Hollywood Couture: Resale Store Decadestwo Expands

On the eve of their newly expanded store, collectors and couture resellers Cameron Silver and Christos Garkinos talk about how they're still changing the state of Hollywood fashion

Cameron Silver stands nearby with one of his Cheshire grins, the kind that appears on the popular boy in the schoolyard when the girls are debating his assets. Except the assets that have the women before Silver engaged in tales of one-upmanship are the coveted fashion pieces from the recently expanded and renovated Decadestwo, the designer resale store Silver co-owns with Christos Garkinos, as well as the vintage finds they bagged upstairs at Silver’s original salon, Decades. “This is one of my first buys from Cameron,” boasts actress Tracee Ellis Ross of her olive-color jumpsuit designed by Sheridan Barnett for Quorum in the early 1970s.

Fellow actress Shiva Rose McDermott, Lady Caroline Butler, Texas socialite Becca Cason Thrash, designer Brigette Ro­ma­nek, couture collector Susan Casden, and Hollywood stylist Jeanne Yang are among the friends gathered at Silver’s home. A historical address built by modernist icon R.M. Schindler that Silver spent more than a year restoring, it’s filled with tokens of his fashionable life: an antiques shop sign spelling out my sin—lanvin for the Paris house’s scent of that name; a smattering of the vintage Hermès desk accessories he obsessively collects. “I think of fashion as art. I’m not about disposable shopping. Even my daywear is glamour,” Silver muses, an observation that applies equally to his shops’ stock and his own wardrobe. He’s always nattily turned out in offbeat Vivienne Westwood suits and the sharp bespoke suits of Jack Taylor—an institution of his native Beverly Hills, where Silver grew up around women who prized their James Galanos and Rudi Gernreich pieces, which he would later collect while on tour as a cabaret singer. A decade ago, when he was tired of the road and just about to release an album of Weimar-era standards, Silver decided to parlay his hobby into a full-time career.

But even this evolved into another showcase for a lifestyle that movies are made of. “Every day is theater,” says Garkinos, who expanded the business when he added the contemporary resale store Decadestwo in 1999 on the first level of the chocolate-color art deco building on Melrose Avenue. Until then, Garkinos had spent much of his twenties opening Disney flagship stores in Europe, then Virgin Megastores. Like Silver, whom he met on a blind date (the two quickly realized they would make better business partners), Garkinos cuts a lithe, handsome profile in skinny sharkskin Gucci and Alexander McQueen. “Fashion is such a language. Every day it’s putting on a show,” he says.

On the menu tonight at chez Silver are “seven sensualities,” from farmed caviar to sweet granadilla, a spread under the stars in homage to the night’s guest of honor, Frenchman and chef de cave Richard Geoffroy. Before the last case of Dom Pérignon Vintage Blanc 1999 is emptied, Rachel Griffiths sneaks in. She and everyone else around the expansive outdoor dining table are game for yet another toast: Griffiths had just that morning received an Emmy nomination for the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters. The actress later tells why her relationship with the Decades duo has gone beyond that of shopkeepers and red-carpet star: “They straight-out have immaculate taste. I have this great Halston caftan—they had a book with Anjelica Huston in it in 1972. I just feel so good in that dress. The boys have done a lot to take the mothballs and shame out of wearing pre-owned clothes and accessories.”

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Milan Fashion Week’s Best-Kept Secret: Hairstylist Alessandro Lisi’s Area 6 Salon

It would be easy to miss stylist Alessandro Lisi’s disarmingly low-key hair parlor, known simply as Area 6, if you didn’t know it was there—and that’s exactly the point. “It’s not your typical [Milanese] salon,” says Lisi with a laugh. “It’s not what you’d call posh.” To the contrary, everything about his tiny anti-salon, tucked away on the Corso Concordia, seems designed to put you at ease. There are two mismatched shabby-chic dressers against the wall, one long wooden table for cuts and color, and what appears to be a sequin-embroidered Christmas ornament in the shape of a rooster hanging in the corner. Lisi’s younger sister, the lovely and charming Francesca, operates the front desk. And then, of course, there’s Lisi himself. Once the assistant to legends Julian d’Ys, Didier Malige, and Eugene Souleiman, the 36-year-old hairstylist is now on the speed dial of a mind-blowing assortment of fashion editors, actresses, and Milanese cool girls. This being Fashion Week, he has been dashing between house calls and salon appointments. And yet he seems blissfully unfazed by all the commotion, chatting easily about his favorite Leonor Greyl shampoo and issuing Lisi-isms upon occasion. (All handbags, for instance, are regularly swept off the floor and onto a counter upon command. “I’m superstitious,” he says sheepishly. “It’s bad luck.”) Best of all, there’s his ability to deliver the kind of blowout that makes you feel, well, like you in 30 minutes flat—a feat we’d call priceless.
Salone Area 6, Corso Concordia 6, Milan 011.39.0236.566.257

ZERO-SUM GAME: There is no simple solution to the looks-health equation

 

By CAT DORAN

When a fashion person says you look “healthy,” you should probably consider cutting back on the carbs. You see, in the world of an underfed fashionista, healthy is usually a euphemism for fat.

Let’s say a model has ventured from a size 0 into a realm populated with positive integers—maybe all the way up to a 4. She will be deemed too large to walk the runway. Her modeling career in print isn’t necessarily over, because there is a magical tool called Photoshop, and her imperfections can be shaved off digitally. But she will be thought of as “larger” and probably won’t get as many bookings as the “regular” model-size girls.

For the designers who dress them—and the editors who critique them from the side of the runway—clothing looks better on girls who verge on starving adolescent. But what if there really is nothing healthy about these teenagers smoking cigarettes backstage to stay at fighting, er, stomping weight.

Every so often, the uproar over models that are too skinny makes a minor dent in the business, and some designer or other declares he or she will support the use of healthier-looking models. Earlier this year, it was rumored Francisco Costa, creative director for the Calvin Klein Collection for women, would no longer use size-0 models. As I write this, New York is gearing up for Fall Fashion Week, so it remains to be seen if Costa held true to that promise when his models hit the runway.

Lara Stone (she of the size 4 and red-hot career) has made quite a splash as a model whose curves defy the usual formula for catwalk success. Her va-va-voom figure is fuller than the rest of the girls who share the runway for the likes of Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Stella McCartney—and maybe that’s her appeal. The future stars of the runway are all so waifish, however, that I do have to admit she certainly looks “healthier” than her compatriots.

So, putting aside the fashion world, what does healthy look like for the rest of the population? Seventy-two million—nearly 34 percent—American adults are obese. So I’m going to count them out of the looking-healthy crowd, too.

Celebrities—the other group by which we seem to judge our own mortality—are also under the microscope when it comes to the fat patrol. It seems no young actress can gain a couple of pounds without having to undergo public speculation as to whether or not she’s pregnant. (Remember when Jessica Simpson got “fat” and was photographed in those “mom jeans”?)

These same overscrutinized starlets might whip themselves into shape for an action movie or undergo a body transformation for a red-carpet event, but it seems it’s through a heavy reliance on master cleanses (say, drinking only maple-syrup lemon water) and quick reductions. Again—not healthy, just healthy looking.

Who does look healthy, then? Athletes for sure, but they endorse (and I assume drink) bad-for-you sugar-water beverages and occasionally get caught taking performance-enhancing drugs. I guess if we’re going purely on what looks healthy, they are the closest we’re going to come in this world of “What you see isn’t always what you get.”

At the beginning of the year, I decided to start an experiment. I’ve tried to eat only what’s available from the local farmers’ markets. And you know something? Now when I do find myself at a purportedly quality purveyor of all things nutritious, the fare doesn’t feel even remotely as fresh in comparison.

I guess no matter how healthy people and foodstuffs appear, there’s often a darker truth lying beneath the surface about the ways and means they use to seem that way. Ugh, I need a cookie.

Here're some helpful hints for you to look cool almost all the time:

1. Clothes combinability

It's about wardrobe optimization. You don't need a walk-in closet to look cool. Just buy mixable clothes and the final amount of combos will be outrageous.

2. Quality

Choose a certain amount of money and add it to your wardrobe expenditure each year. So as time goes your wardrobe turns more and more elegant and expensive. Another point is that one cheap piece can spoil otherwise substantial look. So mind the details. French says that a woman should be profuse in underwear, cosmetics and shoes expenditures.

3. Flattering vs. trendy

Sometimes these attributes coincide, sometimes not. If not then prefer flattering to trendy. It's strange but in this case the persons of the opposite sex will find you more interesting than if you look funny, but trendy.

4. Color

The worst of all evils is to wear brown suit with gray shoes. For the rest it's recoverable. Some of the color combinations are quite safe when others are risky. Sometimes the special training is required. If you mistrust your own powers look through fashion magazines and steal well-chosen color combinations from the best stylists. It doesn't mean that you should copy the whole outfit, just the color of it.

5. False invisibility

Sexy underwear makes you unexplainably charming even if you wear a boring and serious business suit. Buy a couple of "special occasion" sets. Throw away even the most expensive and beautiful pantyhose or stockings after the first minor run appears. Nothing to do, it's the sad reality.

6. Good shoes

Good shoes not only decorate your outfit but also give you necessary comfort to feel confidence. Carefully chosen shoes will accent your dress, compensate your height, make your legs more tempting. Good shoes will cost you not more than $100-150. If they cost more than that it means that you are buying not only "good shoes" but also a "good name".

7. Fragrance

Good scent (perfume) will add something "extra" to your image. And still it needs to be done carefully. The quality and quantity are equally important. The best fragrance could turn into repugnant odor when it's too strong. Choosing perfume mind your individuality and style, occasion and season. Scents can be floral (very feminine), fruity (in its clean extreme range mostly for young people), oceanic and green (for casual wear, for men also), oriental (for special occasions and evenings) and woody (mostly for men) but it's not so dogmatic and different variations are possible. If you don't like to exert yourself upon the creative search just read the recommendation of the maker.

8. Appropriateness

It's also very important to be appropriate to occasion. An unconventional dress can make you thin-skinned. So find out anyhow the dress code of the occasion to be suitable to it. But this rule holds true only for middle class when elite and lumpen intellectuals are indulged to be eccentric.

9. Pulled together

Not everyone will note the trendy details of your outfit. But most men will know for sure how very pulled together you are. They couldn’t tell whether it's last season or this season Prada on you or whether it is Prada at all. So use it and don't be bothered. Wear famous labels just for yourself to have more confidence and to make your eyes sparkle.