Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Threads

Fashion's new image

Designer to the stars Bradley Bayou has had an epiphany: Real women need clothes too.

By SHARON FINK
Published March 3, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] “My clients inspired me,” says Bradley Bayou, who has designed for women from Queen Latifah to Eva Longoria. [AP photo (2003)] Queen Latifah, one of Bayou’s first clients after he became creative director of Halston, wore this gown of his to the 2003 Academy Awards. She became a regular client.

This is the story of a man, his new mission in life and why it's understandable if you take it with a grain of salt.

When Bradley Bayou took over as creative director of Halston in late 2002, the average American woman was 5 feet 4 and weighed 164 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her clothing size was 14.

Average American Woman was not a client of Bayou, who had been a celebrity couture designer for more than a decade. Halle Berry was a client. Drew Barrymore was. Ms. Average's closest relative on the list was Oprah Winfrey, whom Bayou had dressed for the 2002 Emmys.

That began to change at Halston. When Bayou arrived, the once-revered design house was struggling back to life after being killed by business troubles in the 1980s, and it wasn't a place high-style celebrities flocked for red carpet dresses.

"When I took over Halston . . . I'm not getting Nicole Kidman," Bayou said by phone. "I was getting Queen Latifah."

He encountered Latifah when he had been on the job less than four months. She needed something for the 2003 Academy Awards, where she was a best supporting actress nominee for Chicago. Bayou got the job and created a classic, Hollywood-glam blue satin gown that hugged her ample figure in all the right ways. Latifah became a regular client.

Business takes shape

Bayou's celebrity client roster grew to include Eva Longoria, Mariah Carey, Felicity Huffman, Barbra Streisand, Mena Suvari, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Salma Hayek, Paula Abdul, and another woman that Ms. Average American can identify with, Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy. The shape and size variety of his clients changed his designing life, Bayou said.

"I began to understand different-shaped women and what makes them look good," he said. "There are major groups of women in this country . . . where do they shop? I want to help women. Style should be something that's affordable and offered to everyone no matter what their size is. I'm going to do more and more and more for everyone."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight, would be among the responses of Average American Woman.

Ms. Average would say, justifiably, that Bayou's eye-opening revelation is a good example of the myopia afflicting designers when it comes to the females they usually make their clothes for - the likes of Nicole Kidman and Halle Berry - and their models, whose minimum height is 5-8, average weight 108 to 125.

Give them Ms. Average American and they freak. On the most recent season of Project Runway, contestants were required to make outfits for their mothers and sisters in a challenge called "Everyday Woman." They were shown muttering that they didn't know how to design for "someone like that."

So it's understandable that Bayou's declarations would be met with skepticism. But to his credit, he has made two moves to prove his dedication to his new cause.

A good fit for TV

A little more than a year ago, Bayou, who left Halston in 2005, debuted a line of casual clothing on TV shopping channel QVC. He's not the first designer to team up with the nation's most popular home shopping network to produce lower-priced clothes for the masses, but he said his interest is rooted in two things: "They have size 4 to 26, and it doesn't cost a lot of money," he said. "QVC does not neglect anybody. . . . QVC will be my base venue to the public."

In December, Bayou released a book, The Science of Sexy Gotham Books, $35.

"I learned that when clothes fit right, women exude a confidence I find sexy," he said, explaining part of the title.

The "science" part comes from research he did for the book, including data collected in a study in which 10,000 American women's and men's shapes were measured. From that, Bayou has identified 48 body types. He helps you figure out which one you are through height, weight and measurements and gives advice on what each type should wear and avoid for maximum best dressing.

Bayou's formula for finding your body type is a bit tricky to follow. You may need help to get your measurements accurately. Finding your type can come down to deciphering an instruction like "Your waist is less than 25 percent smaller than your shoulder or bust measurements." (I ended up thinking I had a 49th body type.)

What will work for you

But there's no mistaking his good intentions. Each type comes with four pages full of tips, tricks and illustrations (and an example of your celebrity body stand-in). His explanations are easy to understand. And he doles out the hard truths, such as, "Certain styles will never look good on you. Period."

"I am not trying to tell you what to wear," Bayou said. "I am trying to tell what will look good on practically any body type. It's a basic foundation to have."

He sounds committed. He acts committed. He also has a body-image perspective that few, if any, designers have gained from hard personal experience: His daughter Alexis, 27, struggled with bulimia in her late teens and early 20s, without him knowing. She got help two years ago.

Bayou is candid enough to say that this career direction is "not what I picked for myself."

"But it's where I belong," he said. "I love it. I'm having the time of my life."

Sharon Fink can be reached at (727) 893-8525 or fink@sptimes.com.

Watch him

Bradley Bayou on QVC

The designer will sell his sportswear line in a one-hour show Monday at 6 p.m.

On the Web

See Bradley by Bradley Bayou at www.qvc.com.

[Last modified March 2, 2007, 09:58:24]