California Apparel News

Designers Jeanell Suggs and Gladys Tamez are shedding their sweet side. The duo recently closed their line of baby-doll and trapeze dresses, Franny, which soldin Ron Herman and Barneys New York. Their new collection, launched for Fall ’08 and called Marquise, explores a darker edge.

“Franny was more feminine; this is more rock ’ n ’ roll sexy,” Tamez said. Musi c pl ays a s igni f i c ant source of inspiration for Marquise. The designers list Deborah Harry of Blondie and fashion icon Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as muses for the collection, which they designed while listening to the bands Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Led Zeppellin. “I think fashion and music always go together,” Tamez said.

Music is not just a spectator sport for the designers, who are also social butterflies in music and film circles. Suggs and Tamez have dressed the band Kings of Leon in custom suits and vocalist Thorunn Antonia of the London-based band Fields. Celebrity pals Kirsten Dunst, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and Salma Hayek have worn Franny and Marquise designs.

Suggs, who is originally from Texas, and Tamez, who grew up in Mexico, met their jet-setter friends in a similar way to how they met each other: Both were avid travelers. Suggs said whenever she headed to a new international destination, a friend would tell her, “’If you go to this city, call this person. They’re amazing’ hellip; You get there, and those five people introduce you to five people, and there you go. It’s on and on and on.”

The designers’ on-the-go traveling lifestyle is reflected in the versatile line, which relies on day-to-night dressing. The rock influence can be seen in the trails of glam gold and silver pyramid studs dressing up the center of a sheath dress and radiating from the shoulder of a top. Fitted pants have an edgy twist, with silver zippers down the front of the shins. Dresses combine the ease of cotton jersey knit fabric with a polished touch by using a sweater-knit weight.

“It’s everything that we would want when we were shopping or buying vintage. A lot of it is vintage-inspired, too, like ’70s and ’80s,” Suggs said. Wholesale prices range from $55 to $300. Marquise has been sold to Milk, Inago and Tracey Ross, all in Los Angeles.

For more information, call The Bar Showroom in suite 401 of The Lady Liberty building at (213) 622-1268. —R.C.