Women's Wear Daily

AS SEEN IN... MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1986 WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY ONE DOLLAR WWD VOL. 152 NO. 24 Susanna: Suitable Theatrics BEVERLY HILLS – The hyperbole sounds familiar: creator – seem an anomaly in Beverly Hills, a Angeles to become a clothing designer and partner “I do a fabulous collection and my customers, I call town of sparkle and overindulgence. in a small boutique. A series of misfortunes – a them ‘Susanna’s Girls,’ totally love it. They call Just a block and a half from Rodeo Drive, badly received collection, a broken back from a fall, me up crying ‘We love you, we love you.’” the shop’s streamlined designs “appeal to husbands eviction from her apartment and a dire financial sit- The speaker, Susanna Chung Forest, 35, who see suits in the windows and then bring their uation – greeted her in her first months. rattles nonstop in a press release flood of words. wives back to shop,” says Susanna’s calm and She decided to try again and this time Eighteen years in the United States have not erased steady husband, Pierre Forest, who manages the caught the eye of several enthusiastic private the thick Korean accent of this diminutive retailer business side of the company. clients. Marianne Rogers was one of the first and designer. Likewise, her growing success has not The Susanna collections – four a year – clients in Beverly Hills. Terry Moore’s appearance erased her own driving need for self-promotion. each have 30 different styles. Suits are sold as sets, By any account, Chung Forest should now but are priced individually to mix and match. An sit back and enjoy her reputation and loyal average suit sells for about $1,000 and Chung customers. Her Designs by Susanna boutique on Forest says a woman with a $5,000 budget can Santa Monica Boulevard garnered $2,500,000 last create 15 different outfits. year and is planning to do $4 million this year. Eveningwear is equally subtle in design. “It’s Television studios call her regularly for womanlike,” says Chung Forest. “I don’t like clothing. “Hardly a show goes on the air without naked dresses for evening.” She accentuates the something of Susanna’s,” says Eilish Zebrasky, waste for a flattering silhouette and believes in wardrobe department head for Aaron Spelling minimizing flaws like large hips, small busts or Productions, who has used her clothes on every- short legs. thing from “Charlie’s Angels” and “The Love Aside from flattering, simple designs, Boat” to “Dynasty” and “Hotel.” Susanna’s customers appreciate the use of fine And, most recently, Susanna’s signature imported fabrics. For fall, she offers deep jewel look of sleek, subtle three and four piece suits has colored or black and white silks, wool gabardine, Paperweight navy wool crepe jacket trimmed with crisp white cotton collar & cuffs. Matching shirt & pant. “I went to Susanna because she did a beautiful suit and we both had the same on “The Love Boat” in her own Susanna wardrobe point of view that simplicity was the best design,” – Robert Turturice, “Moonlighting” brought her to the attention of the Spelling wardrobe department. been associated with the character played by cashmere wovens and lightweight wool herring- The tiny shop in Beverly Hills – which Cybill Shepherd in the series “Moonlighting.” bone and checks. Susanna says will be her only store – doubled its Chung Forest receives sketches from the show’s The suits have long jackets, slim skirts, size last April to 1,200 square feet and houses 25 designer, Robert Turturice, makes the suits in trip- matching blouses and minimal details like shawl or employees. It is not elaborately decorated, but licate (two for Shepherd and one for her stand-in) notched collars, roll-up cuffs and small slits in skirts. rather resembles a simple showroom and sewing and then incorporates the looks in her own custom- Susanna’s sense of design and quality stems shop. “When a store gets too fancy, it scares you,” order designs. from early exposure to good clothing. Her wealthy reasons Forest. “It’s intimidating.” “I went to Susanna because she did a land baron father and fashion-conscious mother Oddly, the strong-willed, melodramatic beautiful suit and we both had the same point of gave her a privileged childhood in Korea. “My Susanna also takes a lowkey approach in the store. view that simplicity was the best design,” said mother wore a lot of originals and I remember “Try on one of my suits,” she says in the enticing Turturice. “It’s a give and take situation. If I come their simplicity. I loved looking at fashion maga- tone of a confidant to a new customer. “I’ll make up with a concept she likes, she is welcome to use zines. When I was eight my dream was to be a you look beautiful and you’ll feel successful. And if it. She doesn’t give that look to other television famous costume designer,” she says. At the age of you are successful, then I am successful too.” shows. It’s just for her walk-in trade.” 15, she moved with her mother to Paris and a year The understated, quietly elegant suits – in a later to New Jersey. She studied at the Fashion –MAUREEN SAJBEL way a study in contrast with their intense, vocal Institute of Technology and, in 1976, moved to Los Photos by MARISSA ROTH WWD/CALIFORNIA, AUGUST 1986 33.

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