It's Palos Verdes, to a tee

The quest for a stylish Southern California beach town T-shirt is what brought about the creation of Trident General Store.

The fledgling clothing and accessories line brings East Coast prep to the South Bay, with surfer chic T-shirts and hats for men, women and kids emblazoned with such insider locales as surf breaks El Porto and Lunada Bay and nature reserve Portuguese Bend, which are all on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Former celebrity style expert Jill Burnham moved from L.A. to Palos Verdes four years ago and started the company with two partners, Elvia Henderson and Aimee deLongchamp. She was inspired by souvenirs of childhood summer vacations on East Coast beaches, where rainy days were spent shopping for T-shirts with the tiny Cape Cod town of “Chatham” written across the front and for British-style “ACK” Nantucket car decals.

“A lot of the beach T-shirts I was seeing in Southern California had cheesy, neon squiggly writing,” Burnham says. “We wanted something more insider-y.... And it’s taken on a life of its own. We got blogged about on Urban Prepster, and now we get orders from Arizona to Maine. Most people are looking for the hat with the trident symbol on it.”

The trident is the graphic of choice, inspired by the King Neptune statue at Palos Verdes’ Malaga Cove Plaza and the Shoreline Preserve signs with white tridents standing guard over the area’s steep ocean bluffs.

“It’s cool and local but is also such a recognizable maritime symbol,” she says of the three-pronged fishing spear. “It can go anywhere an anchor or a fleur de lis can, which is why we named [the company] Trident General Store. We hope to make sweat shirts, cocktail glasses and plates, and we’ve already started making jewelry.”

The line features short- and long-sleeved tees for men, women and kids; hats and baby onesies. Burnham and her partners plan to introduce styles with the names of other coves across California soon. Next up: San Diego and Santa Barbara.

Trident General Store, $3 to $30, at the Pointe Discovery Shop at the Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes and at www.tridentgeneralstore.com.
 
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Photo: A shirt from the Trident General Store. Credit: Catherine Manzella

It's so money: Melillo installs ATM exclusively at Barneys

There's a new ATM at Barneys New York, but it's not the cash-dispensing kind.

ATM by Anthony Thomas Melillo is the name of a new line of über-luxe men's and women's T-shirts -- and just T-shirts -- by designer Tony Melillo, that launched exclusivley in Barneys New York and Barneys Co-op stores in February. To mark the occasion, two of Hollywood's brothers Huvane -- Stephen (the publicist) and Kevin (the agent) -- hosted a party and charity shopping event at the Beverly Hills store on Thursday for Melillo (whom they've known for decades), with 10% of all proceeds from ATM sales going to amfAR.

Launching a label with a single high-end T-shirt might have sounded ridiculous if James Perse hadn't done exactly that, and the designer explained that the hyper-focus on trying to perfect a single basic garment like the T-shirt was a welcome change of pace from some of his other projects, the most high-profile of which is serving as creative director of Selena Gomez's exclusive-to-K-Mart apparel line. (In 2009, Melillo, whose CV includes launching sportswear label Nova USA and a stint at Generra, co-founded licensing company Cynosure Holdings to focus specifically on mass market celebrity clothing lines.)

[Updated] Fashion News: 'Get back on board,' Costa Concordia T-shirt screams

Whenever there is a disaster, T-shirts soon follow. Italians apparently are scooping up one that lambastes Francesco Schettino, captain of the sunken Costa Concordia cruise ship, with the very words Coast Guard official Gregorio De Falco screamed at him when he abandoned the faltering craft: “"Get back on board," with an expletive -- in Italian, of course. [Telegraph] 

E! host Giuliana Rancic tweeted words of support and admiration to fashion blogger and model Lauren Scruggs, above, who is recovering from an accident in early December that cost her an eye and a hand when she walked into a spinning airplane propeller. "You will come out of this stronger with more meaning to your life," said Rancic, who underwent a double mastectomy recently. "Thanks...I believe your sweet words," Scruggs, who  is recovering, tweeted back. [People]

The Paris men's shows began Thursday, with more of the graphic prints, double-breasted coats and bulky jackets like those shown earlier in the week in Milan for fall 2012. [The Cut]

In fact, in Paris Jean Paul Gaultier showed a brick-patterned outfit uncannily similar to one Moschino showed in Milan. [The Cut] [This post  updated at 4:34 p.m. Jan. 20 to correct the misspelling of Moschino as "Moshino."]

Ungaro is faltering. After losing creative director Giles Deacon last year and chief executive Jeffry Aronsson in December, the design house is reportedly telling retailers it won't be able to deliver the spring-summer collection, and it's canceling appointments to show pre-fall. [WWD]

Isaac Merritt Singer was issued a patent for a sewing machine on Aug. 12, 1851. The rest is, of course, history. To celebrate that history, Singer has come out with a new model, the Singer 160 Limited Edition, that combines modern technology (like an automatic threader) with retro style, according to a news release sent out on Thursday. The machine will go on sale on HSN on Thursday. There's also a website where people can share stories about what Singer machines mean to them. That may sound odd, but more than 2,000 people have already shared their reminiscences of grandma and her old treadle model.

A class-action suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court on Wednesday against Forever 21 on behalf of one current and four former employees says the retailer owes back wages for doing loss-prevention security checks -- i.e., checking their purses before they went home, to make sure they weren't stealing anything -- off the clock and for denying them meal breaks. [Huffington Post]

The British Fashion Council announced that the winners of its Fashion Forward scholarships are Henry Holland, Louise Gray, Mary Katrantzou and James Long. [Grazia Daily]

Belle Gray,  Lisa Rinna's boutique in Sherman Oaks, has closed. [Racked]

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-- Susan Denley

Top photo: The stricken Costa Concordia has spawned a T-shirt critical of Capt. Francesco Schettino. Credit: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

Lower photo: Lauren Scruggs, shown before her accident, received words of encouragement from Giuliana Rancic. Credit: Associated Press  Photos Courtesy Janee Harrell 

Sleevecandy's 'accidentally ironic' thrift-store T-shirts

The way Reed Hushka sees it, the biggest problem with thrift shops isn't the lack of cool clothes but the hit-or-miss selection and sizes at individual stores. "I live in Chicago," Hushka said, "but my perfect T-shirt might be sitting in Austin, Texas."

And so a business was born. Calling them "accidentally ironic" and "ridiculously unique," Hushka is now exploiting his taste for questionably themed, collector and vintage T-shirts with the online business, Sleevecandy.com, which Hushka founded earlier this year in Evanston, Ill., with three grad-school classmates from Northwestern University. Whether the shirts were made by a corporation or a community group, Sleevecandy sells all the ridiculously awesome T-shirts its shoppers are able to find at Salvation Army stores in Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit, where 30% of each T-shirt's sale price is donated back to the national charity.

Just half a percent of all the T-shirts sold by the Salvation Army are ridiculous or interesting enough for Sleevecandy, the 28-year-old Hushka said. And not all of them are fit to be resold. To make sure they're clean and in good condition, the shirts are washed at a Chicago warehouse and inspected for stains and holes before being photographed, tagged with search words and uploaded to the website, where they're sold for $16 to $52 a pop. The upper end of the price range, Hushka said, are usually of an '80s vintage and reference a major force in pop culture, such as Coca-Cola's switch to a new formula.

The site has about 2,200 T-shirts for sale at any given time. Some go faster than others. An "Exxon Mobil Helping Hands" shirt sold within a few days. A "Striving for the Best -- Summer Camp 1996" "has been on the site forever," Hushka said.

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Photos: T-shirts found at Salvation Army and resold on Sleevecandy.com. Credit: Sleevecandy.com

O'Neill charity T-shirt helps heal the bay

Yes, we know that O’Neill's T-shirt benefiting Heal the Bay has been out since Labor Day weekend and it's now officially autumn, but we're suckers for a charity T-shirt here at All The Rage central and until the bay is totally healed there's still a need, right?

The shirt, which is available in black or white, features the shadowy silhouette of a surfer catching a wave and has the action sports brand's logo superimposed over top, and Heal the Bay's logo beneath, and 50% of the $19.50 purchase price will go to that organization's efforts to keep Southern California coastal waters and watersheds safe, healthy and clean.

And since the shirts are available only at O'Neill's Santa Monica flagship store (which opened not far from the beach this summer at 131 Broadway), it'll be convenient to catch one on the way back from catching your first waves of the (fall) season.  

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: Some of the proceeds from O'Neill's charity T-shirt will go to Heal the Bay. Credit: O'Neill

Girls, Forever 21 tee contest could win money for your school

Forever 21 is giving budding young artists a chance to design a special tee and win money for school improvements.

The T-shirt designed by the winner of a competition sponsored by the company is to be sold online and in stores starting this fall and until supplies run out, and will be part of a special holiday promotion. And $1,000 in prize money will go to the winner's school.

The Heart 2 Art competition is open to girls ages 6 to 14. Original artwork that represents why the artist's "school is cool" should be submitted by July 28. The work of 10 finalists will be posted on Facebook, where fans can vote on the winner, who will be announced on Aug. 5.

More details are available on the Forever 21 website.

-- Susan Denley

Photo: Mannequins grace the window of the Forever 21 store at the Beverly Center, shortly after its opening this spring. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

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Frugal Fashion: Mandy Moore, between 'Tangled' and 'Falling Slowly,' flexes her fashion cred

Sometime between Mandy Moore's hit song “Candy” in 1999 and now, I blinked, and she became  “someone to watch” in the fashion world. The singer, songwriter and sometimes actress was always adorable, but she’s given herself a complete revamp, turning the “cute” spaghetti-strap-tank-wearing, midriff-baring teeny bopper into a chic, sophisticated woman.  

Moore recently popped up on our fashion radar when she blew away our own Melissa Magsaysay in an elegant, sparkly Monique Lhuillier dress at this year’s Oscars. Moore has also made recurring appearances on best dressed lists, such as InStyle magazine's Look of the Day feature.

The 26-year-old appeared most recently as the voiceof Rapunzel in Disney’s "Tangled," and is slated to appear in the film "Falling Slowly" opposite the dreamy Rodrigo Santoro next year, finding plenty of reasons to impress on red carpets everywhere.

Moore attended Lucky Magazine's First Annual "Lucky Shops LA" at Siren Studios in Los Angeles recently in a sheer top, double-breasted collarless jacket, black tapered leg pants and two-tone ballet flats. She accessorized her carefree look with a ring necklace and a white simple structured tote. Her barely there, fresh face makeup and effortless pulled-back hairstyle helped her nail the look.

Every part of Moore's outfit is super versatile and accessible for the fashionista on a budget. Each item is a great find to pair with any number of pieces you may already have in your closet. Moore's sheer T-shirt happens to be one of my closet staples. It's perfect to dress up or down and super comfy. For a scoopneck shirt that will easily become your go-to "T," snag the Favorite scoopneck T from Gap for $12.50. Dress up your shirt with a collarless, cropped sleeve jacket like Moore's. The 212 Collection tweed jacket from Kohl's is $31.99 and great to wear with office wear or a new dress.

Moore's pants remind me of the tapered-leg style often worn by stylish Brits Kate Moss, Alexa Chung and Sienna Miller. Get the look with the Rory cotton-twill pant by Miller's brand Twenty8Twelve for $57.50 on Outnet.com or the Belted Twill pants from Forever 21 for $22.80.

Moore's structured tote looks great and can be the perfect "everything" bag -- it's big enough to fit your keys, makeup, wallet, phone and the rest of your life nicely. Aldo makes two great totes, the Cyphert tote for $45 and the Bazer tote for $34.98. Dillard's also carries an all-purpose tote by Kate Landry Paris for $55.30.

A good pair of flats is always a smart investment, especially ones you can wear to work, the store, lunch  or your favorite bar. To get Moore's two-tone look try the Annie Cybil cork and black patent flats from Zappos.com for $49.95. The cork texture is fun but the patent leather dresses up the shoe for that nighttime feel.

Happy shopping!

Have an outfit you're dying to buy but need a frugal alternative? Email us a picture. We're up for the challenge.

-- Jenn Harris

twitter.com/Jenn_Harris_

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Photo: Mandy Moore attends Lucky Magazine's First Annual "Lucky Shops LA" at Siren Studios on April 7 in Los Angeles. Credit: Frederick M. Brown /Getty Images.

Shirt photo: Gap scoopneck T, left. Credit: Gap.com; 212 Collection tweed jacket, right. Credit: Kohls.com.

Pant photo: Rory cotton twill pant by TwelvebyTwelve, left. Credit: Outnet.com; Belted twill pant, right. Credit: Forever21.com.

Bag photo: From left, Cyphert tote. Credit: Aldo.com; Bazer tote. Credit: Aldo.com. Kate Landry Paris tote. Credit: Dillards.com. 

Shoe photo: Annie Cybil flats. Credit: Zappos.com.

Cool 'L.A. kid' Scott Caan's collection pops up at The Hundreds

 
On the eve of the Academy Awards, a select group of hipsters and fashionistas was invited to celebrate the launch of the newest collaboration for streetwear store The Hundreds with actor/director/photographer Scott Caan, star of CBS' "Hawaii Five-O."  The Hundreds by Scott Caan collection is a series of T-shirts with prints of Scott Caan’s photography from his 2009 book “Scott Caan: Photographs Vol. 1.”  In honor of this collection, The Hundreds has opened a pop-up gallery/store for one week where original prints from the book, T-shirts from the new collection and signed copies of Caan’s book will be available for purchase.

Scott’s father, actor James Caan, was proud to see his son’s collection of photographs on display at the event Saturday. “I gave him his first camera,” he said. “It was given to me by Francis Coppola in 1970. It was a brand new Nikon. I love what he’s done with it. It’s amazing,” the elder Caan said.

Scott fell in love with photography in 2001 while directing “Dallas 362” with cinematographer Phil Parmet. “Phil taught me about lenses, shooting, f/stops and film speeds and from then on I was just obsessed with it,” he said. “I carried a camera everywhere I went for almost nine years.”

The book contains photographs from Caan’s film sets, his cross-country drives and of women. Women were definitely last on his list of what he likes to shoot. “I had too many friends that were kind of pervy and shot women to get them in bed. I didn’t want to be in that category,” he said. “Then later I was hanging out with this girlfriend of mine, and I was living in a hotel and she said how come you never shoot photos of me? And I said it’s not really my thing and she said, well, do it.”

That was the beginning of what has become a chapter in the book called Ladies in Color and a series of provocative photographs that adorn T-shirts in The Hundreds by Scott Caan collection.

Caan’s book also contains black and white stills of actors he has worked with including Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Don Cheadle as well as places he’s visited. “His access is very unique,” said Bobby Kim, co-founder with Ben Shenassafar of The Hundreds. “He could be with a hot chick in a hotel or be standing on top of the stairs at the Cannes festival. Not many people have that perspective. But what we really like about Scott is that he’s first and foremost an L.A. kid. You’ll see him skateboarding up and down Fairfax, and you’ll go to the beach in Malibu and see him surfing too.

 “He embodies cool art, design and subculture,” said Kim. “And that is our demographic, the everyday kid who loves what we stand for.”

T-shirts, prints and signed copies of the book will be available at the pop-up store next door to The Hundreds until Sunday.

T-shirts: $36
Signed copies of the book: $100
Prints from the collection: starting at $500 for a Polaroid and up to $15,000 for the prints.

The Hundreds pop-up shop, 7907 Rosewood Ave., Los Angeles. Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday through Sunday.

--Raha Lewis

Photos: Top, from left, Ben Shenassafar, James Caan, Scott Caan, Bobby Kim. Credit: Willy Toledo, for The Hundreds.

Left: Some of the T-shirts in The Hundreds by Scott Caan Collection. Credit: Raha Lewis. 

Q&A: Firooz Zahedi captures Elizabeth Taylor in pre-revolution Iran

Firooz Zahedi's life was changed by an unofficial photo assignment for a Hollywood legend.

In 1976, Zahedi, a scion of an Iranian political family, had passed up a diplomatic career to try to break into the world of freelance photography. At the time, his cousin, Ardeshir Zahedi, the Iranian ambassador to the United States, happened to be consorting with Elizabeth Taylor and introduced the actress to the young photographer. Subsequently, Taylor was invited on a goodwill visit to Iran and she insisted on taking Firooz Zahedi as a travel companion and photographer.

In Iran, Zahedi shot Taylor amid the ruins of Persepolis, outside the entrance of a mosque in Shiraz and draped in scarves found in Isfahan bazaars. At this point, the two-time Academy Award winner eschewed the conservative Yves Saint Laurent dresses she had worn to state dinners with the shah in favor of T-shirts, peasant blouses and flared jeans. Taylor presaged the trends of today by layering her bazaar finds and chadors over contemporary fashion pieces.

After the trip, Zahedi, who was the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Andy Warhol's Interview, told the artist about the snapshots taken with Taylor in Iran. Warhol decided to plan a cover story on Taylor for Interview around the photos. Not expecting compensation, the budding photographer received a  check for $200 from the notoriously thrifty Warhol -- marking his first big professional break and the start of a successful career.

Since then, Zahedi, based in L.A. since 1978, has gone on to shoot celebrity covers for Vanity Fair, Time and InStyle. Most famously, he lensed the iconic poster for Pulp Fiction featuring Uma Thurman in a black bob, smoking a cigarette.

Zahedi’s photographs of Taylor on that trip are the subject of an exhibition, "Elizabeth Taylor in Iran," opening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Saturday and scheduled to run through June 12. He invited All the Rage to drink Persian tea at his modern-art festooned Wilshire Corridor condo while chatting about his upcoming show.

All the Rage: How did the show come about?

Zahedi: I was meeting with the curator of the Middle East department at LACMA. We’re trying to form a committee to raise money to buy contemporary Iranian art from contemporary Iranian artists based in Iran. She said, "I’m looking for some photos of Iran in the ’70s, prior to the revolution." I told her I had been there with Elizabeth Taylor [in 1976]. I sent her these photos. She said, "Let’s do a show."

This was pre-revolution, so there wasn’t a strict dress code?

Elizabeth Taylor had come to Washington with a few suitcases and found out that she was going to go to Iran and meet the shah and the empress. And she had no clothes. Saint Laurent had a boutique across from Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase. I went on her behalf and bought several conservative outfits for the trip like a blazer and some dresses.

Ron Artest-themed T-shirt gives credit where credit is due

I know the Los Angeles Lakers' Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics for their 16th NBA championship is now a month old, but there still seems to be a lot of Laker-related merchandise floating around town.

My new favorite is a T-shirt I spotted in the window of a 3rd Street boutique a few weeks ago, and I couldn't stop chuckling about it so Sunday I stopped by and snapped up one for myself -- and a couple more for the Laker fans in my life.

The yellow T-shirt is screen-printed in purple with the image of a basketball and the words "I want to thank my psychiatrist," a reference to Ron Artest's post-win interview shout-out to his own therapist, whom he credited with helping him improve his game.

I've since seen a handful of similar shirts floating around the Internet, but this is by far the best-looking of the bunch. I picked mine up at the Kingsbury shop (a few doors west of Joan's on Third) for $15 each, but if you''re looking to score one, you better move fast. The T-shirts have been a popular seller according to the guy behind the counter, and only a handful of the shirts are left.

*[UPDATED 7/19/10 12:06 PM]: We've also been informed that the T-shirt can be purchased online from another source by clicking here.

Kingsbury, 8366 W. 3rd St.,  11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.

-- Adam Tschorn

Ron Artest did not shrink from psychotherapy

Photo: A purple-and-gold T-shirt that references Ron Artest's memorable shout-out to his therapist after the Lakers won the 2009-2010 NBA championship. Credit: Adam Tschorn