L'Wren Scott Launches Handbags, Talks About Being Tall
NEW YORK — It turns out that tall-drink-of-water L'Wren Scott is self-conscious about being so tall.
Scott, the model-turned-stylist-turned-designer, appeared at the flagship Barneys New York store on Wednesday to launch her handbag collection. As she designed each bag – the weekender, the shoulder bag, the clutch – she kept in mind the size of each piece.
How long are the straps? How wide is the frame? How far does it open?
She said it's how she approaches everything. "I am obsessed with proportion, and how proportion is perceived."
Scott stands 6-foot-3, and it feels like she's been that tall forever, she said. She told a crowd of fashion-centric bloggers in a session moderated by Adam Glassman, creative director of O, The Oprah Magazine, that she was charged the adult price of $1 instead of 75 cents at the small movie theater in her Utah hometown long before she turned 12, the official turning point.
Height drives her own fashion choices. It's why she doesn't wear poufy, Doris Day styles, opting instead for lean silhouettes, Scott explained, and she thinks most women operate the same way: Once they find a look they like, they stick with it.
The skirts and dresses in her collection usually are often in three lengths – mini, just above the knee and just below. She chose a rose-colored, pencil-skirt suit with jeweled buttons paired with kitten heels for this appearance.
Her runway show is a top-tier, A-list event, which draws mostly her friends such as Kyra Sedgwick and Ellen Barkin, and boyfriend Mick Jagger. On the red carpet, she has dressed Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Drew Barrymore, among others. For her goodbye gala last month, Oprah Winfrey wore a Scott-designed purple crepe gown with handmade turquoise and black floral embroidery.
But Scott said she's also interested in dressing many more women, including those who don't routinely spend four digits on dresses. That will not mean fast fashion, though. "I'm more into sustainable luxury, something that lasts."
She added: "I don't like fast food, either."
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SAMANTHA CRITCHELL 06/ 8/11 04:52 PM ET Associated Press