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Off the Wall

By Linda Immediato — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 16:58:00 GMT

IN 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jeff Spicoli tumbled out of a smoke-filled VW waving his checkered Vans in the air. That’s when the rest of the country got an up-close look at the canvas shoes made for the kids of Southern California. Thanks to the Z-Boys, Paul and James Van Doren’s kicks with extra stick were brought along for the ride on the skateboarding swell of the early ’70s. Within a couple of decades, the Anaheim-based company had grown to 70 stores across the state and the styles had evolved to answer the increasing demands of enthusiasts, which included surfers, punks, and metalheads. By the 1990s, says creative director Jon Warren, “Vans had been a-dopted by all the different subcultures of California.”

Since 2008, Warren, along with the rest of the design team, has been responsible for satisfying the needs of new fans while keeping one foot planted in the empty swimming pools of Orange County. Warren created the “California Collection,” which uses heritage leathers and premium fabrics. “It’s designed for people like me, who grew up in the culture and are still a part of it but who are in their thirties or forties now,” says Warren. When the fashion set wanted in on the action, he collaborated with designers like Marc Jacobs, Comme des Garçons, Luella Bartley, and most recently, Kenzo.

“With fashion, collections are never rooted in a time zone and they change each season, but with surfing, skating, or snowboarding, there is a history and a function to connect the fashion to. Designers look to us for youthfulness; we look to them for sophistication.”

Typically Warren works three seasons ahead, and he has to predict future trends well in advance. “I look at young kids to see what the next thing is going to be,” he says. “You go to music festivals, where kids put together clothing you would never see on the runway in a million years, and that’s as inspiring to me as high fashion. When you look at it all together, you can see we are all vibe-ing on each other.”

We All Shine On

By Linda Immediato — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 16:27:00 GMT

Illustration: Andy Friedman

During the country’s financial downturn in 2000, sales of a certain cosmetic spiked, a phenomenon dubbed the “lipstick index.” This time around we’re improving our moods with our fingers and toes, and the new “nail polish index” has given one local company more than a brush with success.

“You might not be able to afford a new shirt, but you can easily change your look with affordable accessories like nail polish,” says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, executive vice president and artistic director of OPI, which fills 1.5 million bottles of nail polish a day at its North Hollywood factory.

The industry pioneer—it was the first to release seasonal shades and invented crackle polish and gel manicures—came from humble beginnings. Weiss-Fischmann started the business by going door to door at nail salons along Ventura Boulevard. The Hungary native had moved to the San Fernando Valley with her family in the early ’80s and joined her brother-in-law in the dental supply business. “Back then Ventura was lined with nail salons doing acrylic tips,” she says. “I realized that the same chemistry used to make the nails was used to make dentures. I saw an opportunity, and I seized it.” In 1989, OPI debuted with 30 shades. Today the product—available in more than 200 colors—has a massive international following, thanks to such innovations as chip resistance, longevity, and punny names like “You Don’t Know Jacques!” and “Tickle My France-y.” It takes six “crazy advertising and marketing people to come up with the names,” she says. “We lock the door of the boardroom and brainstorm.”

A one-woman focus group, Weiss-Fischmann creates every shade, citing the average woman as her muse (famous fans include Rihanna and Reba).“Of course I can’t help but be inspired by Los Angeles,” she says. “One of our all-time best-sellers is called ‘I’m Not Really a Waitress.’ How many times have you heard that in this town?”

Steel Magnolia

By Margot Dougherty — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 01:08:00 GMT

Photographs courtesy G+ Design, Damon Casarez (shoe, bracelet)

As the award-winning architect and designer of Red O, Rick Bayless’s restaurant on Melrose, Gulla Jonsdottir is known for juxtaposing heft with fragility and feminine curves with muscular materials. She tied up the hot spot’s facade with an abstract metal bow, “like a gift from Mexico to L.A.,” she says; inside, columns are wrapped in steel roses. At the Roxbury nightclub on Sunset, she splashed a hard-edged floral motif onto sky-high iron gates. Now in talks to use a 3-D light show at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (1), she’s also building SBE’s Bar Varsity in West Hollywood and a beach club in Beirut (2).

Jonsdottir moved to Los Angeles from Iceland to attend SCI-Arc in 1989. She worked on the Getty Center under architect Richard Meier and was lead designer for Dodd Mitchell Designs before opening her all-female office, G+ Design, two years ago. The plus sign stands for “everything I want to do,” she says. “Architecture, interiors, lighting, furniture, accessories, plus, plus, plus.” Her latest endeavor is Gulla, a custom furniture line of laser-cut metal screens, aluminum bookshelves, and wood slab desks and tables with twisty-metal, barklike legs (3). The collection allows her fans to bring home her signature mix of brawn and whimsy.

...And On Her Inspiration Board

4. “Perforated suede shoes. The holes permit light and shadows to play, which is a theme in my work. ”
5. “The Blue Lagoon Spa in Iceland. I love the contrasting colors of the smoke against the milky blue water.”
6. “Calla lily petals often inform my designs for ceilings and walls.”
7. “This bracelet has a ‘lingerie’ effect—you can see through it but not the whole picture.”
8. “I’m always inspired by the curvature of the female form.”

Illustration by Andy Friedman

Shoemaker of Dreams

By Linda Immediato — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Photograph courtesy Ferragamo

Think of him as the Leonardo da Vinci of shoes. The designs of Salvatore Ferragamo are considered artistically important enough to have been the subject of exhibitions at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Guggenheim in New York, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. They were scientific enough to earn him more than 350 patents for revolutionary styles, such as the gravity-defying invisible shoe and the cage heel. Today many of his footwear inventions have become commonplace. The wedge heel? Ferragamo. The platform? Ferragamo. Even basics that we take for granted, like leather-lined heels (or the “gloved arch”), can be credited to him. He was the first to use fish skin, cork, and raffia.

Since 1927, the line of the Campania-born shoemaker has been stamped MADE IN ITALY, but Ferragamo came into his own on Hollywood Boulevard, where he took over a little made-to-measure boot shop in 1923. While living in L.A. he enrolled in anatomy classes at USC, applying what he learned to develop his hallmark shoes, which were as comfortable as they were fashionable. By the 1930s, Ferragamo had garnered such a following among the motion picture elite that practically every headlining actress with a studio contract commissioned a pair of his shoes. He created soft leather ballerina flats with ankle straps for Audrey Hepburn, wedge heels for Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda, and platforms for Judy Garland. To honor his Hollywood legacy, Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A., now run by the shoemaker’s family, recently launched Red Carpet, a custom shoe project that allows women to choose a style from seven of its most popular designs and a color from 29 shades of satin.

Illustration by Andy Friedman.

Second Act

By Linda Immediato — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:06:00 GMT

Ever since Lisa Kline was a fashion-obsessed nine-year-old living in Encino, she dreamed of opening her own clothing store. Diagnosed with scoliosis, she was confined by a back brace and a wardrobe of elastic waistbands, while classmates flaunted the latest designer jeans. “I lived for fashion and couldn’t wear any of it,” says Kline. “I was tortured.” At 25 she opened her first boutique on Robertson Boulevard. Celebrities and label hounds came in droves to the little-known street to snatch up soon-to-break brands. By 2006, she had five stores, all in Los Angeles. Then in 2009, at the height of the recession, her husband died in an accident at their Malibu home and her businesses began to fail. “It was an implosion,” says Kline, who closed all her stores except the men’s shop.

“It was difficult to let go of my stores,” she says. “My identity was so wrapped up in them.” In February Kline will move beyond brick and mortar with a new Web site called Vaniti, an online Robertson Boulevard with virtual storefronts featuring her handpicked lines and a reinvented Lisa Kline boutique, this time stocked with her own label. “People always thought I was a designer, so it’s the next logical step,” she says. Her first collection will include bags, leggings, belts, and jewelry. “I don’t know where everything is going to land,” says Kline. “But I do have an agenda now, and this is the future.”

My Inspiration Board
1. "Cabo is where I relax. It's a place for me to refuel."
2. "I'm really into pinup girls. My bathroom is wallpapered with them."
3. "I like looking at pretty, sparkly things, like the city lights of Los Angeles."
4. "I love big, thick zippers, skulls, chains, studs--you know, grrrr-glamour."
5. "I wish I was a rock star, but I can't sing so in this life I'll just be the fashion rock star."

Illustration by Andy Friedman

Sean Knibb

By Emily Young — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:45:00 GMT

Photograph by Lisa Romerein

Branching out: Sean Knibb, the landscape designer who turned a defunct IHOP into chef Roy Choi’s warm, woodsy A-Frame, is venturing into furniture. His SK1 is a line of modernist tables and seating made from powder-coated or recycled iron, Carrara marble or reclaimed wood, and indoor-outdoor fabrics or burlap. “I’m always trying to find the balance between things that feel fresh but have a sense of history,” Knibb says. Back to his roots: The 42-year-old native Jamaican still designs high-end greenscapes and more affordable modular gardens. He gave plant names to his locally handcrafted pieces, among them the “Ilex” table and the “Boxwood” ottoman (pictured). “I like to infuse nature into everything I do.” Iconic inspirations: Knibb fantasizes about remaking Marcel Breuer’s classic “Wassily” chair in macramé. Meanwhile he’s expanding his collection with a sling chair influenced by the ones that dot beaches in the south of France. » Available at Knibb Design, 1522 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310-450-5552 or knibbdesign.com and Calypso Home, Brentwood Country Mart, 225 26th St., Santa Monica, 310-587-0703.

Pamela Burton

By Margot Dougherty — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Roots: Her interest in plants may go back to childhood, but Pamela Burton credits a trip to Kyoto during college for her aesthetic. Working on a master’s degree in architecture at UCLA, she created gardens for artist friends in Venice. She opened Pamela Burton & Company in 1975. “Artists have played a huge role in my understanding of what is possible,” says Burton. Her 11-person outfit now collaborates with architectural heavyweights Richard Meier, Maya Lin, John Pawson, Gensler, and Robert Stern. Soft tread: Well before LEED certification existed, Burton advocated native and drought-happy plants. A 200,000-gallon underground cistern fed by rainwater irrigates her gardens at the Santa Monica Public Library. Lasting impression: Whether it’s the meandering sand paths and flowing grasses of a Malibu escape or a dreamy mix of lavender, westringia, dwarf olives, and blue oat grass on a Bel-Air property, Burton’s landscapes seem discovered rather than crafted. “It takes a lot of effort to make something appear effortless,” she says. » 1430 Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, 310-828-6373.

Photograph by Lisa Romerein

Robert Siegel

By Emily Young — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Wheeler dealer: Robert Siegel works fast. The 28-year-old New Jersey-born potter moved to L.A. last September. By December his festive tableware was selling at Neiman Marcus. By February it was being featured at Freehand Gallery on West 3rd Street. Not bad for a guy whose USC-adjacent studio lacks running water. “I have to go down the hall to a utility sink and carry it back in buckets,” Siegel says. East meets West: Using English porcelain and modern and ancient techniques, he throws all his pieces on a wheel (the word handmade is tattooed on his arm). After earning his B.F.A., Siegel spent four months studying in Jingdezhen, China, the cradle of fine porcelain. “I saw guys making 40-foot-tall vases. It was amazing!” Dishing it: The first RS Handmade line, the Standard Collection ($22 for butter dishes to $335 for serving bowls), is a contemporary take on Fiestaware, for which he mixes his own red, yellow, green, white, and black glazes. The Ostrich Collection ($36 to $395) is more feminine, says Siegel, who envisions someday creating ceramic eyeglass frames and chairs. » Go to rshandmade.com.

Photograph by Ethan Pines

Lisa Adams

By Margot Dougherty — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Space cadet: Lisa Adams was working at a kitchen and bath design firm when a client asked for help with a closet. The request made her realize how underappreciated the space can be. In 2007, she debuted LA Closet Design, dedicated to custom-built wardrobes. Want a putting green, stripper pole, washer/dryer, flat screen, and/or watch winder in your closet? Get in line. Applied mathematics: Adams grew up in Hawaii and studied chemistry at UC Berkeley. “I was always scientific, neat, left brain,” she says. “I wanted to be an accountant.” Calculating algorithms to resolve the size of shoe collections with available square footage came naturally. Her projects, which range in price from $3,000 to $40,000, begin with a spreadsheet that lists each item (and its dimensions) the closet will house. Volume control: For a client with 1,000 pairs of shoes, Adams made rolling stacks. She has opened up attics to install dry cleaner-style carousels. Frugal types can follow her advice on purging: “If you haven’t worn something for a year, give it away, throw it away, or sell it.” » LA Closet Design, 310-289-1311.

Alexis Hadjopulos

By Erin Weinger — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Friendly fire: “I don’t hate Ikea,” says Alexis Hadjopulos of his two-year-old Fairfax Avenue emporium TINI, short for This Is Not Ikea. “My first apartment was all Ikea.” He moved to L.A. from Mexico in 2000 to pursue a pop-singing career—until his dad cut him off. Dollar signs: An avid yard sale shopper, Hadjopulos flipped a $5 Moroccan-style side table on Craigslist for $50. Intrigued by the profit margin, he haunted garage sales, amassing hundreds of quirky vintage pieces. Along with Charles and Di jigsaw puzzles, brown velveteen club chairs from the ’60s share pride of place in his store, which he co-owns with Tom Whitman, who mostly handles the business side. Home works: This year Hadjopulos was hired to decorate the downtown loft of Mark Foster, front man for the band Foster the People, transforming it into a lighthearted space complete with a neon motel sign found on a roadside. His favorite score? A life-size 1987 black-and-white photo of Daryl Hannah that hangs in his dining room, for which he paid $2.50. » 515 S. Fairfax Ave., L.A., 323-938-9230.

Photograph by Lisa Romerein