California Apparel News

Corona del Mar is the address of $7 million homes—some of the most expensive real estate in California, according to property information company DataQuick. But Erica D. Thomas thought that this exclusive community in Newport Beach, Calif., was deficient in one of the main interests of many of its inhabitants: shopping.

Luxury fashion malls Fashion Island and South Coast Plaza were less than 10 minutes away, but Corona del Mar’s main drag, East Coast Highway, seemed as if it were in a time warp.

1950s-era neighborhood restaurants such as Five Crowns still serve the rare steak and the potent scotch that might have satisfied the likes of old Orange County residents such as John Wayne. However, boutiques selling Diane Von Furstenberg’s wrap dresses were absent. So Thomas took a big chance.

She opened the 1,500-square-foot boutique Erica Dee in 2001 and felt barely a pang of doubt about her choice. The women of Corona del Mar, as well as those from the surrounding towns of Laguna Beach and Dana Point, spend an average of more than $400 per visit at her boutique. The best sales bring in more than $3,000.

Business has been good enough that Thomas feels secure enough to remodel the store into a children’s shop, and to open a 1,000-square-foot men’s boutique and a 3,800- square-foot women’s boutique a couple of blocks south on East Coast Highway. Both will open on Sept. 7.

A handful of other independent fashion retailers moved onto the street. They and other fashion boutiques at the 1998-built shopping mall Corona del Mar Plaza have experienced similar success. Parents often purchase $2,000 in apparel for their children at the Corona del Mar location of clothing chain Jack’s Surfboards, said store manager Randy Holloway.

But there’s no reason to think the community is going to let its wealth grow glitzy. It’s satisfied with being a wealthy Orange County version of the fictional sleepy, small town of Mayberry, Thomas said. “It’s a quiet place. Things shut down here at 9 p.m.”

However, the Corona del Mar Business Improvement District wants a change in the neighborhood’s milieu. Its businesspeople spent $880,000 in private and city funds in 2005 to build more street medians filled with palm trees and decorative lights and to repair sidewalks in hopes of transforming the area into a pedestrian shopping district.

Business Improvement District Chairman John Blom believes the neighborhood might someday look like the Belmont Shores area 30 minutes north in Long Beach, Calif. “We don’t want traffic to go through at 55 miles per hour,” he said. “We want them to get out and shop.”

Change won’t be easy. Commercial vacancies are rare. Many of the street’s nail salons and Persian rug boutiques have been doing business in the community for more than 10 years.

But fashion boutiques have been studying ways by which they can seamlessly weave themselves in. One of the first steps is figuring out the neighborhood’s tastes. It’s conservative yet stylish, said Shellie Morrisette- Okon, owner of the boutique Karizma. “The women who shop here shop everywhere. They stay on the edge of all emerging fashions,” she said. “But they don’t want to be as fashion-forward as Los Angeles.”

They search for cocktail dresses and contemporary casual clothes, she said. Karizma’s top-selling brands have included the $435 “Orchid” dress designed by Anna Sui and a $200 “Tie-Tube” dress by Rachel Pally.

Jeans are popular at the Pink Leopard menswear boutique, said owner Christina Armijo. Denim by Freedom of Choice and Horn costs $200; chino-style pants by Mason Blue Velvet cost $150.

Surfwear is a natural fashion choice in Corona del Mar, what with a gorgeous beach in its borders. Boardshorts at Jack’s Surfboards have been perennial favorites since the store opened in 2005. But styles have changed.

The most popular are not the knee-length boardshorts that were the rage last year. Rather, beach rats have been favoring 16-inch “retro” shorts that reach above the knees. Retro shorts by Huntington Beach, Calif.–based Quiksilver cost $50. Slim-fit denim by Krewof Costa Mesa, Calif., are top sellers; they cost $53.95.

The local beach bunnies have been buying Billabong’s 2-4-1 beach coverup dress, which costs $59.50, along with $46 capri pants by Lost and Rip Curl.

Casual contemporary sets the tone at the Erica Dee store. Best-selling brands include True Religion jeans, which sell for $185 to $250; all dresses by Von Furstenberg, with price points from $125 to $300; and Theory’s wide-leg “Max” trouser, which costs $185.

Fashion has a good chance of growing on East Coast Highway, Thomas said. “It’s not a mall. [Corona del Mar] people want to shop at stand-alone stores on a destination street.”