| Fashion News Oklahoma |
FASHION Looking ahead
Oscar de la Renta gave a preview recently of his pre-fall collection for 2008, a hint of where fashion might be headed next year.
There are some current themes and trends that appear to have life left in them, including metallic embellishment, long gloves, patent leather and the
colors of cobalt blue and purple.
What was different in de la Renta's new collection was the nod to the style of the South American prairie with upscale, sophisticated versions of
the circle skirt, cropped jacket and jabot blouse. A brown tweed skirt seemed to marry the look with the luxury that de la Renta's fans are
accustomed to as models wore soft, supple leather and suede cowboy-inspired boots with a high cone heel.
De la Renta also offered ball gowns. The most striking was a strapless embroidered gown in gold lame with a fitted bodice and a full skirt that
exploded with seemingly infinite swirls of fabric.
Cover girl
Carrie Underwood, Oklahoma's favorite American Idol, is on the cover of the January issue of Glamour. She talks about weight, designer names,
exercise and love. Look for her Fashion Diary, too.
Western wear sellers face off in the Valley corral
John S. DeMott
December 24, 2007 - 12:01AM
McALLEN — High noon is fast approaching here for Cavender’s Boot City, Kalifa’s Western Wear and The Boot Jack — three of the state’s
longtime purveyors of Western wear.
And that dust cloud over yonder is more trouble: Gavel Western Wear, with five stores in the Rio Grande Valley and two in Mexico, says it has the
advantage of being based in Mexico.
Gary Cooper is nowhere in sight. Neither is Grace Kelly. Maybe Pancho Villa, though.
But let’s go back to the beginning.
Cavender’s moseyed into town with a splashy grand opening Dec. 8, complete with Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, dead on into Kalifa’s and Boot
Jack’s territory in the Valley’s mega-million-dollar Western wear market.
Stylish, slim jeans for stylish, slim people hit $180, and you can drop a grand or more on boots or hats. And now, with Christmas looming, store
aisles are crowded.
None of these family-owned stores would reveal local sales, but Wall Street analysts say global revenues for Greensboro, N.C.-based VF Corp.,
maker of Wrangler and dozens of other popular brands carried by the McAllen stores, are soaring and will hit $8 billion next year.
Already, claims Bryan Ward, manager of the new, big-box Cavender’s location at Palms Crossing mall on Expressway 83, some employees have
bolted from Boot Jack and signed on with Cavender’s.
Boot Jack’s manager on North 10th Street, Matt Clem, says that’s true, but that only one employee defected and that it was no big deal. Besides,
he says, he’s got someone on his Boot Jack floor who used to work at Cavender’s.
Meanwhile, Abdala Kalifa, owner of the oldest Western wear store in the McAllen, watches from his corner on South 17th Street, where he has
done business for 34 years in a couple of buildings.
Most of these Western wear purveyors sell the items that South Texans and winter Texans want — belts, jeans, hats, jackets, and denim and plaid
shirts, branded with such sturdy names as Wrangler, Stetson, Roper, Cinch and Lucchese, an El Paso-based, top-of-the-line boot-maker. Gavel sells
its own boot brand.
All also sell the threads young women and men crave to look Western and sexy at the same time. They buy a lot. Not unusual are customers who
visit the McAllen stores once weekly and walk out with complete outfits — jeans, shirts, hats, jackets.
All are trying to corral the same market: Hispanics from Texas and Mexico, as well as the occasional Anglo who wanders in and wants to look
terrific at a square dance. So why are the mannequins in Cavender’s Caucasian? Says Ward: “Oh, we ordered Hispanic ones, but they sent us these.”
All love the McAllen market and wouldn’t think of venturing into a dramatic new one such as, say, New York City, where the Western look in
parts of some boroughs is as popular as it is here, especially on Saturday night.
What propel sales are rodeos, livestock shows such as the one coming up in Mercedes, and famous people and movies. Country music star George
Strait’s clothing line is sold at Cavender’s. And Urban Cowboy,” the 1980 movies starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, was fantastic for
business, Kalifa recalls.
“It was crazy,” he says. “People were buying three or four pairs of ostrich boots at a time. We’ll never see days like that again.”
Still, a sales skirmish seems to loom as the competitors crowd the Valley market. All take credit cards, but up to 70 percent of their sales are cash.
No one calls it a war, as such - only a friendly rivalry. But each vows to match or beat any legitimate price the others offer.
No one knows who will win the shootout.
For now, the one with the biggest guns is Cavender’s, which has been around since James Cavender started it as a boot seller in 1965 in Pittsburg.
Now headquartered in Tyler, it has grown to 50 stores, nearly all in Texas but also with one each in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas.
And it’s not all Western. Says Ward: “It’s crossover. We got fashion jeans for the ladies. For men, it’s pretty much all Western.” In addition to
traditional Western garb, Cavender’s also sells pragmatically functional, unglamorous items like work boots.
Ward says Cavender’s late arrival to the Valley was no accident.
“We needed a good location,” he says of Palms Crossing. “This mall is perfect.”
The others acknowledge Cavender’s size but note that the company is new to the Valley and has a lot to learn about customer service here versus
elsewhere.
“We know our customer better than they do,” says Clem of Boot Jack, which was begun in 1976 by George Masso and now boasts four stores in
the McAllen area and two more in Brownsville.
“We know what (customers) want,” Clem says. “We know what they like. All the stores for December are doing really good. We’re beating last
year.”
He says the competition from Cavender’s doesn’t help, but “we welcome it. It makes us do better, too.” He admits he checked out the new store
and talked with Ward. “He’s a nice guy. He’ll do good out there and we’ll (do well) where we’re at.”
All claim superior customer service, because over the years, they say, they have gotten to know their customers well.
Says Kalifa: “I relate to my customers, and I have for 34 years.”
But Gavel begs to differ. Though it has had stores in the Valley only five years, it thinks it has it over everyone because it’s Matamoros-based. Its
store in Mission, says manager Miseal Conde Jr., is doing better since nearby Cavender’s opened. Gavel carries most of the brands the others
carry, but it also sells boots made at its own factory in Mexico.
Says Conde: “The others think they know the Mexican market, and they’ll tell you that they do, but we really know it because we’re from there.
Our Mexican customers know us and trust us. Anglo stores don’t get that.”
Them, as the saying goes, might be fightin’ words.
Norman Ballet Company to present "Oklahoma Nutcracker"
— The 2007 Centennial presentation of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker,” based on the traditional “Nutcracker” ballet story and score by Tchaikovsky,
is the only production of its kind in the state to offer an Oklahoma setting and characters. The Norman Ballet Company is now preparing for its
sixth annual production of the classic children’s ballet.
The “Oklahoma Nutcracker” Act I party scene is set in the home of one of Oklahoma City’s founding families. Henry and Anna Overholser and
their daughter Henry Ione, are major characters in the ballet, hosting the Christmas Eve party for their neighborhood guests in the drawing room of
the Overholser Mansion.
Mr. Henry Overholser was a businessman who helped turn Oklahoma City into the major commercial center that eventually became the state
capital of Oklahoma. The Overholser family was an important member of Oklahoma City society and helped to bring about cultural development
to the Oklahoma City area for a period of over 50 years.
Steve Estes, production designer and technical director for the Norman Ballet Company’s production of “The Oklahoma Nutcracker” replicated the
look of the Overholser Mansion drawing room, down to its delicate hand painted silk walls, ornate fireplace and porcelain rose candelabra for the
Act I Scene 1 Party Scene.
“ The Overholser Mansion was completed in 1903 and was the perfect setting for our ballet which is set in 1907 – the Tchaikovsky score fit right
into that elegant drawing room and having little Henry Ione Overholser (who was by all accounts, quite feisty and imaginative) become our “Clara”
was a perfect fit.” Marjorie Kovich, Artistic Director
Norman Ballet Company costume designer, Sue Petzel, spent time at the Overholser Mansion going through clothing that belonged to the
Overholser family and sketched ideas for the ballet costumes. She also did research in fashion books from the year 1907 to make sure all costumes
would be authentic to the year Oklahoma reached statehood, 1907.
Audiences will get a chance to apreciate the beautiful designs prevalent to that era – fashionable women were still “corseted” and there was an
elegance in the line of the gowns worn by early Oklahoma City “Society” women.
Act II takes place on the grassy Oklahoma prairie and includes Oklahoma natural treasures such as a scissortail flycatcher, kingsnake, and indian
paintbrushes.
Performances of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker” will be presented on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2:00 p.m. at the
Sooner Theatre in Norman. Tickets are $16 for adults and $12 for children (12 and under) and may be purchased by calling the Norman Ballet
Company Box Office at (405) 326-9147.
The 2007 Centennial production of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker” has been designated an official “Centennial Project” by the City of Norman and the
Centennial Committee and is funded in part by the Norman Arts Council, the Oklahoma Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
____
Oscar de la Renta gave a preview recently of his pre-fall collection for 2008, a hint of where fashion might be headed next year.
There are some current themes and trends that appear to have life left in them, including metallic embellishment, long gloves, patent leather and the
colors of cobalt blue and purple.
What was different in de la Renta's new collection was the nod to the style of the South American prairie with upscale, sophisticated versions of
the circle skirt, cropped jacket and jabot blouse. A brown tweed skirt seemed to marry the look with the luxury that de la Renta's fans are
accustomed to as models wore soft, supple leather and suede cowboy-inspired boots with a high cone heel.
De la Renta also offered ball gowns. The most striking was a strapless embroidered gown in gold lame with a fitted bodice and a full skirt that
exploded with seemingly infinite swirls of fabric.
Cover girl
Carrie Underwood, Oklahoma's favorite American Idol, is on the cover of the January issue of Glamour. She talks about weight, designer names,
exercise and love. Look for her Fashion Diary, too.
Western wear sellers face off in the Valley corral
John S. DeMott
December 24, 2007 - 12:01AM
McALLEN — High noon is fast approaching here for Cavender’s Boot City, Kalifa’s Western Wear and The Boot Jack — three of the state’s
longtime purveyors of Western wear.
And that dust cloud over yonder is more trouble: Gavel Western Wear, with five stores in the Rio Grande Valley and two in Mexico, says it has the
advantage of being based in Mexico.
Gary Cooper is nowhere in sight. Neither is Grace Kelly. Maybe Pancho Villa, though.
But let’s go back to the beginning.
Cavender’s moseyed into town with a splashy grand opening Dec. 8, complete with Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, dead on into Kalifa’s and Boot
Jack’s territory in the Valley’s mega-million-dollar Western wear market.
Stylish, slim jeans for stylish, slim people hit $180, and you can drop a grand or more on boots or hats. And now, with Christmas looming, store
aisles are crowded.
None of these family-owned stores would reveal local sales, but Wall Street analysts say global revenues for Greensboro, N.C.-based VF Corp.,
maker of Wrangler and dozens of other popular brands carried by the McAllen stores, are soaring and will hit $8 billion next year.
Already, claims Bryan Ward, manager of the new, big-box Cavender’s location at Palms Crossing mall on Expressway 83, some employees have
bolted from Boot Jack and signed on with Cavender’s.
Boot Jack’s manager on North 10th Street, Matt Clem, says that’s true, but that only one employee defected and that it was no big deal. Besides,
he says, he’s got someone on his Boot Jack floor who used to work at Cavender’s.
Meanwhile, Abdala Kalifa, owner of the oldest Western wear store in the McAllen, watches from his corner on South 17th Street, where he has
done business for 34 years in a couple of buildings.
Most of these Western wear purveyors sell the items that South Texans and winter Texans want — belts, jeans, hats, jackets, and denim and plaid
shirts, branded with such sturdy names as Wrangler, Stetson, Roper, Cinch and Lucchese, an El Paso-based, top-of-the-line boot-maker. Gavel sells
its own boot brand.
All also sell the threads young women and men crave to look Western and sexy at the same time. They buy a lot. Not unusual are customers who
visit the McAllen stores once weekly and walk out with complete outfits — jeans, shirts, hats, jackets.
All are trying to corral the same market: Hispanics from Texas and Mexico, as well as the occasional Anglo who wanders in and wants to look
terrific at a square dance. So why are the mannequins in Cavender’s Caucasian? Says Ward: “Oh, we ordered Hispanic ones, but they sent us these.”
All love the McAllen market and wouldn’t think of venturing into a dramatic new one such as, say, New York City, where the Western look in
parts of some boroughs is as popular as it is here, especially on Saturday night.
What propel sales are rodeos, livestock shows such as the one coming up in Mercedes, and famous people and movies. Country music star George
Strait’s clothing line is sold at Cavender’s. And Urban Cowboy,” the 1980 movies starring John Travolta and Debra Winger, was fantastic for
business, Kalifa recalls.
“It was crazy,” he says. “People were buying three or four pairs of ostrich boots at a time. We’ll never see days like that again.”
Still, a sales skirmish seems to loom as the competitors crowd the Valley market. All take credit cards, but up to 70 percent of their sales are cash.
No one calls it a war, as such - only a friendly rivalry. But each vows to match or beat any legitimate price the others offer.
No one knows who will win the shootout.
For now, the one with the biggest guns is Cavender’s, which has been around since James Cavender started it as a boot seller in 1965 in Pittsburg.
Now headquartered in Tyler, it has grown to 50 stores, nearly all in Texas but also with one each in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Kansas.
And it’s not all Western. Says Ward: “It’s crossover. We got fashion jeans for the ladies. For men, it’s pretty much all Western.” In addition to
traditional Western garb, Cavender’s also sells pragmatically functional, unglamorous items like work boots.
Ward says Cavender’s late arrival to the Valley was no accident.
“We needed a good location,” he says of Palms Crossing. “This mall is perfect.”
The others acknowledge Cavender’s size but note that the company is new to the Valley and has a lot to learn about customer service here versus
elsewhere.
“We know our customer better than they do,” says Clem of Boot Jack, which was begun in 1976 by George Masso and now boasts four stores in
the McAllen area and two more in Brownsville.
“We know what (customers) want,” Clem says. “We know what they like. All the stores for December are doing really good. We’re beating last
year.”
He says the competition from Cavender’s doesn’t help, but “we welcome it. It makes us do better, too.” He admits he checked out the new store
and talked with Ward. “He’s a nice guy. He’ll do good out there and we’ll (do well) where we’re at.”
All claim superior customer service, because over the years, they say, they have gotten to know their customers well.
Says Kalifa: “I relate to my customers, and I have for 34 years.”
But Gavel begs to differ. Though it has had stores in the Valley only five years, it thinks it has it over everyone because it’s Matamoros-based. Its
store in Mission, says manager Miseal Conde Jr., is doing better since nearby Cavender’s opened. Gavel carries most of the brands the others
carry, but it also sells boots made at its own factory in Mexico.
Says Conde: “The others think they know the Mexican market, and they’ll tell you that they do, but we really know it because we’re from there.
Our Mexican customers know us and trust us. Anglo stores don’t get that.”
Them, as the saying goes, might be fightin’ words.
Norman Ballet Company to present "Oklahoma Nutcracker"
— The 2007 Centennial presentation of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker,” based on the traditional “Nutcracker” ballet story and score by Tchaikovsky,
is the only production of its kind in the state to offer an Oklahoma setting and characters. The Norman Ballet Company is now preparing for its
sixth annual production of the classic children’s ballet.
The “Oklahoma Nutcracker” Act I party scene is set in the home of one of Oklahoma City’s founding families. Henry and Anna Overholser and
their daughter Henry Ione, are major characters in the ballet, hosting the Christmas Eve party for their neighborhood guests in the drawing room of
the Overholser Mansion.
Mr. Henry Overholser was a businessman who helped turn Oklahoma City into the major commercial center that eventually became the state
capital of Oklahoma. The Overholser family was an important member of Oklahoma City society and helped to bring about cultural development
to the Oklahoma City area for a period of over 50 years.
Steve Estes, production designer and technical director for the Norman Ballet Company’s production of “The Oklahoma Nutcracker” replicated the
look of the Overholser Mansion drawing room, down to its delicate hand painted silk walls, ornate fireplace and porcelain rose candelabra for the
Act I Scene 1 Party Scene.
“ The Overholser Mansion was completed in 1903 and was the perfect setting for our ballet which is set in 1907 – the Tchaikovsky score fit right
into that elegant drawing room and having little Henry Ione Overholser (who was by all accounts, quite feisty and imaginative) become our “Clara”
was a perfect fit.” Marjorie Kovich, Artistic Director
Norman Ballet Company costume designer, Sue Petzel, spent time at the Overholser Mansion going through clothing that belonged to the
Overholser family and sketched ideas for the ballet costumes. She also did research in fashion books from the year 1907 to make sure all costumes
would be authentic to the year Oklahoma reached statehood, 1907.
Audiences will get a chance to apreciate the beautiful designs prevalent to that era – fashionable women were still “corseted” and there was an
elegance in the line of the gowns worn by early Oklahoma City “Society” women.
Act II takes place on the grassy Oklahoma prairie and includes Oklahoma natural treasures such as a scissortail flycatcher, kingsnake, and indian
paintbrushes.
Performances of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker” will be presented on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2:00 p.m. at the
Sooner Theatre in Norman. Tickets are $16 for adults and $12 for children (12 and under) and may be purchased by calling the Norman Ballet
Company Box Office at (405) 326-9147.
The 2007 Centennial production of the “Oklahoma Nutcracker” has been designated an official “Centennial Project” by the City of Norman and the
Centennial Committee and is funded in part by the Norman Arts Council, the Oklahoma Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
____
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