When it comes to strutting your stuff on the streets of Los Angeles and New York City, the looks are as far apart as the distance between the two cities. The answers to why may be obvious: weather and overall lifestyle.
"The clothing is depicted on the seasons," Miriam Sternoff, a stylist, said.
She and her partner Micaela Beckwith run MacandMir, Inc.
"In New York, the minute you leave your house to the time you go home in the evening, you are bringing all of your stuff with you. In LA, you get to go in your car," she added.
And while in NYC, the coats and boots reign supreme, the choices in LA vary.
"You will see more accessories because we cannot layer as much in California because of the weather. So there are a lot of lighter weight scarves with prints, earrings, bangles you play around more with your accoutrements," Beckwith said.
Local designer and songwriter Hannah Rochelle makes wears for both women and men. Her Lyric Culture line features clothes with famous quotes from some of your favorite songs. The line is made in Los Angeles and the songwriters are paid royalties for the lyrics used on her clothing as a way to support local artists. The Pink Floyd collection for men is now at Bloomingdales at Beverly Center.
"LA is a very casual place so the clothing needs to reflect that and a lot of the fabrics that we used are super soft, silicone and enzyme washes," Rochelle said.
Urban chic and casual clothing maker, Woodleigh runs its production out of an office in Glendale. Its clothing is enriched with crochets and lace and made in LA. Creator Monique Moizel designs for both coasts.
"East coast is definitely more conservative. They don't like too much ruffles. They don't like too much color, but then you go to the west coast and ask about colors and ruffles, make it more different? Where's the lace," Moizel said. "Everyone likes to get a little attention here and everybody comes here to do that. They want to express themselves," she added describing fashion in the city of Angels.
The designers and stylists insist the differences don't mean you can't have a little of both. You can use items in various ways depending on which coast you are on.
"We have these great scarves that you can layer with white short and a pair of jeans. You can dress it up and wear a blazer with just a scarf," Rochelle said.
"We will have it in our basic black or it comes in orange. We have that for both coasts so you can choose," Moizel said, describing one of her dress designs.
You can find the collection online at woodleighclothing.com and buy the wears at shopexcessboutique.com, blacklabelboutique.com and Singer22.com.
The Lyric Culture line is available at several Bloomingdales stores including San Francisco, Fashion Valley, San Diego and the 59th street and SOHO locations in New York or at www.lyricculture.com
These local styles start at $40 dollars and we are reminded by the designers and the stylists, no matter where you are, you make the outfit.
