Free Spirits

NO NONSENSE

“I’m pretty minimal,” says Michelle Mason about her first collection of clean-lined dresses, skirts and suits, which is due out this fall. “I’m not a sequin and beads kind of girl. I would never do romantic just because it’s back.” Mason, 25, was a model and an assistant to Richard Tyler before turning her talents to designing shoes last year. Now she’s tackling clothes as a result of “a fluke”: “I made a pinstripe suit,” she explains,” because I couldn’t find one I liked for myself.” Mason, who was born in Seoul, South Korea, but grew up in California, likes stretchy knits, partly for fit and because their weight is just right for L.A. winters. This fall, she’s leaning toward the neutrals black, sand and silver. “I’ve had a mood change. My colors are toned down,” she says. “But maybe for spring, I’ll go crazy.” Clients: Christina Applegate, Kylie Minogue. Stores: Ron Herman at Fred Segal, Melrose Avenue; NYSE, Los Angeles; Madison, Brentwood Gardens and Robertson Boulevard; Barneys New York, Beverly Hills (shoes only). Wearing: her own acetate-Lycra tube top, wool-acetate-Lycra boy’s pants and stretch wool boots with lacquered wood heels.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

Pairing traditional shapes with unexpected fabrics (and vice versa), Eduardo Lucero is known for dreaming up, among other things, Ultrasuede jumpsuits and strapless denim evening dresses. His muses are women with fashion bravado, from the waitresses at El Coyote Spanish Cafe to his clientele of models and actresses. But while his heart lies with hot colors and form-fitting styles in stretch lace and gold python lame, the 28-year-old graduate of Otis College of Art and Design is also serious about tailoring and fit. “The pinstripe suit of the moment has never gone out of style,” says Lucero, whose eponymous store recently relocated to Beverly Boulevard. “Everything I do has a touch of the classics.” His collection always includes, for example, tailored three-button jackets with pants. Still, the urge to experiment is hard to resist. “I’m not afraid to cut something lower in the neckline or shorter or more fitted,” he says, adding with a laugh, “well, not all on the same garment, of course.” Clients: Jennifer Lopez, Lisa Marie Presley, Farrah Fawcett. Stores: Eduardo Lucero, Los Angeles; Traffic, Beverly Center. Shown with: his women’s silk shantung shirt with three-button cuffs and man-tailored raw silk pants. Wearing: his men’s cotton-Lycra tank top, knit shirt and knit pants.

JUST FOR FRILLS

Alicia Lawhon designs clothes with her native Mexico and the West Coast in mind. “Black is big with New Yorkers, but here the mood is relaxed and it’s fun to play with colors.” For fall, her ethnic-inspired designs in rich, unevenly dyed tones include one-of-a-kind hand-painted dresses of silk georgette, patchwork cardigans of vintage silks and Indian fabrics, velvet, feathers and faux fur and denim suits trimmed with sequins. “My clothes are a celebration of textiles,” the 32-year-old says. Not surprising for someone who grew up with a seamstress grandmother and who sees herself as rebelling against establishment designers. Ultimately, Lawhon, believes fashion should be artful but fun: “I’m sooo not into power shoulder pads.” Clients: Liv Tyler, Winona Ryder, Linda Evangelista. Stores: Ron Ross, Studio City; Ron Herman at Fred Segal, Melrose Avenue. Wearing: her own ribbed cotton sweater with faux fur and hand-painted silk georgette slip dress.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

“I design what I want to wear,” says 33-year-old Anke Crispen, who studied tailoring in her native Dusseldorf before striking out on her own in L.A. three years ago. “I like simple lines, but with a twist. I don’t like tight clothes or too much detail.” This fall, for both of her labels, A. Crispen and Equality, she is turning reprints of her favorite vintage fabrics into slip skirts and dresses edged with contrasting velvet or sequins. A fashion renegade, she eschews black for a palette ranging from soft mauve and moss green to deep burgundy and aubergine. And while she likes current styles, such as menswear trousers, she ignores the runway trends she considers unflattering or uncomfortable: “I don’t do hip-huggers.” Clients: Kate Moss, Laura Dern, Tori Spelling, Shannen Doherty. Stores: Barneys New York, Beverly Hills; Madison, Brentwood Gardens and Robertson Boulevard; Jill Roberts, Santa Monica; Tracey Ross, Los Angeles. Wearing: her own rayon-wool knit tank top with velvet straps and silk charmeuse skirt with overdyed silk-screen pattern and sequined hem.

EASTERN EXPOSURE

Designer Kellie Delkeskamp cares more about mood than fashion trends, and exotic fabrics from the Far East are her passion. “I went to Turkey last year and was inspired by the stained-glass windows of the mosques,” says Delkeskamp, 34, who designs under the label Josephine Loka. (Josephine is her mother’s name; Loka is a play on the Spanish word for crazy.) A former dancer, Delkeskamp got her start four years ago, sewing sarongs and selling them out of a duffel bag to friends. Her current line of burn-out silk velvet skirts, camisoles, dresses and jackets with sequin lining shimmers in what she calls “moody” colors of ink, crimson, henna, moss and mulberry. “My favorite stuff borders on costume,” she says. “I want women to have an air of mystery in what they wear, to look like they shopped in some foreign land.” Clients: Alanis Morissette, Pat Benatar. Stores: Ron Herman at Fred Segal, Melrose Avenue; Sharon Segal at Fred Segal, Santa Monica; Barneys New York stores (beginning in winter). Wearing: her own silk camisole with embroidered nylon organza shirt over stretch velvet tube skirt.