Taking the next step
In the L.A. fashion world, Tracey Ross is practically a brand name. For nearly 15 years she’s been the grande dame of the boutique scene here, catering to celebrities in her Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf-adjacent Sunset Plaza store, which doubles as a kind of clubhouse for the rich and thin. So it makes sense that she’s finally gone into the fashion business herself, launching her first line of shoes.
Not that she’s starved for footwear.
Ross, an admitted shopaholic, already has so many shoes in her closet that she has to turn over her Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Rick Owens stock on a seasonal basis. “There’s an actress in New York who’s a size 9 who is the luckiest girl,” she says, refusing to name names. “And sometimes I do this really naughty thing where I buy the same thing twice because I forget.”
And yet it’s her lifelong quest for the perfect shoe that inspired the line. “I can never have enough. They’re just like jeans. You are constantly looking for the perfect pair. You may have the best shoes in the world, but you are always trying to one-up yourself.”
For spring, she introduced three styles, including the vintage-looking “Gilda,” an open-toe slingback with a pleated leather strap and fan detail on the toe, in pastel pink, mint green or black. “I’m always on EBay looking for inspiration, or looking at vintage shoes that I find in out-of-the-way places.”
For fall, she’s going rock ‘n’ roll with the “Blondie,” a faux stingray pump with an extra-high lip in the back; the “Nancy” (as in Sid and Nancy), a studded python stiletto sandal with six ankle straps; and the Kate (Bush), a glossy black leather pump.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Ross says. “I love to hear from my customers, ‘When are you getting those back in?’ It gives me confidence.”
Tracey Ross shoes, $530-$850, are available at her Sunset Plaza store, Fred Segal Santa Monica and Belle Gray in Studio City.
Melrose on Crenshaw
One of L.A.’s newest retailers, Odessa Bowden, is bringing contemporary fashion to the Crenshaw district at her shop Nobody Jones. She features up-and-coming designers at affordable prices (most pieces are under $100), including Daniel Antonio and his Dirty Milk line of T-shirts and sweat shirts emblazoned with sayings such as “Slightly Ghetto.” Patch is a line of cotton sportswear decorated with crocheted appliques designed by a mother and son team who live down the street from the store, and Blue by Blue is a Juicy Couture-like collection of terry cloth halter dresses and zip-front tops. But it’s Bowden’s own label that has been the biggest seller. She uses traditional African fabrics such as kente cloth to make of-the-moment ruffled miniskirts and wraparound tops.
Bowden, 27, started selling her designs at the Fairfax High School swap meet when she was 17 and a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. After graduation, she landed a job consulting for the local brand Churchgirl by Taning. But all along, what she really wanted was her own store.
“This is the neighborhood I’m from, and I wanted to reinvest in it. Magic Johnson has put millions into the area and I wanted to be a part of it,” she says. “And there was no contemporary clothing available around here. It was all urban wear. This isn’t just another shop on Melrose or Robertson. It’s bringing a bit of Melrose and Robertson here.” For information: www.nobodyjones.com.
Another piece of the Jigsaw
Jigsaw, London’s boho-chic chain, has arrived stateside. The first U.S. store opened last week at the Brentwood Country Mart, offering rose-splashed linen skirts, soft scallop-edged cardigans, nubby heather sweater jackets with oversize safety pin closures and delicate button-front jersey camisoles (Kate Moss’ favorite) for $29 to $750 -- prices that seem a steal compared to shopping in Britain at the current exchange rate.
The company’s owners, John Robinson and Belle Atterton, say they chose Brentwood because it’s family oriented. The couple has five children ranging in age from 4 to 14, who occasionally appear in Jigsaw ads. “We wanted to come to a family area where women have a sense of fashion and enjoy clothes,” says Atterton, a tan blond sporting the brand’s signature relaxed style: a long white linen skirt with a T-shirt belted over it and white Keds with the shoelaces removed. They’ve opened a Jigsaw Junior at the same location, selling children’s wear.
“We have a huge U.S. clientele in the U.K.,” says Robinson, who started in business in the late 1960s wholesaling Turkish coats to shops on Carnaby Street, and named his first store Jigsaw after “something in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ ” that he can’t recall today.
The Brentwood outposts have the same spare look and whitewashed fixtures as the 43 Jigsaw stores in Britain. But there is one difference: L.A. won’t carry U.K. size 16s, the American equivalent of a 12.
Uggs for the arms
Ugg. It was the boot nobody could get. And now, waiting lists are sure to be spawned by the brand’s new line of handbags and outerwear in the same soft sheepskin. Available at Neiman Marcus and Intuition in West L.A., the bags ($80 to $285) come in hobo, barrel and shopper styles, but the best looking may be the Fluff messenger, in baby pink or blue, which has the furry Ugg lining on the outside instead of the inside. There’s also a slim chain-handled evening bag that doubles as a muff. Clothing, including sheepskin ponchos and miniskirts, will arrive at Bloomingdale’s for fall.
