Babalucy
When it comes to setting club-wear trends, members of the twentysomething Gen-Y set are imitating a ‘50s icon, a ditsy redhead whom they’ve seen millions of times in reruns. Yep, they love Lucy.
They grew up watching Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on black-and-white “I Love Lucy” reruns, and they like that style. Lucy wore her elegantly tailored dresses, many with contrasting cuffs and collars, even when she was dusting the apartment. Ricky sported slick suits to his gig at the Tropicana.
Such classic, dressed-up looks appeal to those who have seen more than their share of baggy pants, T-shirts and nondescript slip dresses--casual stuff that has become the staple of juniors departments everywhere.
Linda Ramos of Anaheim has a closet filled with the kind of classics Lucy loved: prim dresses with matching gloves, hats, jewelry sets, handbags and even girdles--all vintage pieces from the ‘50s. Her husband, Kid Ramos, a musician who plays guitar with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, has a collection of Ricky-style vintage suits.
“I only recently stopped basing my whole day around each ‘Lucy’ episode,” Linda Ramos says. “My closest friends and I can quote lines from the show, and we quiz each other.”
When she goes to clubs or concerts with her husband, Ramos is typically dressed head-to-toe in a vintage ensemble.
“Lucy has a classic flair, and I try to look for that when I shop,” she says. “I like vintage because it’s from a period when [people] are supposed to be innocent.”
Orange County fashion designers have looked to Lucy shows for inspiration on their latest collections.
“I love Lucy and all those lacy tops she wore,” says Mya Gerard, designer and co-owner of Paper Doll Productions, a design studio in Costa Mesa. “When I watched the show, I thought she was hilarious, and as I grew older I started to appreciate that style of dress.”
In honor of the queen of comedy, Gerard has designed an “I Love Lucy” blouse with mid-length sleeves, a fitted bodice and contrasting cuffs and collars. One style features a classic ‘50s color combination of black lace over a pink satin fabric with black satin cuffs and collars ($58). Some blouses come in plaid or pink-and-white gingham, a classic ‘50s fabric.
“I got an ‘I Love Lucy’ doll for Christmas, and she’s wearing almost the same shirt--even though I designed mine” before seeing the doll, Gerard says. “Plus my blouse is pretty low-cut, which Lucy wouldn’t have worn.”
Other pieces in Gerard’s line have small Lucy-like details, including fitted pin skirts that hit at the knee and sleeveless dresses with matching belts.
“Lucy wore belts with almost all her dresses,” Gerard says. Paper Doll label is carried at Ladies Lounge in Newport Beach and House of Flys in Costa Mesa.
Kid Ramos isn’t alone either. “I Love Lucy’s” TV husband, Ricky--played by Ball’s then real-life husband, Arnaz--also has a following among guys who like to dress up and go to clubs or a to rockabilly show.
“Ricky Ricardo was a style master,” says George Esquivel, owner-designer of Joe’s Garb, a clothing line based in Anaheim. “The way he wore his coats--he always looked impeccable. His shoes were shined. He wasn’t a slob.”
Esquivel creates ‘50s-style shirts with oversized collars and funky prints, old-fashioned high-waisted pants and “Hollywood jackets”--the boxy, high-button kind that lounge lizards or a Hollywood director once wear over an untucked shirt. He also does Hollywood-style western jackets in two-tone fabrics and piped seams.
For swing night at the Derby, a club in Los Angeles, he’s got the shoes to match his retro styles, including wingtips with flames and two-tone spectators, in 30 different color combinations.
Fans of the Joe’s Garb line include members of Orange County ska and punk bands No Doubt and Social Distortion; its clothes and shoes are carried at Nothing Shocking in Fullerton and Electric Chair in Huntington Beach.
Johnny Lucero, designer / owner of Johnny Suede, a clothing line out of Costa Mesa, says customers call his line “Ricky Ricardo clothes.”
“I get a lot of ideas from the old ‘Lucy’ shows. I’ve seen every one 20 times. Ricky always looked clean. It was his styling, the way he greased his hair back.”
Like Ricky, Lucero’s customers (men and women) favor jackets with Western detailing--not authentic cowboy attire but the ‘50s “Hollywood version,” he says. Lucero has designed jackets with contrasting yokes (a Ricky trademark) and piping along the seams.
“I’ll do a heather[-colored] suit with black piping on a yoke,” he says.
Johnny Suede also offers ‘50s-inspired shirts, many made of two-tone satin with subtle western details.
“The style is really clean. It’s not ‘Hee Haw.’ A real cowboy wouldn’t buy it,” Lucero says. “It’s more James Dean with a lot of piping and contrast stitching.”
The line sells for $60 to $100 at House of Flys.
The clothing appeals to people 18 to 33 who are tired of “stripper looks” for clubs, designers say.
“Fifties styling is hip now,” Lucero says. “It’s not so body-conscious. It’s for people who want to dress up. In a nice jacket, you’re going to look sexy.”
Vintage shops are another source for those who appreciate the Ricardo style. Meow in Long Beach has a black sequined halter gown identical to one Lucy wore in one of the episodes.
“It’s the show where Lucy and Ethel think the guys aren’t paying them enough attention, so they’re sashaying through the apartment” in evening wear, says Meow’s owner Kathleen Schaaf, who bought the dress from an entertainer and is selling it for $150.
People in the ‘90s like ‘50s classics because it was the last decade when ready-to-wear fashions had high-quality details. Since then, clothing manufacturers have largely done away with cuffs, collars, pleats, darts and inset sleeves--costly details that fell out of favor when Americans adopted more casual attire in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“There’s a definite need for [tailored] dress,” Gerard says. “It’s coming back.
Gerard collects Barbie dolls because she appreciates the high-quality construction of Barbie’s early wardrobes--the little lined coats with tiny buttonholes, the peg-leg pants with real zippers.
“Some things even had invisible zippers. Now it’s all Velcro,” she says.
Esquivel is also inspired by an era when “men wore ties and nice gabardine jackets to baseball games. You don’t see pictures of men in shorts and T-shirts in the ‘50s,” he says. “They wore fedoras and suits and looked really cool.”
