Project Runway

FASHIONOLOGY LA PUTS TWEENS IN STITCHES

This month, Fashionology LA opens on North Canon Drive, in Beverly Hills, and promises a shopping ex perience like none other for tween-age girls with a budding passion for fashion. The interior is designed by Commune of Los Angeles, and the imagery is a nod to the vibrant text and color-splash designs created by the 1960s activist Sicter Coritri Kent.

Using interactive touch-screen displays, girls design their own clothes from an array of themes like "Mali bu" and "Rock." With their basic garments now in hand, they proceed to the "Make It!" table, where they, with the staff's help, get to sew or glue additional embellishments to their new outfits. When they're done, they can model their unique creations and have the moment immortalized by an in-house pho tographer, who then sends them their photos via e-mail. Fashionology LA is the ingenious brainchild of Hollywood power wives Elizabeth Wiatt and Jamie Tisch, who met 15 years ago-"through our husbands," Elizabeth says (Jim Wiatt, head of the William Morris Agency, and producer Steve Tisch). Although both women had worked steadily in the nonprofit arena for years, they were ea ger to branch out and do something together which would tap into their creative sides as well as directly inspire their daughters-they have four between them.

"Wouldn't it be great if we could bring our kids somewhere and they could learn how to sew?," Wiatt recalls thinking. "That was our `lightbulb' mo ment, and we thought, Wow, you know, we love fash ion and our kids love clothes. And then we were off and running." Tisch and Wiatt hope that the cx perience is empowering and helps develop girls' self-esteem.

"Fashion does have some negative aspects to it, and we wanted none of that to be included," says f: Wiatt. "There's nothing about beauty, there's no runway, there's no makeup." Tisch adds, "It's real ly about inspiring the girls' creativity and not la beling them. You can be someone different tomor row if you want." Wiatt laughingly says, "Some days you feel like a sparkle princess and other days you feel like a bohemian girl." -KRISrA SMITH

KRISTA SMITH