Pleasant Gehman

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Wrap Star

Pleasant Gehman
“I adore the old Hollywood movie-studio designers, all the special touches they did on clothes,” says Dana Pfeffer, who designs a line called Clothing Whore. “Edith Head, Travis Benton, Adrian — the way they made clothes move.” Her dramatic bias-cut coats, robes and capes are tailored with sweeping entrances and......
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In Living Color

Pleasant Gehman
Photos by Jenafer Gillingham Sweats, platform flip-flops, a faux fur over a studded baby T — you see outfits similar to this on women all over L.A. every day. Designer Marco Morante has tapped into this tossed salad of comfort and pizzazz that’s a uniquely Angeleno uniform and infused it......
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Bust a Move

Pleasant Gehman
Photos by Julie Pavlowski Willie Mrasek is a breast man. You could say he’s obsessed with décolletage. It would be hard not to be when women are flashing him all the time — often within minutes of meeting him. In fact, he’s probably seen more boobs than Hugh Hefner, although......
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It’s a Cinch

Pleasant Gehman
Photos by Larry Hirshowitz "PUT ON A CORSET, AND IT MAKES YOU feel dainty, fancy and dressed up," says Miss Sue Nice, a comely redhead who enjoys lacing up. "Corsets make you stand tall and regal. It's the ultimate in being a lady." Like the majority of women who came......
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Scents of a Woman

Pleasant Gehman
Photos by Julie Pavlowski PERFUME HAS BEEN A LIFELONG fascination for Iris Parker, dating from early childhood when she was given a kiddie perfume-making kit from a toy store. About 12 years ago, Parker began taking steps to turn her fragrant dreams into reality. "In the beginning, I was completely......
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I Love Lucite

Pleasant Gehman
Photos by Anne Fishbein "I'M A GLITTER JUNKIE," SAYS DESIGNER LORI PERSONS, WITH a mixture of pride and regret. "Practically everything I own is covered in rhinestones!" Persons' whimsical Lucite purses are not just accessories, but functional works of art. Inspired by the dainty, seductive see-through evening bags carried by......
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The Formosa Café

Pleasant Gehman
The moment you enter the heavy, padded leather doors, you’re engulfed in a cozy darkness that’s dramatically punctuated by horseshoe-shaped lacquer-red booths, an ancient bar underlit with eerie, glowing, lime-green neon, and the long, narrow backroom, which, diner-style, was constructed from a train car. A red-and-black ’40s-style faux-Oriental-type font on......