!
Wolfgang Joop has been a very successful German designer over the past years, breaking into the U.S. market first with his fragrance and later adding his sportswear line. It’s not your ripped denim look.
Most of my clients are professional people between the ages of 25 and 55. They know what fashion is all about--image--and the importance of it.
The two-button, single-breasted suit is still predominant in Orange County, where double-breasted suits are increasingly accepted and even common. The trend, however, is moving toward three (or even four or five) button single-breasted suits.
While there will always be your classic colors, such as blue, charcoal and black, different shades of brown have been a big fashion color. Unfortunately, there is a stigma from the ‘60s with this color and single-breasted, three-button suits, like those the Beatles wore.
I just have to educate people that history repeats itself, but in more exciting, updated fashion.
