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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Monday, March 28, 2005

Fashions for spring

 •  Sue Wong's fashion advice
 •  Cheryl Steffe's top spring trends

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Fashion season in Honolulu has moved into high gear. There is abundant evidence that designers and retailers value this market, including recent appearances by diva Betsey Johnson and celebrity shoe designer Donald J. Pliner, and the opening of a Cole Haan flagship store. And more fashion notables are on the way.

Pretty, wearable clothes are a hallmark of fashion from New York-based designer Cynthia Steffe.
This week, meet Los Angeles fashion designer Sue Wong, who lives part time on Maui, and New York designer Cynthia Steffe, whose clothes can be seen on Katie Couric of the "Today Show."

STEFFE: Natural, wearable clothes

In the March issue of Vogue magazine, Couric praises Steffe's suits "because they're not crazy-expensive." No small praise from a woman who seems to watch her spending despite her multimillion-dollar salary.

Steffe is working with Couric to spiff up her on-air styling. The designer recently custom-made a dress for Couric to wear to meet the queen of England at Buckingham Palace. In addition, Couric takes her teenage daughter to Steffe's studio to shop.

It's not surprising Couric is a fan. Steffe clothes are as pretty, wearable and natural as the TV anchor.

Just before a phone interview from her studio in New York, Steffe was packing clothes to bring for her Neiman Marcus appearance (see box). She describes her spring 2005 collection as "perfect for the festiveness of Hawai'i. It's a warm weather, sort of Moroccan theme ... kind of bohemian with natural fibers. The colors are vegetable-derived and organic. The prints are like woodblock prints on cotton gauzes and batiks — very tropical."

Cynthia Steffe
The collection also includes paisleys, eyelets and Indian beading around the necklines of pretty sweaters.

Offering a glimpse into the creative process of a fashion designer, Steffe said the inspiration for her spring collection came from a single swatch of antique beaded fabric that "set the whole theme. The week after I found it, I was looking through some images of the '70s, and it just clicked. It made me think of the Rolling Stones spending time in Morocco."

Steffe's collections often begin with the fabric, "but building a collection is like a snowflake might build, with one germ or seed and one thing inspiring another."

One evening, she was reading Russian fairy tales to her 2-year-old daughter, Ava, and the illustrations inspired her to some new designs.

Designers make mall appearance

Two designers come to Neiman Marcus this week:

Sue Wong

1-3 p.m. tomorrow, Galleria, Level 2

Cynthia Steffe

5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Contemporary Sportswear, Level 1

A prolific designer, she is putting on two formal New York shows a year. She sends her retail customers a new delivery every month, twice a month in the fall and spring. "My customer loves fashion and is a repeat customer. She shops for recreation and she shops often, so newness is important to her." So Steffe makes sure there's always something fresh from her line in the stores.

She considers herself strong in the petite market: "A lot of petite women work on my staff and wear the clothes all the time. At least half my staff are Asian, and the collection works well for them."

Steffe began designing 13 years ago. Donna Karan hired her before she even graduated from the prestigious Parsons School of Design. "She thought my work would fit into her world," Steffe explained.

Now that she is in a position to hire new designers for her firm, she never turns anyone away without looking at their portfolio.

Her business is decidedly family-oriented. Her husband handles the business end of things, and her daughter and nanny occupy a nursery sandwiched between mom's and dad's offices. "When I was pregnant with Ava, we were building our new offices, so it was natural to build a nursery for her. Now she's taken over my office as well," Steffe laughed.

WONG: In tune with body, mind, spirit

When Wong needs physical and spiritual regeneration, she escapes to her home in Kipahulu.

Sue Wong, shown here on a New York runway, maintains a home in Kipahulu, Maui, where she goes to regenerate her spirit.
There, on eight acres of manicured gardens and grounds, replete with lychees, mangoes, pomelos and dragon fruit, she shuts herself away from "the high velocity at which I have to move in the business world."

High velocity indeed. Wong creates five collections every year, and each collection includes hundreds of designs.

Wong has lived in the Hana area part time, off and on, since 1976. "The Islands have such a spiritual resonance for me. It's the presence of such powerful nature on East Maui — they are forces of nature that you have to respect," said the high-powered designer. "I feel swathed in this healing energy when I'm there. Kipahulu is a transformative and special place. The God-like forces are busy at work over there."

"I call our houses body, mind and spirit," Wong said of her three residences.

In addition to her Kipahulu house, which she calls her spiritual retreat, she recently bought a classic 1926 vintage home that she said is "the epitome of Hollywood glamour — my corporeal (body) retreat." This house was once the home of legend Jimi Hendrix. Her third home, which she calls her cerebral (mind) retreat, is in Malibu.

Sue Wong's spring 2005 designs are romantic and nostalgic. That's one of her dresses on the left. Right: a Neiman Marcus exclusive design.

Neiman Marcus

The designer, who was born into China's Communist revolution in 1949 in Shanghai, came to the United States at the age of 6. She makes two trips a year to China, where her clothing is manufactured.

While retro is all the rage in fashion, Wong said, she "has been doing retro for 36 years. I started designing right out of high school, and after some initial training, I opened a one-of-a-kind boutique and bought vintage by the pound. It was the real good ol' stuff: velvets and embroideries from the teens, '20s and '30s. I would extract the details and redesign the entire garment, make the pattern, cut it on the bias and reuse the beautiful pieces, incorporating them into a new design."

Among her earliest customers were Goldie Hawn and Bianca Jagger.

For spring 2005, her designs have a romantic, nostalgic sensibility. Ken Downing, fashion spokesman for Neiman Marcus in Dallas, said of her current collection: "With a nod to the past as she recreates the future, taking inspiration from the turn of the century to the '70s, Sue Wong creates modern fashion with a romantic point of view."

Who is the Sue Wong customer today? Her sizes range from 0 to 14, and Wong said "I will feature more 14s, because the larger woman likes to be romantic as well."

She may be a 16-year-old prom girl (we spotted a Sue Wong at Neiman Marcus here for $190, so it's not out of the question for prom) or her grandmother. "I recently sold a Hollywood glamour gown to an 83-year-old woman to wear on a cruise," she said. It's not about age; it's about having a good body.

For women who prefer to cover a little more of their bodies, Wong often has in her collection feminine embroidered or crocheted jackets that coordinate with her dresses and gowns.

The clothes she will show during her appearance at Neiman Marcus (see box) consist of romantic, dusted-down colors such as mauve, apricot, ecru, celadon and champagne. She is also featuring tangerine, lime, turquoise and coral in exotic, Indian, Gypsy-like looks.

Wong said she finds inspiration everywhere. In her mind "I go where the trends are. I'm versatile enough as a designer where I can adapt to any trend, whether it's Brazilian, Japanese, African or whatever. That's the fun of being a designer and getting to play — I let the powers come to me. I tap my psychic antenna out and it brings Africa to me."

Reach Paula Rath at 525-5464 or prath@honoluluadvertiser.com.

• • •

SUE WONG'S FASHION ADVICE

For prom: "It's all about class and not flesh. Avoid the over-exposed look and be simply beautiful. Feel like a princess. Young girls seem to want to be racy and grow up quickly. Take your time growing up!"

For petites:

• Wear high heels.

• Wear more solid colors; that make you look taller.

• Be careful of prints, because they can chop up the body.

• Wear dresses or skirts — they're more elongating.

• Tops and pants or skirts should be all one color so there's a single line, unbroken by prints or contrasting colors.


CYNTHIA STEFFE'S TOP SPRING TRENDS

• Shrunken jackets or cardigans

• Bohemian looks

• Beading on everything

• Fuller skirts with a different shape and softer silhouette