Season for Dressing to the Canines
Canines are fashion’s darlings this holiday season. If only there were a Dogue, as in Vogue, for dog owners wanting to dress pets.
Pooches can doll up in dog blankets, dog booties, leather coats, raincoats and even costume jewelry. The chic canine closet may now include a Burberry trench coat, a Coach blanket coat or a tuxedo sweater from Neiman Marcus, which for the first time offered a holiday catalog devoted entirely to gifts for dogs.
All this too froufrou? Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton offer practical designer leashes, though it’s hard to get too creative with a leash. But then there is the pink leash with a matching doggie carrier from purse designer Kate Spade.
The well-dressed dog could very well be the next must-have person accessory, judging by the two canine couture fashion shows in New York last month and the 10-page “Haute Dog” segment in the November issue of InStyle magazine.
As with humans, being fashionable can be costly and varies with the size of the pet. Prices range from $37.49 for a Berber wrap from Pets.com to $65 for a raincoat from Encino-based Dog Face to a $235 trench coat from Burberry to a $495 beaver and leather coat from Chic Doggie by Corey.
Doggie fashion began with Gucci designer Tom Ford, who introduced an acrylic dog bed and a black goat-hair blanket to the high-end market a few years ago. Coach’s dog collars were first designed for the company’s chairman, who wanted them for his two dogs last year. Since then, “they’re selling very well,” said Reed Krakoff, president and executive creative director of Coach.
Clearly, a dog’s life is getting better. There is a lot of advice for owners in magazines such as Animal Fair (all about celebrities and their pets) and the Berkeley-based intellectual Bark, which explores the special bond between human and canine. Then there are dog portraits and even dog spas.
Dog walker Ariane Simard of Los Angeles said some of her clients spend a lot of money on their pets.
“They tend to have dogs and not children,” she said, or they are delaying children and hoping a dog will help them make that decision.
People’s idea about their dogs are evolving, according to Lisa Erickson, senior buyer for the Web site Pets.com (https://www.pets.com). Owners, she said, “are wanting this extension of their family to be like the family.” And that includes how members of the family dress.
Among the more than half a million licensed dogs in Los Angeles County alone, a few are likely to be sporting a set of new designer booties (four) or other fashionable get-up this Christmas.
“Thirty-eight million Americans are buying presents for their pets this holiday season,” Erickson said. “That’s 62% of pet owners.” In 1997, according to the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council, Americans spent $23.2 billion overall on pet supplies and services.
And that does include cats, which, by the way, according to Erickson, generally refuse to be fashion victims.
“Cats don’t typically wear apparel,” Erickson said. “Most dogs do; they love the attention.”
But dogs might have different ideas about designer chic. The best way to find out was to let a few try on a black fleece coat with a faux jaguar fur collar from Pets.com. The reviews were mixed at a popular Silver Lake dog park.
Foo, a basset hound-beagle mix, was the first to give the coat a go. Though he was good-natured about the attempt, we could sense his discomfort by the way he limped back to his pack of friends.
“He was embarrassed,” said Sam Stolzoff of Pasadena, who insisted that his dog was warm enough without an extra coat. “I love my dog, don’t get me wrong. He’s just not a person.”
Indeed, Stolzoff does pamper Foo with an occasional gift--but it’s always a specially cooked piece of meat and bone.
Brutus, a 4-month-old American bulldog, was quite interested as he sniffed the garment, but one of his two dads, Barry Grubs, nixed the idea. It’s not that Grubs is opposed to pet clothes--it’s just that Brutus is more of a motorcycle jacket kind of dog, said the proud papa.
But a young pit bull named Lily did seem downright comfortable in the wrap. In fact, Lily was the kind of spirited dog who might look good in anything. As she sprinted up and down the park’s hill, she was closely followed by a flock of admirers. A girl can be a little popular at these dog parks, if you know what we mean, but Lily kept her composure and poise.
Barbara Thomas can be reached by e-mail at barbara.thomas@latimes.com.
