TINGED LON ERS are fandiar
sain Wot Vanceusers Christine
Motton ot Chrisune & Co. but there
AHCI too matty dacabs who kro. ot
Princes Sands.

By Layne Christensen

Fasivon Reporte

Vhes should. The former West
fancouver residents J O-yeur-ald
ling of hingerte had sales of over $1
milltad last vear and ts available in
over 300 stores in Japan, the Middle
East and the United States. You
won't find this New York-based
designer's Clio label in Canada.
however, hence the lack of recogni-
tion here at home.

“Once it comes over (inte
Canadian dollars), it's too expen-
sive.” she explains, Pieces in the line
range from USS60 for a carnisole to
USSS00 fora peignoir.

The former Sentinel Secondiry
student was in town recently to visit
her funiiy, who stiff reside in West
Vancouver,

At 38 — “there’s no point in fib-
bing because people know me here,”
she laughs — Smily finds herself at
the helm of a successful business she
and her husband Louis Atlas built
from scratch.

When she moved to New York. in
*84 she had only a few Capilano
College studio arts courses under her
belt. Smily reflects on her experience

igning in the Big Apple.

“I've learned to be a good busi-
ness person.” In Vancouver, “I found
myself too shy,” she adds. Here, seif-
promotion is confused with self-
indulgence, whereas in News York a
designer is expected to sell her self-
image and her line to the media and
to the-public.

It is Smily’s willingness to bend
over backwards for the media that
has, she says, been a big factor in the
appearance of the Clio label on the
covers and in the pages of scores of
magazines.

For Demi Moore's Vanity Fair
spread, Smily graciously wnipped up
20 color variationss of the same

Designer thrives in NYC

~. ars oh
NEWS photo Nell Lucente

OF HER first Vogue cover, designer Frances Smily says “it was
the greatest thrill in life next to my two kids being borr.”

camisole. For a summer Vogue fash-
ion layout. she custom tie-dyed her
signature silk slip.

Other celebrity clients with Clios
in their personal wardrobes include
Lauren Hutton, Cher, Bridget Fonda
and Stephanie Seymour.

But after 10 years of designing
innerwear, this mother of two says

she’s ready for a new ohulenge. This
time next month, Smily hopes to
have opened her first store, “olf the
beaten track” in New York's West
Village. to house her new line of
evening wear. [Cseems a natural pro-
gression given fashion’s fancy for
Screen Goddess slip dresses and
Depression Era chiffon shifts.

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