The Great Room
Cooper Design Spacesuite 209(213) 629-0484
In her new showroom, Lori Halio is trying to create a comfortable atmosphere where buyers can plop down, rest their tired feet and view her contemporary apparel. Her four lines vary from vintage scarves stitched into ponchos to custom-made hats that have been spotted atop the head of superstar Britney Spears.
Halio has been busy buying furniture that will match the large living room ambience she has been trying to create. Her selections include oversize suede and velvet couches and chairs that you can sink into, Moroccan- and Indian- influenced tables, and bookshelves that lend an exotic air to the space, where large windows let in light from the street.
“I want it to be homey and cozy, but eclectic,” said Halio, who worked for years in showrooms on the California Market Center’s fifth floor before branching out on her own.
Halio scoured Southern California to come up with the right contemporary women’s lines.
The result is that she is representing three local apparel and accessories lines and one East Coast hat collection.
Los Angeles line Reo Starr features mostly denim and corduroy items, from jackets and skirts to pants, with wholesale price points ranging from $50 to $80. Farron Elizabeth, a relatively new Los Angeles start-up, has tops and skirts made of rich fabrics that carry a $30 to $60 wholesale price range. Nay Nay, another Los Angeles company, takes vintage and contemporary scarves and sews them into ponchos and capes with wholesale price points of $40 to $140.
Halio’s only East Coast line is a selection of happening hats that evoke the 1920s and 1930s. Hats from the line, called Cha Cha’s House of Ill Repute, are designed and hand blocked by milliner Dina Pisanti. Wholesale prices vary from $70 to $150. —Deborah Belgum
