FashionEtc.com May 2nd, 2024

L.A. fashion doesn’t usually bring to mind edgy Parisian brands and young up-and-coming London-based designers, but since opening her West Coast boutique Satine in August 2003, Jeannie Lee has been one step ahead of the local fashion flock.

What started as a small, cozy space on Third St. in West Hollywood expanded in September 2009 to a space five times the size. Satine now also boasts a burgeoning online business, which relaunches today with a newly redesigned Web site that includes a shopping site with high-end product shoots, a Satine Diary, and Q&As with local designers, stylists and editors.

There will eventually be fashion editorial shoots featuring coveted finds from Lanvin, Alexander Wang (whom Lee was one of the first to carry), Azzedine Alaïa, Preen, Holmes & Yang, Jason Wu, and Derek Lam. Lee plans to renew content about once a week, working with journalist Indigo Clarke to keep things fresh and current.

Never one to follow the crowd, Lee has always relied on her stellar instinct to move forward and take risks with young talent. “Now more than ever people are looking for emerging designers because personal style has become so important, but people in L.A. have always looked for alternative brands,” she says.

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Looking for the right dress for that garden party or summer wedding? Banana Republic might just have your number. The retailer launched a new signature summer dress collection, full of maxi hemlines and flowing silhouettes.

The main color? All of them. It was a floral bonanza. So if you love the color black (like I do), you'll have to make do with the navy looks.

The fabrics were light—silk, linen, cotton—ideal for upcoming heat waves. My favorite look (which won't be in stores until July, unlike the rest of the collection, which is available now) is a rose-hued dress with a vintage '30s inspiration. I liked the belted sash—it adds definition without being too constrictive.

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Not even the fashion world is exempt from the charms of the Bronx Zoo's cobra. Or perhaps we're too enamored—snakeskin is everywhere.

Bulgari just showed me their Fall 2011 collection of bags, themed Mediterranean Eden. The fabric came from a water snake called Karung. I started Googling around trying to find where Karung is from, but after staring at too many slithering snake pics, I had to stop.

I prefer my reptiles in bag form.

The Karung skin isn't as flaky as python, and almost has a hardier texture. Kind of perfect for purses, no? The entire collection pays homage to the classic Bulgari Serpenti with an enameled snake head, which serves as a bag clasp. The snake head also adds a little edge to the classically shaped bags—your mother might carry this, but so will you.

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