“I felt there was a big void in the casual-fashion zone,” Schwartz observed.ĭRESS UP: Allen Schwartz holding up a T-shirt dress and lace dress from the ABS by Allen Schwartz collectionīarneys New York was one of the first outlets to show it. With reinvention in mind, Schwartz last year quietly rolled out a new denim and leather-centered young contemporary label, called Blue Pearl by Allen Schwartz,with retail prices ranging from $200 to $400. and after more than 30 years as head of his own company, ABS by Allen Schwartz. The fashion veteran-dressed in a white T-shirt, black-and-white printed corduroy pants and striped turquoise socks-comes by this formula after 10 years of working as the creative director at the original Esprit Corp. I don’t want to be caught holding the bag,” Schwartz said, sitting inside his vast headquarters building on the edge of the downtown Los Angeles Fashion District. The property is alternatively available in two separate parts the bulk of the compound, with main house, both guest houses, swimming pools and tennis court, is available at $12 million, while a smaller portion, with just gardens and the outdoor kitchen area, is priced at $6.4 million.SAMPLE ROOM: All the samples for the company are made in the large sample room.Īllen Schwartz has been in the fashion business for more than 40 years, which has taught him two basic elements needed to survive: Stay on top of the trends and constantly reinvent yourself. Elsewhere, the lighted tennis court has a covered viewing pavilion, guest cottages are secreted amid the trees with separate entrances, and a barbeque patio includes a full outdoor kitchen, a television and an outdoor fireplace adorned with an animal skull.Īvailable via Cindy Ambuehl and Nikki Gwaltney of Compass, and billed in marketing materials as a “one-of-a-kind hideaway” that is “rich with possibility,” options include remodeling the existing home and structures or custom building something entirely new. Just outside the main house, in a grassy, tree-shaded garden, a spa spills over into a rectangular swimming pool connected by a tumble of rocks to a second, lagoon-like swimming pool. A large skylight over the butcher block-topped island in the eat-in kitchen ensures natural light all day long, while French doors open most rooms to the lush and private gardens. There are vaulted and beamed ceilings, lots of woodwork and several stone fireplaces throughout the home. The single-story main residence is modest and even on the small side compared to modern-day mansions that often prioritize square footage over comfortable livability. Surrounding all this are vast carpets of emerald lawns and stone paths that wind among the manicured garden’s stone patios, waterfalls and small ponds. In all, there are six bedrooms and six and a half baths in about 3,600 square feet of living space between the main house and guesthouses. Now on the rack with an $18 million price tag, Schwartz’s park-like compound stretches out over almost 1.7 idyllic acres with a circa 1951 California ranch house, two guest cottages, a pair of conjoined swimming pools, and a lighted clay tennis court. (The look book for the line was partly photographed on the grounds of Schwartz’s Mandeville Canyon compound.) More recently, the veteran garmento has shifted his focus towards the Slow Fashion Movement, including a 2020 collection of upcycled clothing. He once told Forbes that he was not in the garment game to sell a few dozen couture gowns but rather to sell 10,000 dresses, and his rendition of the Narciso Rodriguez dress Carolyn Bessette wore at her 1996 marriage to John F. He described himself a few years ago in WWD as “The first social media star,” referring to mountains of press ABS garnered the morning after the Oscars when he’d reveal which dresses he planned put into production for the mass market. Schwartz’s company, ABS, surged to success in the 1990s and early 2000s with its lightening-fast copies of designer originals that had just been seen on runways and red carpets. Schwartz’s sprawling Los Angeles compound, nestled into rustic yet ritzy Mandeville Canyon, is the real thing. He earned the moniker “Copycat King” in the late 1990s by rapidly producing knock off interpretations of gowns that had just walked the red carpet at the Oscars but savvy apparel mogul Allen B.
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