More Than Marco Marco in Store
Designing custom clothes gained Marco Morante critical notice and a steady stream of clients to his Hollywood-based boutique Marco Marco. But it didn’t leave him time for much else.
When an additional gig as a stylist for clients such as TV’s “American Idol” reality show devoured time and effort from his main business of creating his signature draped, asymmetrical clothes, he realized he needed a little help to keep the shelves of Marco Marco stocked. Enter Morante’s friends Emilie Odeile and Ashton Hirota.
On Jan. 19, Morante debuted their lines of custom-made clothes at Marco Marco in order to boost the boutique’s stock of custom clothing. Odeile’s Emilie Knits features halters, dresses, shrugs and cropped sweaters designed with bright colors. Hirota’s Ashton Michael is a Japanese-influenced fashion line of men’s and children’s clothes.
Morante tested selling their lines at his store in late 2005. The success of Ashton Michael was no surprise. Hirota had already designed a fashion label called Glaza.
Odeile’s success was a bit more unexpected; her previous fashion experience was limited to helping with sales at Marco Marco.
The bottom line of his boutique was not the only point Morante wanted to make by selling new designers. He also wanted his boutique to be a place where new designers can experiment, he said. This cachet attracted designers such as Petro Zillia’s Nony Tochterman to the party, where the whimsical hors d’oeuvres strived to be as unique as the designers. Guests drank dry martinis and nibbled on sweet cotton candy. —Andrew Asch
