PT by R. Marciano: Denim With a Glam/Punk Edge
Rebecca Marciano, daughter of Guess Inc. co-founder Armand Marciano, is carving her own path in fashion with glam/punk-inspired men’s and women’s clothing line PT by R. Marciano, which will debut for Fall 2005.
Hand-sewn construction and one-of-a-kind details highlight the line of slinky tops and tailored separates. Silver chain link is hand-sewn onto a chic draping silk jersey top, and a silk/wool-blend women’s blazer is offered with silk lining in various prints and with different hand-painted designs on the back.
“If you are going to be paying these prices for something, it should be worth it and it should last for a long time,” Marciano said.
Wholesale price points are $28 for screen-printed tees, $120 for dresses, $150 for the women’s blazers with hand-painting and $260 for tweed men’s blazers with leather appliqueacute;s.
Despite the saturation of denim in the market, jeans are what Marciano knows best. She focuses on Italian cotton denim with basic washes and on denim/linen-blend fabrications with a metallic thread–stitched back-pocket design and sterling-silver buttons. She keeps distressing to a natural-looking minimum and saves embellishments for custom orders. Denim wholesale price points range from $85 to $99.
Though it is undeniable that Marciano’s surname has helped her in her endeavors, the designer emphasized that she is using her own savings to launch the line. “[My name] definitely helps me in the sense of people recognizing my name or people wanting to see [the line] more so because of that—and some people not wanting to see it at all because of it,” she said.
The Fall collection takes its name from her 2-year-old retail store, PunkTure, which she co-owns with her sister, Anastasia. The Beverly Hills store originally opened as Star 55 and was briefly a Von Dutch store before becoming PunkTure.
The boutique, which is a separate enterprise from the PT by R. Marciano line, carries labels such as A & G, Antik Denim and Morphine Generation.
The designer is also creating one-of-a-kind painted denim and hand-cut leather appliqueacute;s in collaboration with rock ’n’ roll–style artist Mark Gray for H. Lorenzo in Los Angeles. She plans to collaborate with a different artist each season. Each artist will have a style countering the designer’s to make for a constantly changing line.
“I personally don’t wear the same type of styles all the time,” Marciano said. “I figured that your average person is not likely to wear the same type of flavor all the time.”
For more information, call (310) 273-5069. —Rhea Cortado
