L.A.'s Ports of Call

(LOS ANGELES) Who cares about the Golden Globes? Ports 1961 designer Tia Cibani packed up a specific red carpet collection she calls Fait Main and brought it to the Chateau Marmont's Bungalow One Wednesday to show to stylists, editors, and the likes of Molly Sims, Angie Harmon, China Chow, and Sophia Bush. After all, The Grammys are coming, as are the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and who knows what will happen with the Oscars--but in Hollywood, a girl always needs a gown.

Cibani tapped set designer Douglas Little to create an installation, the result of which was a Tony Duquette-meets-the Chateau sight to behold: stuffed gazelles, red leather chairs, zebra rugs and chairs, vintage garment racks and mannequins, giant clam shells--essentially a whimsy-filled setting for the two models showing the collection of gold, cream, black, silver lamé, and mustard-colored forties-inspired gowns and cocktail dresses. In fact, Bryan Adams was coming in later to shoot the whole mise-en-scène for an internal project.

The diminutive Cibani, who just returned from New Year's in Shanghai, where she has a home, has a lot going on, to say the least. "We're opening our L.A. store in February, a New York store in September in the Meatpacking District--where the top two floors will be my design rooms--and, of course, I'm prepping the fall collection," she said. "Then on top of this, I have my kid's collection, Kico Kids, in Barneys, and then I did this collection." Tossing a glance at a nearby television monitor playing the spring Ports 1961 runway show, she laughed, "Thank goodness I have new clothes I can wear!"

Of the Fait Main collection, she said, "These dresses will not be created again; there is only one of each, and they are only available for stylists and celebrities. I respect actresses, and now they don't need to worry that any of these dresses will turn up on another actress, for one of those 'Who wore it best?' magazine sections. We want to minimize that."

The collection, shown jazzed up with seamed stockings and fishnets, is, as she described, "very Lauren Bacall, film noir, powerfully feminine. They're very sculptural. Now that the Globes were cancelled, there's more time for stylists to look over the clothes and think about their choices."

There are even several wraps in the collection: a black wool net sweater that can be worn hooded and a cream mohair wrapped coat because, as Cibani noted, "it gets cold in L.A. in the evening, and when the cameras are off, these girls need to warm up."

Cibani also showed her sketchbook of the collection, where the gowns were paired with well-drawn faces of stars including Angelina Jolie, Tilda Swinton, Cate Blanchett, and other A-listers. "I want to send them these sketches," Cibani laughed. "They may not appreciate how I drew their heads, but I think they'd love to see their bodies!"
MERLE GINSBERG