by KAREN VON HAHN
globeandmail.com
When it comes to Los Angeles, I must admit that for years I stuck with Woody Allen in Annie Hall: Culturally, and in every other important sense, Manhattan was where it was at, whereas L.A. was a provincial backwater for shallow hedonists who can't walk past the curb to get into their car.
To some degree, this is still true. The cute valets outside every happening restaurant (many of whom, according to this paper's Review section - and the current Atlantic Monthly - are on the paparazzi payroll) still insist in the new eco-friendly L.A. on parking your car a foot from where you drove up - whether it's in a fashionably green Prius or a cooking-oil-fuelled Hummer (like the one the Governator himself zips around town in).
Weakened though my judgment may be from the interminable grey of this icy northeastern winter, my new impression is that in the old N.Y.-versus-L.A. battle, Los Angeles is claiming the upper hand. So much so that, after this most recent visit, I am just about ready to pack up my yoga mat, burn my salt-stained winter boots and move there. Don't believe me that Los Angeles is style's new HQ? Here are five reasons that might make you reconsider.
1) Blame it on L.A.
Think of it: Wardrobes featuring flip-flops, multiple gossamer-thin layers of clothing and $300 cult-label jeans, not to mention designer water, coffee culture, sushi nightclubs, yoga and the green movement, are huge lifestyle trends that have moved straight from the tabloid coverage of Hollywood celebrities to become the latest thing for the rest of us.
Except that it's a hell of a lot easier to saunter about in sheer layers and flip-flops when it's always sunny and warm, practise "wellness" with a view of swaying palm trees and survive on nothing but fresh fruit and water when the fruit isn't colourless and tasting of airplane diesel.
2) Headquarters of hype
Branding is nothing new in Hollywood. The studios, which always saw their stars as products, not only invented the idea of fame, but a whole star-making machinery to profit from it. These notions have now taken on such potency that California itself is a global brand (see surf culture, Hollister, The Hills, et al). And shameless self-promotion has become the American way.
Where old Hollywood might once have sought shelter in the quiet confines of the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, new Hollywood (in the form of eager celebrities such as Paris Hilton) actually tips off the paparazzi as to the time of their arrival at Fred Segal for some shopping or the Ivy for lunch, so that they can be assured that they will be greeted by snapping cameras and appear in the tabloids.
The business lesson is that attention-seeking is no longer just a personality disorder. And that there is no depth that cannot be further mined or plumbed, even if you are not in the entertainment industry. For instance, expat Canuck Fraser Ross made his Robertson Boulevard store, Kitson, famous by hyping the famous who shop there. Now, the strip boasts several Kitsons, each of which carries Kitson brand handbags, clothing and candles.
This can quickly get bizarre: L.A. interior designer Kelly Wearstler, far from content to rest on the bags of money she and her Kor developer husband have made off their design hotels, is so ready for her close-up, she poses like Gloria Swanson in a bias-cut gown on the cover of her coffee-table book (natch, an eponymous line of clothing is rumoured to be in the works).
Along with antler lamps bearing the outdoor outfitter brand Woolrich logo, Target now carries the Real Simple line of products - designed after the magazine of the same name, which guides its readers as to how to pare down and live a simpler life.
3) It's the shades
That fame itself is in fashion is further evidenced by the new "it" factor of sunglasses. Thanks to famous-for-being-famous celebs such as Nicole Richie, sunglasses big enough to hide behind have replaced handbags as the new shoes.
4) Brilliant art
SoCal, a show of Southern California art of the 1960s and 70s at the Getty Center, made it all clear for me: Where else could all the current emphasis in the design world on brilliantly glowing and lit-from-within objects and materials have come from but California? In particular, the work of light and space artists such as James Turrell and Robert Irwin, whose paintings and sculptural installations were so clearly inspired by the blindingly white glare off the edge of the Pacific Ocean (another reason for those giant glasses).
Speaking of design, the revival of classic Hollywood Regency interiors at chic hotels such as the Parker Palm Springs by Jonathan Adler and Wearstler's Viceroy further indicate that when it comes to making a style statement, designers are looking west, not east.
5) Even New York (and Toronto) loves L.A.
An outpost of Manhattan fave Intermix is now on Robertson Boulevard. Superchef Mario Batali has opened a hot L.A. resto called Mozza. New York cupcake bakers Crumbs are giving Sprinkles a run for their money. And Toronto is in on the action, courtesy of Terroni's Cosimo Mammoliti, whose new Beverly Boulevard location across from the CBS offices has line-ups around the block.
Now, even the New York fashion set's favourite shape-shifter, Marc Jacobs, has seen fit to go bicoastal. And where else would his new boutique be, but on a street made legendary on television, Melrose Place.
globeandmail.com
When it comes to Los Angeles, I must admit that for years I stuck with Woody Allen in Annie Hall: Culturally, and in every other important sense, Manhattan was where it was at, whereas L.A. was a provincial backwater for shallow hedonists who can't walk past the curb to get into their car.
To some degree, this is still true. The cute valets outside every happening restaurant (many of whom, according to this paper's Review section - and the current Atlantic Monthly - are on the paparazzi payroll) still insist in the new eco-friendly L.A. on parking your car a foot from where you drove up - whether it's in a fashionably green Prius or a cooking-oil-fuelled Hummer (like the one the Governator himself zips around town in).
Weakened though my judgment may be from the interminable grey of this icy northeastern winter, my new impression is that in the old N.Y.-versus-L.A. battle, Los Angeles is claiming the upper hand. So much so that, after this most recent visit, I am just about ready to pack up my yoga mat, burn my salt-stained winter boots and move there. Don't believe me that Los Angeles is style's new HQ? Here are five reasons that might make you reconsider.
1) Blame it on L.A.
Think of it: Wardrobes featuring flip-flops, multiple gossamer-thin layers of clothing and $300 cult-label jeans, not to mention designer water, coffee culture, sushi nightclubs, yoga and the green movement, are huge lifestyle trends that have moved straight from the tabloid coverage of Hollywood celebrities to become the latest thing for the rest of us.
Except that it's a hell of a lot easier to saunter about in sheer layers and flip-flops when it's always sunny and warm, practise "wellness" with a view of swaying palm trees and survive on nothing but fresh fruit and water when the fruit isn't colourless and tasting of airplane diesel.
2) Headquarters of hype
Branding is nothing new in Hollywood. The studios, which always saw their stars as products, not only invented the idea of fame, but a whole star-making machinery to profit from it. These notions have now taken on such potency that California itself is a global brand (see surf culture, Hollister, The Hills, et al). And shameless self-promotion has become the American way.
Where old Hollywood might once have sought shelter in the quiet confines of the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel, new Hollywood (in the form of eager celebrities such as Paris Hilton) actually tips off the paparazzi as to the time of their arrival at Fred Segal for some shopping or the Ivy for lunch, so that they can be assured that they will be greeted by snapping cameras and appear in the tabloids.
The business lesson is that attention-seeking is no longer just a personality disorder. And that there is no depth that cannot be further mined or plumbed, even if you are not in the entertainment industry. For instance, expat Canuck Fraser Ross made his Robertson Boulevard store, Kitson, famous by hyping the famous who shop there. Now, the strip boasts several Kitsons, each of which carries Kitson brand handbags, clothing and candles.
This can quickly get bizarre: L.A. interior designer Kelly Wearstler, far from content to rest on the bags of money she and her Kor developer husband have made off their design hotels, is so ready for her close-up, she poses like Gloria Swanson in a bias-cut gown on the cover of her coffee-table book (natch, an eponymous line of clothing is rumoured to be in the works).
Along with antler lamps bearing the outdoor outfitter brand Woolrich logo, Target now carries the Real Simple line of products - designed after the magazine of the same name, which guides its readers as to how to pare down and live a simpler life.
3) It's the shades
That fame itself is in fashion is further evidenced by the new "it" factor of sunglasses. Thanks to famous-for-being-famous celebs such as Nicole Richie, sunglasses big enough to hide behind have replaced handbags as the new shoes.
4) Brilliant art
SoCal, a show of Southern California art of the 1960s and 70s at the Getty Center, made it all clear for me: Where else could all the current emphasis in the design world on brilliantly glowing and lit-from-within objects and materials have come from but California? In particular, the work of light and space artists such as James Turrell and Robert Irwin, whose paintings and sculptural installations were so clearly inspired by the blindingly white glare off the edge of the Pacific Ocean (another reason for those giant glasses).
Speaking of design, the revival of classic Hollywood Regency interiors at chic hotels such as the Parker Palm Springs by Jonathan Adler and Wearstler's Viceroy further indicate that when it comes to making a style statement, designers are looking west, not east.
5) Even New York (and Toronto) loves L.A.
An outpost of Manhattan fave Intermix is now on Robertson Boulevard. Superchef Mario Batali has opened a hot L.A. resto called Mozza. New York cupcake bakers Crumbs are giving Sprinkles a run for their money. And Toronto is in on the action, courtesy of Terroni's Cosimo Mammoliti, whose new Beverly Boulevard location across from the CBS offices has line-ups around the block.
Now, even the New York fashion set's favourite shape-shifter, Marc Jacobs, has seen fit to go bicoastal. And where else would his new boutique be, but on a street made legendary on television, Melrose Place.
