Gallery 608
Gerry Building
Suite 608
(818) 994-3890
Jane Mohr has had her Dress To Kill line for 22 years, but she has not had her own dedicated showroom in years.
That changed recently when she took a space at the Gerry Building, where the designer will be front and center selling her high-end contemporary womenswear that has an artsy feel to it.
“Most of my line is made in my studio in Van Nuys [Calif.],” said Mohr, who started her career as a fashion photographer after studying at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. “It truly is like an old-fashioned cottage industry.”
After working as a photographer for magazines such as Seventeen and Italian Vogue and living in Europe for four years, Mohr felt she had an eye for fashion and what was popular.
When she returned to Los Angeles, she started importing goods from Europe and sold them on the boardwalk of Los Angeles’ Venice Beach.
Then she began designing a line of clothing geared for the 45- to 65-year-old customer who likes art-to-wear designs that look good on any body type.
Most of her clothes, which wholesale for $160 to $300, are made of European and Japanese novelty fabrics that mostly adhere to darker colors such as black, gray and brown. She sells to upscale California boutiques such as Harari in Beverly Hills, Jana in Studio City, Whispers in Pacific Palisades and B.B. One in Palm Desert. “Ninety percent of my business is repeat business,” she said.
In 2008, Mohr partnered with a Los Angeles knitter to make unique hand-loomed sweaters made of wool and cashmere. The sweaters are sold under the CAZ label, which is a division of Dress To Kill. They wholesale for $220 to $300.
The designer also works with suppliers in Europe who make felt hats, hat pins, lucite jewelry and hand-felted wool scarves with an artistic flair that are sold under the DTK accessories label. “Everything is meant to merchandise together,” she said.
Mohr is sharing her showroom with a few other designers who have their own spaces walled off from the Dress To Kill section. Those designers include Annie Turbin, who does creative tie-dyed looks in T-shirts, sweaters, skirts and other knitwear; Robin Kaplan, whose looks have a romantic feel; Kay Chapman, who does colorful shirts and jackets that are hand-dyed; and Dvora Braunstein, whose Ma Belle World Fashion company represents artistic Israeli and Italians lines such as Pepito and Avivit Yizhar as well as the U.S. line J.P. & Mattie, which has a bohemian flair.—Deborah Belgum
