Designer sale at Resurrection this Saturday

 

A slew of L.A.’s best designers, includingGregory Parkinson, Magda Berliner, Katy Rodriguez and   Wren’s Melissa Coker, are selling their goods at a super discount (50-70% off) this Saturday.

Plus, vintage pieces from Balenciaga, Prada, Comme des Garcons, Ann Demeulemeester, Chloe and Rick Owens.

Happy shopping!

Resurrection, 8006 Melrose Ave., L.A., CA 90046 Saturday, May 2, 12 p.m.-6 p.m.

--Melissa Magsaysay

Top: A look from Katy Rodriguez, photo by Katy Rodriguez; Left: A runway look from Wren, photo by Lori Shepler / L.A. Times; Right: A runway look from Gregory Parkinson, photo by Spencer Weiner / L.A. Times

Sale Rack: Marie-Chantal opens in Beverly Hills

Clothes fit for a little prince or princess? The Beverly Hills kids' boutique Marie-Chantal would know something about that. Its founder (and namesake) married into the Greek royal family (long in self-imposed exile), and her new store, which opened late last month with a "play-date party" for celebrity guests, is the eighth in a chain supplying high-end goods for kids and new moms.

For boys (2 to 12 years) -- Marie-Chantal says she always designs with her four sons in mind -- the shop stocks plenty of special-occasion casual wear. Marie-Chantal says her favorites are $105 button-down shirts and $73 cargo shorts worn with Converse sneakers.

The girls clothing (2 to 12 years) will make your daughter into a casual mini-me, with looks that include a $180 floral-print maxi-dress and $105 cotton caftans. For Southern California weather, the shop stocks plenty of shorts ($75 to $80) and $123 sundresses. Footwear includes $108 flats.

Marie-Chantal says the most popular gift in the store has been her $73 "angelic" onesie with angel wings, which comes in a gift box on which birth information can be written. The shop also stocks books and toys (starting at $20) including Steiff stuffed animals and a toy Vespa-like scooter, along with jewelry that a mother might appreciate: $160 silver and gold-plated "kid-shaped" charms, for instance, and a $1,650 keepsake diamond pendant.

338 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. (310) 550-1401. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. www.mariechantal.com

-- Max Padilla

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Photo: The $180 maxi-dress at Marie-Chantal. Photo credit: Marie-Chantal

On Saturday, Paige jeans and OPI's neon combination

Are you the type who color-coordinates down to the mani-pedi? The match obsession just got easier. Two local companies, Paige Premium Denim and OPI nail polish, have paired up to bring a little hot fun in the summer time with matching jeans and polishes that would do Rainbow Brite proud.

With a color scheme approved by OPI Executive Vice President and artistic director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, Paige Denim's low-rise, five-pocket Canyon shorts come in pink, lavender and red. The skinny Roxbury jeans come in blue, orange and brown. On her end, Weiss-Fischmann's OPI polishes come in the always creatively named shades like the orange-red On the Same Paige, hot pink Shorts Story, electric blue No Room for the Blues and traffic cone orange In My Back Pocket. Both the polishes and the clothes go on sale Saturday. They're available exclusively at Ron Herman the first week and then will be available nationwide at select boutiques.

Need a little color in your life? Stop by the Melrose Avenue Ron Herman store between 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday. Do a test-run of the new shades with a free manicure and share your thoughts with Weiss-Fischmann and designer Paige Adams-Geller. Like what you see? Every Paige jeans purchase comes with a free bottle of OPI.

Address:
Ron Herman
8100 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles 90046

-- Whitney Friedlander

OPI's new ROB|B salon , new colors make a bright arrival

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Photo credits: Top by Paige Premium Denim; bottom by OPI

Bacon lip balm: Suave without swine

Are you a bacon addict temporarily skirting nirvana because, even though you know better, it makes you nervous about swine flu? Or do your dietary habits prohibit a bite of the crispy, crackly, smoky pig slices? Consider J&D's Bacon-Flavored Lip Balm. From the folks who brought you kosher-certified, vegetarian products such as Bacon Salt and Baconnaise (that would be bacon-flavored mayo, available in regular or lite), this balm comes with many of the same ingredients that go into your standard lip healer -- but with the added smell of Sunday morning breakfast.

For me, the strong, relatively authentic scent might make this the ultimate in appetite-suppressant lip moisturizers. And it kind of reminds me of that "Guys Love Bacon" Taco Bell commercial in which the woman hides a bacon club chalupa in her purse to win all the guys' attention at the bar.

But who am I to deny the bond that cannot be broken between you and bacon? It sure is a lot tidier than hiding fast food in your clutch. Those interested can go hog wild at store.baconsalt.com.

-- Whitney Friedlander

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Photo: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Club Monaco hits the beach

 

Club Monaco may not be the first place you go for beach essentials, but the brand known for crisp basics and pretty, feminine floral print skirts is going full swing into summer.  

Starting May 6, the Beverly Hills store will stock a wide array of hot weather items including airy white beach cover ups, basic black bandeau bathing suits, racer back tanks, Havaiana flip-flops in metallic shades and Birkenstock Gizeh sandals in neutral colors. 

It’s perfect for the “non-beachy” beachgoer who loathes a pink string bikini, printed sarong and platform flip-flops for going on holiday or just strolling in Santa Monica.

Club Monaco’s Beach Boutique shop-in-shop will be in Los Angeles, New York,  Miami, Chicago and Toronto Club Monaco stores from May through June.

-- Melissa Magsaysay

Top photo: Items from Club Monaco's Beach Boutique shop-in-shop. Credit: Club Monaco

Bottom photo: Club Monaco bandeau bathing suit. Credit: Club Monaco

Recession-friendly prom dresses? It can be done.

Signature events like weddings and proms are being reshaped by these tough financial times, as The  Times noted over the weekend.

While features writer Susan Carpenter tracked the growing popularity of courthouse weddings and offered a glimpse of how people are managing to throw a wedding with all the (budget) trimmings, Business writer Tiffany Hsu told of teens opting for proms without the frills. "Out are $1,000 dresses and salon waxing treatments," Hsu writes. "In are consignment-store outfits and drugstore beauty kits. Kids are ditching rented limos for the family car, and even clambering aboard school buses in their formal wear -- hardly the dream coach that many had envisioned whisking them to their big night."

Bearded & Tschorn: What kind of facial hair hath Mel wrought?

Few celebrities engage in the kind of hyper-zealous facial manscaping that Mel Gibson does. Which makes him the perfect candidate to help us learn some of the 18 categories of competition in the upcoming World Beard and Moustache Championships taking place in Anchorage on May 23.

The laissez-faire, hermit-style, two-tone beard he was wearing during an Oct. 28, 2005, news conference in Mexico (he was scouting locations for "Apocalypto" at the time) is what's known as a "Full Beard Natural": "Full beard as it grows and left natural, the more natural the better. The moustache is blended into the beard. No aids allowed." (The 2007 winner in this category at the Brighton, Britain, competition was American Jack Passion. We'll be talking with him later in the week.)

John Varvatos Sirius XM Radio show 'Born in Detroit' debuts May 2

In my January profile of John Varvatos, I mentioned that the rock 'n' roll-smitten menswear designer was finalizing a deal to host a monthly radio show for Sirius XM Radio. That deal has apparently been finalized, and we've received word from the Varvatos camp that the show "Born in Detroit" (a reference to Varvatos, who grew up in Motor City) is set to launch on Sirius XM's Faction channel on Tuesday, May 5, at 6p.m. PDT with a live broadcast performance by punk rockers the New York Dolls (their new album "Cause I Sez So" drops that day) from Varvatos' 315 Bowery boutique -- which you may recall is the former site of the CBGB nightclub. (And don't bother trying to catch it live -- I'm told it's a private, invite-only affair.)

Susan Boyle and the era of ordinary chic

There's been lots of Internet chatter about "Britain's Got Talent" breakout star Susan Boyle's new, darker, more relaxed 'do and plucked eyebrows. (Boyle's performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" during the show, when her hair was more frizzy and her appearance more frumpy, has gotten more than 13 million hits on YouTube.) But she's not going from ugly duckling to swan just yet.

"Maybe I'll consider a makeover later on," Boyle, 47, told the London Times on Saturday. "For now I'm happy the way I am -- short and plump. I would not go in for Botox or anything like that. I'm content with the way I look."

And why not? Isn't it funny that now, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute is getting ready to launch its annual fashion exhibition "The Model as Muse" on May 4, it's not models but mortals who are the focus of our attention? Welcome to the era of ordinary chic. After all, first mom Michelle Obama is the style icon of the moment, despite her toothy smile and sometimes awkward gait, not Kate Moss or Katie Holmes.  

Over the weekend, I watched a screener of the upcoming Fox show "Glee," about a group of high school outcasts who bond over show choir. There's something telling about the fact that this is Ryan Murphy's follow-up project to the plastic surgery show "Nip/Tuck," and that the most memorable line of the pilot is when the singing jock says to his football teammates, "We are all losers." 

The flip side of that is that we can all be stars, so long as we find our own voice. Maybe the collective embrace of Boyle is a sign that we are at last tiring of faux-reality and unattainable perfection, of the "happy couple" Heidi and Spencer, the airbrushed Kim Kardashian and the rest of Hollywood's incredibly shrinking celebrities. In this age of engineered attractiveness anyone can be beautiful, but oh, to be ordinary!

What do you think? Is Susan Boyle a style hero?

-- Booth Moore

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Photos: At top, Susan Boyle on April 21. Credit: Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images. At bottom, Boyle on April 24. Credit: AP Photo / Andrew Milligan, PA

Bearded & Tschorn: Madcap beard caps

Once I began my quest to understand the world's bearded elite, I suffered a bit of "red car syndrome" (you know, once you buy a red car, you start to notice a lot of red cars on the road, noticing beards and mustaches cropping up in all kinds of places. Most recently I found the "Beard Cap" by Icelandic designer Vík Prjónsdóttir, which I stumbled across when exploring the appeal of the Slanket/Nuddle/Snuggie (Prjónsdóttir has a version of the functional body blanket called the Sealpelt that, yes, resembles a seal pelt).

Made of 100% Icelandic sheep's wool, and available in two lengths and several colors, including medium brown, light gray and dark gray, the Beard Caps can be bought stateside for $135 at Scandinavian Grace in  New York City.  

For those who have always wondered what they might look like with a beard but who lack the patience to grow their own (especially those who frequent the cooler climes), the Beard Cap is the perfect solution.

But it won't win you anything at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Anchorage -- last we checked "knit" was not one of the 18 sanctioned categories of facial hair.
-- Adam Tschorn
Photo: Vík Prjónsdóttir Beard Caps. Credit: Gulli Mar, courtesy of Vík Prjónsdóttir.

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Read more Bearded & Tschorn: the Road to the World Beard and Moustache Championships