FINDING IT HERE, AND FOR LESS
Whether you call it globe-trotting or culture-cribbing, ethnic clothing is the hottest runway trend for spring. But finding this season’s African, Indian and Middle Eastern apparel and accessories doesn’t mean paying designer prices or cashing in frequent-flier miles. Los Angeles has a wealth of resources that offer authentic versions of the best global looks. Here are a few of this season’s biggest designer hits paired with similar styles found in local stores, and introductions to the merchants who sell them.
Ikat jacket by Oscar de la Renta
At his clothing bazaar and belly dance studio, Adam Basma stocks ikat wrap shirts ($49) that achieve the same effect as De la Renta’s runway creation, which was modeled after sacred Indonesian textiles woven for use as ritual objects. Other hot sellers are mirrored broomstick skirts from India, and jingling coin belts and beaded slippers from Morocco.
Born to a “very conservative, very rich” family in Lebanon, Basma never imagined that he would come to Los Angeles and become a professional belly dancer, much less sell traditional Middle Eastern costumes to fashionistas. He first moved to the U.S. in 1973 to attend the University of Texas in Austin under the auspices of the American Field Service, an international nonprofit group that provides intercultural learning opportunities. At school, he began performing and eventually toured the country. “My family said, ‘Men are not allowed to dance,’ and I said, ‘Why not?’ ”
In the 1980s, he set his sights on Los Angeles. “Texas told me I did not belong,” he says. He lived the life of a starving artist, eventually earning work as a belly dance consultant on films such as “Protocol” with Goldie Hawn. Today he leads a professional company of 40 dancers who have performed at the Greek Theatre, UCLA’s Royce Hall and the MGM Grand and Bellagio hotels in Las Vegas.
Four years ago, he opened the clothing bazaar after students began requesting belly dance costumes. On his buying trips, he scours Morocco, Egypt and India for anything “feminine and sexy.”
Adam Basma Bazaar and Belly Dance Studio, 1551 S. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 854-7600.
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Peasant skirt by Roberto Cavalli
The Bernal family has been selling gauzy cotton Mexican skirts in hot pink, bright yellow or black, florals and chili pepper prints ($29.95 to $39.95) from the same Olvera Street storefront since 1944. The area hasn’t changed much since then, says Marco Bernal, son of Casa Bernal founder Armando Bernal. “We still get a lot of tourists. This is a landmark.”
The store stocks imports from Mexico, Spain, Guatemala and Peru, including ruffled peasant blouses, embroidered dresses and multicolor-striped sash belts.
“Most of our suppliers are from way back. My dad found them,” Bernal says. Casa Bernal sells costumes to folkloric dance groups and the staffs of several local Mexican restaurants. Celebrity stylists and costume designers stop in too.
“Sometimes you will see girls on TV wearing our things,” he says. “It’s nice to see people having an interest in this type of clothing that has been around forever.”
Casa Bernal, W-23 Olvera St., Los Angeles, (213) 687-4568.
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Embroidered tunic top by Michael Kors
No, Krishna is not the new kabala. What drives Sharon Stone, Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston and Jamie Lee Curtis to the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in West Los Angeles is the temple’s boutique, Govinda’s International Imports, and its bounty of hand-beaded, hand-woven Indian tunic tops in every color of the rainbow, from $50.
Govinda’s opened in 1982 as a business venture for the temple, and Terry Beca has been in charge since 1986.
“I studied fashion and art at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, but this was a different way of using my training than I planned,” says Beca, who became a Krishna in 1972.
She travels to India, Thailand and Bali five times a year to buy natural fiber and cottage industry items such as bangles, cashmere shawls and embroidered shirts. “Sometimes entire villages can be supported by embroidery,” she says.
Nearly 80% of Govinda’s shoppers are not temple members. “We have a very far-out clientele, from [Aerosmith’s] Steven Tyler to a yoga teacher. We don’t do any advertising, and everything is word of mouth. People love to tell others about our shop.”
Govinda’s International Imports, 3764 Watseka Ave., Los Angeles, (310) 204-3263.
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Tribal print sheath by Ennio Capasa for Costume National
Ursaline Bryant learned fashion as a model in the mid-1980s. After moving to Los Angeles, she volunteered at the African Marketplace Import/Export Emporium, which opened in 1996 as part of the annual Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza celebration of African American history. The venture reopened in 1997 as a permanent store in the plaza. A second boutique opened in 1999 in Culver City.
The stores act as “incubators of entrepreneurs,” Bryant says. Everything is on consignment, including the burlap gowns and duster coats by South African designer Thulare Monareng. Her designs come in a red or black “venda” print, native to the Venda region of South Africa, and are priced from $165 to $250. “She did a fashion show at the Pan-African Film & Arts Festival, and I decided I wanted to represent her,” Bryant says. In time she hopes to travel to Africa to buy items for the store, and to increase her imports and exports.
Bryant has strong feelings about wearing clothing and accessories from another culture: “It is not fashion; it becomes wearable art when you take from a culture of a people. Some things should be left intact to that culture and not be made into a fad.”
African Marketplace Import/Export Emporium, Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza, 3650 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 293-3277. African Marketplace Boutique, Westfield Town/Fox Hills, 384 Fox Hills Mall, Culver City, (310) 397-1343.
