The Fashion File

Move Over Oscar, Meet Stanley



With the introduction of the Dallas Fashion Collectors’ fashion awards at Fair Park in April, a new symbol of fashion excellence bows on the local scene. “The Stanley,” named after Stanley Marcus, chairman emeritus of Neiman-Marcus, is designed to honor a designer of international reputation who has made a significant contribution to the fashion industry.

This year’s award goes to designer James Galanos, perhaps best known for his eveningwear worn by first lady Nancy Reagan. The Los Angeles-based designer will accept the award at a gala cocktail reception and dinner April 25 at the Hall of State in Fair Park.

The event will be chaired by Ann Keenes of Neiman-Marcus and Dallas Apparel Mart don and key member of The Fashion Collectors Jacques de la Marre . Lester Melnick president Bud Knight is president of the The Fashion Collectors. In addition to the evening’s festivities. Bud Knight is expected to announce preliminary plans to honor new design talent in Dallas.

The Fashion Collectors, a two-year-old organization, is a support group of The Dallas Historical Society. The group is charged with the promotion, preservation, restoration, and exhibition of the Historical Society’s Costume Collection, Currently, more than 4.000 costumes from the late 18th century are housed at the Historical Society at Fair Park.



Seeing Double



That might be top Dallas model Jan Strimple you see in Neiman-Marcus, or it might not. Strimple. whose international work caught the eye of world-renowned mannequin maker Adel Rootstein, has been immortalized in plastic. Soon, Jan Strimple mannequins will make their way to department stores all across the world-the Dallas N-M has already reported that their “Jans” have been delivered. In cities where the tall redhead is well-known, the mannequins will brandish her coppery hair color to give an effect as close to real as possible. Strimple, long known for her smoky-eyed couture look, says that the mannequin company approached her about a year ago, and since that time she’s been approached by other companies.



Falling For Fallon



YOUNG DALLAS designer Christopher Fallon is Finally seeing the fruits of his labor shown-and sold-around his hometown. His eveningwear creations are available at The Gazebo and Lou Lattimore, Tootsie’s in Houston and Margaret’s in Forth Worth. Fallon has just opened a new studio at 830 Exposition Ave. in Deep Ellum. His collection retails between $500 and $2,000. Fallon says that he wants to create a sense of understatement and elegance in his collection: “My dresses are designed to reveal the female form, not to camouflage with excess.”



The Bottom Line



A NASHVILLE-BASED shoe manufacturer, Genesco, brings its brand of “upscale” footwear to Prestonwood and Valley View. The shoe boutiques are called Quotes and promise to offer better footwear in the $40 to $100 range. The main merchandise will be Quotes own line, although other national brands-such as Bass, Sebago, Clarks, Van Eli, Sesto Meucci, Sperry, and Liz Clai-borne-will also be available. Company spokesmen say that Quotes footwear is all-leather, with slight European styling and classic design. Perhaps the biggest news about this new store is the store itself: shopping here is supposed to be an “event.” and store owners have dabbled in neon and sound systems to keep shoppers buying to the beat.



In The Village



HIGHLAND PARK VILLAGE is the latest U.S. location for Carlos Falchi, Coty award-winning designer who is best known for his unique leather handbags. Falchi introduced his first shoe collection in spring 1985. The Highland Park boutique will feature accessory collections from Stephen Dweck, Robert Lee Morris, M & J Savitt, Wendy Gell and Schiko Uozumi; shoes designed by Azzedine Alaia, Gianfranco Ferre, Diego Delle Valle; scarfs by designer Carol Motty; hats by designer Patricia Underwood; and belts by designer Dennis Higgins.



At The Galleria



Now open in the Galleria, In-Wear Matinique features innovative casual wear for both men and women. Each year, four collections and matching accessories of In-Wear (women) and Matinique (men) will be introduced. Each collection is inspired by a theme such as “ethnic” or “mythology”.



At The Crescent



With the grand opening of The Crescent in March, Rosewood Properties latest hotel/ retail venture, a new fashion showcase opens up to Dallas audiences.

From the Windy City, the mens’ store Bigsby & Kruthers opened a 12,500-square-foot anchor store on the first and mezzanine levels. Like its Chicago store, the Dallas location features a mens club/library modeled after a law library in Milan. The store prides itself on its award-winning retail advertising. Recently, they received the Communication Arts Award for their publication, The Suit Book, which profiles Chicago’s top business and sports leaders and other customers in Bigsby & Kruthers clothes. According to company spokesmen, the Dallas store will be the largest mens store in the area exclusively carrying better business suits.

Stanley Korshak has arrived. The Crescent anchor store, renowned for its accessories, features several lease boutiques: The Classics, softly tailored clothing for executive women; Visage, American and European clothing for women; Couture Collection, fine cocktail wear for women; Euro-Sport, European sportswear for women; Sportique, American designer sportswear for women; Men’s Clothier, full line of traditional clothing and accessories for men; and Jean Louis David, an internationally acclaimed hair design salon.

And fashion shops debuting on the store’s Street of Shops are C. Bueche Precious Jewels (fine jewelry), Jere Scott (accessories), Studio K (makeup and skin care), Fogal of Switzerland (fashion legging from Switzerland), and Joseph’s, a designer shoe collection for women. Joseph’s will feature the creations of Stuart Weitzman among others. (Weitzman has more shoes on ladies’ feet in Texas than anywhere else.) In late February, Weitzman unveiled his new creation, The Yellow Rose of Texas, a special shoe designed to commemorate the Texas Sesquicentennial. The rhinestone-studded pump will be available by special order.

Elsewhere at The Crescent, skin-care specialist Ilona of Hungary will open her fifth Institute of Skin Care in a 3,000-square-foot space on the first level.

Also moving in is women’s designer Ron Fritts, who has stores on Madison Avenue and in Soho in New York. The Dallas boutique is his first fashion foray outside New York City. Fritts opens the boutique with a complete line of clothes from casual day wear to after-five cocktail dresses. Many of the clothes, designed especially for Dallas women, are patterned after the classical, flowing robes of Greece and Rome.

Stephane Kelian Paris, a New York-based women’s shoe store, also makes its debut. Braided, hand-woven leather is the trademark of Stephane Kelian, a shoe designer who is well known for changing his designs completely each season and featuring very French-looking accessories. Kelian has also created a collection for designers Jean-Paul Gaultier and Claude Montana. Both lines will be available at the Dallas store.

Men get equal time for their feet at To Boot New York, a yankee implant scheduled to open April 2. The store features its own footwear designs or those of well-known European designers. Store spokemen say that their shoes are “updated classics and casuals to sporty and way-out fashion.” The store, well known for its “sock wall,” also features men’s hosiery arranged in cubicles that form a huge colorful tapestry.



At Travis Walk



Attenzione Signori, an Italian menswear store, has leased a 1,822-square-foot space in the new Travis Walk office/shopping development located in the middle of the Knox Street area. Scheduled to open April 1, the store will offer fine Italian menswear, including wool, silk, and linen suits and cotton, linen, and silk sportswear. And the Canali, among other collections, will be featured.

Opening later this spring at Travis Walk, Monsoon by Handel’s will introduce the swanky London label to Dallas. The first U.S. shop will be an exact replica of the Monsoon Shop on Sloane Street in London and will feature the same innovative sportswear, dresses, separates and knits. Bea Handel, who introduced the British designer Jaeger to Texas, describes the Monsoon spring line as “romantic” and “ageless.”



Jet-Set Togs



Newcomer Saodade (pronounced Sao-da-je), at Lovers and Inwood, brings a mix of better and upper-priced sportswear to Dallas. Clothes just aren’t clothes at Saodade, they’re an “experience” say store operators Scott Reinboth, Stephanie Rein-both Lynch and Jeff Lynch. The trio invites you to experience their international designs from Mary Jane Marcasiano (United States), Matsuda (Japan), Parachute (Canada), Dorthory Bis (France), Bernie Yates (England) Jurgen Weiss (West Germany), Best Company (Italy), among other jet-setting designers.

The mood turns Oriental down the street, at 4348 Lovers, where Jean-Charles has opened an exclusive Japanese boutique, featuring designwear from the land of kimonos.

But the Japanese invasion is not confined to Miracle Mile. Later this year, the Chicago-based Japanese design house, City, is making its Dallas Debut in the old Adam Hats building on North Central Expressway.



Hair-Raising



Olines is the first salon to bring high-fashion hair styling to Oak Cliff. Opened by former Images by Aki manager and head stylist Caroline Rasor and partner Doreen Williams, the salon has four full-time stylists in addition to stylist Tony Fielding, who works there on a part-time basis. The salon is located in North Oak Cliff at 390 W. 7th, between Madison and Bishop, in what’s unofficially called the old Oak Cliff arts district.

Wayne Towsley, formerly of The Parlour, takes the plunge and opens the Wayne David Salon at 3607 Oak Lawn. Towsley is known for his rather unusual hair styles, many of which have been featured in several beauty magazines.

The Ric Bishop Salon has expanded to a second location at Cha Cha’s, 3911 Oak Lawn. And for the younger set. the salon (both locations) is offering the Student Club, a discount membership for hairstyling services. The club, open to students ages thirteen through twenty-two, offers a haircut and blowdry for $15 and a 30 percent discount on all chemical services. Birth certificates or drivers* licenses are required on the first visit.

Face Facts



No look at what’s new this spring would be complete without mentioning the latest in skin care. All natural ingredients are key this year (and the more exotic, the better). Facialists are relying less on cleaning machines (they’re finding that equipment tends to be too rough for some skin types) and more on a thorough “hands only” massage for a more gentle approach.

Custom-blended to individual skin types, the $20, twenty-minute Colibri facia! (available at all JCPenney styling salons) uses all-natural products: an Oriental coconut and sugar-based cleanser, chamomile (a medicinal flower grown in Egypt and Italy), and collagen, a moisturizing ingredient found in skin cells.

Medicine and cosmetology join forces at A New Face, 436 Spanish Village. All services here are supervised by Dr. David Alkek, a dermatologist on staff at Medical City, and are performed by nurses and aestheticians. While most of the hour-long treatment is done by hand, two machines are used in the cleansing process-a warm mist machine to open up pores and a suction device to bring impurities to the surface.

At Haltom’s, 6833 Snider Plaza, they prefer to use only water-soluable products, and non-chemical peels fa treatment that removes dead skin layers and kills bacteria). And, best of all, you can have your face (including a “sinus massage”), neck, shoulders, arms, hands, and feet massaged to the point of no return. The cost is $40.