Fun is what Meister stands for
His collection was one of the surprises of the fall season at Los Angeles Fashion Week. It wasn’t another jeans-and-sweats fest. Instead, it was exactly in step with what was going on in Europe, and full of fall’s new proportions -- a black balloon sleeve jacket worn belted over leggings, a tunic top cinched over a perfect high-waist pencil skirt, and a bubble-shaped, black-and-white plaid suit echoing Balenciaga.
But when David Meister came out to take a runway bow, it was the first time many people had ever laid eyes on him. No newcomer, this designer has an 8-year-old, $40-million business that bears his own name. You might even have a print dress of his hanging in your closet right now, bought at one of the 400 stores that carry the line nationwide, including Saks, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus.
But just who is David Meister, anyway?
For starters, he’s one of only 18 designers this year to be invited to join the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America based in New York. Acceptance, after a grueling application process requiring letters of reference, sketches and more, is a signal that a designer has arrived, and an opportunity to network with top people in the industry.
Still, right now, if he’s known at all, it’s for “better dresses.” In fashion parlance that means his $300 to $400 styles aren’t expensive, but aren’t cheap either, and they follow trends, instead of starting them. In stores, his clothes hang next to those of other faceless labels like ABS and Theory.
“There are some people who come to Neiman Marcus when I make special appearances, but many more don’t know me,” said Meister, 43.
At a recent editors lunch at the Chateau Marmont, he wore crisp khaki pants, a T-shirt and a horse-bit belt -- polished and in control, except for his half-bitten fingernails. He is not as eager to talk about himself as some designers, which is a nice thing. And he likes to laugh, a high-pitched laugh, which he lets out when recalling a few wild days at the University of Cincinnati.
Meister just barely chose design school over medical school. He has been known to leave himself voice mail messages when inspiration strikes, and he says the seminal moment in his creative development came at age 8, when “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” first aired.
“At the end of the credits it said ‘Cher’s costumes by,’ and it made me realize someone did this for a living.”
He launched his line in 1998, after designing for Laundry and Danskin. Now, he’s eager to build a lifestyle brand with licenses for sunglasses, shoes, swimwear, and his own boutiques.
The runway show was a good start -- almost all black, on trend, and sophisticated, miles away from the floral dresses that are a Meister signature. “I’ve always been about modern and great shape and it was just taking it to the next level,” he said.
Though he plans to show his spring collection at L.A. Fashion Week in October, this month is about the Emmys. It’s his first foray into the celebrity dressing game -- “some pretty big people” is all he would divulge. But he’s sensitive about going too Hollywood, or too high fashion.
“It’s fabulous when you see a collection and it’s just filled with ideas,” he said. “But in reality, that doesn’t sell. I want to push it as far as I can but still be realistic to my customer. It’s about making a woman feel good and look good. It’s not about the clothes.”
Besides being admitted to the design council, his line was picked up by Canada’s Holt Renfrew, and a few more specialty stores, he said.
“I want people to know I’m a real person, that I have a passion for what’s modern and sexy and pretty,” he said. “I want them to know I stand for fun and I’m not this serious, uptight, ego-driven designer.”
Meister commutes from a streamlined, mid-century modern house in the Hollywood Hills to his offices in the City of Industry. He is part of the Kellwood Co., one of the leading apparel marketers of mid-priced brands such as Phat Farm, Baby Phat, Democracy and Sag Harbor.
On a recent visit, he showed me around the nondescript glass building, a maze of indistinguishable corridors and staircases. The warehouse is airplane hangar huge, full of clothes ready to be shipped. The design offices for the different brands look the same, cubicles with clothing racks. On one rack hangs a black D&G; shift dress, for inspiration perhaps.
Sales have been strong for fall, said company president Gail Cook, and licensing is on the horizon. But getting Meister’s name out there is the first priority.
“Once you get to a certain point it doesn’t matter,” Cook said. “Ellen Tracy is a 50-year-old company and she was there for 45, so her leaving didn’t terribly affect brand recognition. But in the early stages it’s like a grass-roots political campaign.”
Victoria’s Secret launches new line
The ‘80s supermodels may be making a comeback, with Linda Evangelista on the cover of Vogue and in fall’s Versace ads alongside Angela Lindvall, Carolyn Murphy and Christy Turlington, and Kate Moss gracing the front of Vanity Fair’s style issue and half the ads in the book.
But Victoria’s Secret has always stood by its giraffe-sized genetic anomalies, and it gathered a particularly lovely herd on Monday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, including Heidi Klum and Karolina Kurkova, trailed by Jeremy Piven and others. The occasion was the brand’s biggest beauty launch, for the new Very Sexy makeup line. It’s available only in L.A. area stores for the next six weeks, and then will be rolled out to the rest of the country.
There are more than 200 new products, including blendable lip and bronzer mosaics, which play off of the Bobbi Brown shimmer brick idea, a cream to powder foundation with an SPF of 30, and lip glosses with names like Wet, Melt and Slow Burn.
Victoria’s Secret lovelies will be in Hollywood again this year. The lingerie giant plans to hold its annual fashion show at the Kodak Theatre on Nov. 16.
You Wear It Well film fest debuts
Decades’ Cameron Silver, fashion designer Kevan Hall and stylist Arianne Phillips were among those who came out for the first You Wear It Well fashion film festival in Hollywood on Tuesday. Roughly 25 films were screened at the event, which was organized by photographer-artist Dino Dinco and Paris-based fashion blogger Diane Pernet.
Some were better than others, and a few were nothing more than artsy advertisements for little-known labels. But the themes that emerged proved that the festival deserves time to develop and grow. Nick Knight and Nigel Buck’s “Diversity Is a Form of Wealth” challenged the definition of beauty by going behind-the-scenes at the runway show John Galliano cast from the circus and the street, while Patricia Canino and Sergei Pescei’s “Love Affair” brought to mind how clothes can make a woman feel like a star in her own movie. But the biggest crowd pleaser of all was L.A.-based comic actor Liam Sullivan’s “Shoes,” a hilarious music video about the shoe-obsessed, which can be seen by searching “Kelly’s Shoes” on YouTube.com.
