California Apparel News

More than 20 years ago, Katharine Story moved to London to learn about style and art. She found the inspiration for her clothing label, however, when she returned to her sun-kissed hometown, Laguna Beach, Calif.

Her muse was Laguna Beach’s crazy quilt of funky art galleries, small-town friendliness and bohemian adventure. While the town’s character informed the style of her label, Katharine Story—which mixes exotic vintage details, rock ’n’ roll irreverence and earthy womanhood—Laguna Beach also was undergoing a change.

“There are more wealthy people. If you look at the cars people are driving, they’re Bentleys and Mercedes. They’re all wealthy cars,” Story said.

Story’s childhood town, which was well-known for its colony of bliss-seeking hippies in the 1970s, has become a haven for the well-to-do, who gravitated to real estate such as the $7.5 million houses that now grace the city’s picturesque beaches.

Surprisingly, the costs for commercial space have not skyrocketed, according to Steve Kothlow, a realtor for Laguna Properties. A square foot of commercial space ranges from $2.50 to $3.50 in most of the city’s business districts. A square foot costs $4.50 in the city’s most popular shopping area, Forest Avenue.

Kothlow said commercial leases are not as high as they are in other affluent areas because many retailers do not have to pay to maintain parking lots. There are few parking lots in Laguna Beach; most shoppers rely on metered parking. Rents also stay low because the city passed a law barring chain retailers from opening up shop, allowing the boutique market to be dominated by independent retailers.

Although space is notoriously tight in Laguna Beach, that has not stopped retailers from expanding their businesses. Boutique owners Jeannette and Wayne Engel will double the size of their boutique, Zazu, to more than 1,000 square feet the week of July 19.

“When you come to Laguna Beach, you fall in love with this place’s beauty and calm, and people are reluctant to move. So when a space becomes available, you better take it,” said Jeannette Engel, who founded Engel’s Showroom at the California Market Center and who worked as an advertising salesperson for California Apparel News in 1970.

The Engels jumped at the chance this year to lease space adjacent to their boutique, but Jeannette said she keeps the mood and the pace of the shop as relaxed as the city.

The top sellers at Zazu are Los Angeles companies such as Raw 7, whose embroidered cotton shirts cost $298. Also popular are T-shirts by Michael Stars ($30 to $65) and gold sequined halter tops by YaYa ($276).

Designer Kerry Cassill found Laguna Beach a good base of operations for her self-named label, which mixes business-savvy attire with sundresses and skirts bearing ethnic prints. On July 1, she moved into a 1,000-square-foot ocean-view store, where she will sell her label’s clothing and bedding. Price points for her apparel range from $70 to $110.

Another store with an ocean view is Talya, owned by first-time retailer Talya Moore. Moore, who opened the boutique April 30, said she hopes the natural beauty of the view will be balanced by the interior beauty of her boutique, which features a fireplace, blond hardwood floors and paintings by local artists.

Top-selling items include jeans by the Taverniti So label ($220), owned by Los Angeles–based Blue Concept. Fashion-forward skirts by New York–based Big Blue are reasonably priced at $85, according to Moore. Shirts by 3J Workshop ($178), a new division of Johnny Was, have proved popular at Talya because of their fit and Asian themes.

Art, clothes and fashion are the guiding themes for Meeschka, co-owned by Michelle Cohen and James “Munky” Shaffer, guitarist for platinum record–selling rock band Korn. Museum-style installations by artists such as Shannon Crawford give the shop a gallery feel, while the drums displayed in the store’s denim lounge bring out the boutique’s rock ’n’ roll roots.

Meeshka sells labels such as Los Angeles–based Great China Wall and denim maker DDC Lab from New York, both of which design clothes for Shaffer. DDC Lab jeans ($175) sell well as does denim by Ever ($248), based in Maywood, Calif. Great China Wall gives rock-concert T-shirts that are sometimes more than 20 years old new leases on style with stitching and other details ($475).

Laguna Beach designers are highly important at Meeshka. The hats and T-shirts of hometown label Turkey, for example, sell for $22.50.

The street sign outside Katharine Story’s Laguna boutique, X, bills it as a gallery, and the wall space is lined with the paintings of Vladimir Prodanovich. But the rack space is filled with Story’s clothing label. Favorites include wrap skirts with leather belts ($245). The wrap theme continues with tops such as the “Penelope,” a wrap top embellished with sequins and doilies ($425). For rock fans, there are hand-dyed T-shirts bearing lyrics from Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison ($62).

Story also owns a boutique on Los Angeles’ West Third Street, and she plans to start wholesaling her label by the end of the year. But she said her headquarters and inspiration will always remain in Laguna Beach.

“It’s easy here. People are relaxed. They seem like they’re on holiday mode,” she said.