Sense of Style: Designer Hall brings fashions to Joseph

A designer who has dressed Charlize Theron, Sharon Stone, Salma Hayek and Michelle Obama among countless other famous women, will be back in town soon to serve his Memphis following.

Courtesy Kevan Hall

This sophisticated gown from Kevan Hall's 2012 spring collection features a bodice in wool jersey, skirt in satin-faced organza and a "caviar" beaded belt.

Photos courtesy Kevan Hall

This chiffon gown was part of a Kevan Hall fashion show staged for a segment of Bravo's "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills," which aired in November and was taped at the home of cast member Adrienne Maloof.

Detroit-born Kevan Hall will bring his collection of spring 2012 evening gowns and cocktail dresses to Joseph at Laurelwood Shopping Center Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

His show here a year ago was extremely successful, said Joseph owner Shirley Wexner, with women here looking for knock-out mother-of-the-bride, rehearsal dinner and Carnival Memphis dresses, which they chose in sophisticated colors, such as charcoal gray, amethyst, navy and various beautiful blues.

"I feel like they're very cosmopolitan," said Hall, who lives and works in Los Angeles. "I show things all over the country, but some! of the really special pieces, some one-of-a-kind pieces, are what they gravitated to."

Hall is a former design and creative director for Halston, the line he helped revive in 1998-2000 and through which he dressed Theron, Stone, Angela Bassett and others.

In 2010, he was asked to show a selection of designs for Michelle Obama. She chose a classically American shirtwaist style dress in burgundy and bronze with abstract polka dots and a tie front. Her stylist sent her sizes; the finished dress fit beautifully and she wore it to speak at a Spanish Heritage Month event in Washington.

The same year, Hall launched a bridal collection. "It's been an exciting and fun thing for me to do," he said, because the customer is a young woman on a big day. "I don't have to worry about sleeves or a low back. I can be as creative as possible and do more fantasy."

Brides now want to go more Hollywood, he said. "It's a natural segue for me. I'm giving her the red carpet esthetic, but taking it to the white carpet."

Hall plans to offer women here "great American chic, silhouettes a lot of women can wear, a beautiful neckline that frames the face" and sleeves. "Everyone wants a sleeve nowadays. Even if it's warm, you're cold because of the air-conditioning." And then, women of a certain age just want a little cover, he noted.

Hall said the "bread-and-butter" of his evening gowns are under $3,000. Cocktail dresses are commonly priced from $800 to $1,300.

Hall said one of his most memorable fashion moments was dressing Felicity Huffman the year she won an Emmy for "Desperate Housewives." The stylist for the show had recommended him to dress her for another event, at which she got great press. So, she came to meet him personally. At that time, she was not so well known, he said. But she took the Emmy wearing his rouge silk bias-cut gown with a cowl neckline, very liquid and fluid.

Hall said he fitted Theron at her Hollywood bungalow. "She was very gracious and very excited to be wearing th! e dress, " a boat-neck gown with a plunging back and embroidered with tiny seashells.

Hall has been married to his wife, Debbie, for more than 25 years and has two children, Asia, 21, and Evan, 16. Like a lot of young people, Asia borrows from her parents' "closets," particularly Hall's glamorous designs which she likes for her spring dances. "She has unlimited access," he said. She also carts off shoes from his fashion shows.

His children have had other fashion aspirations as well, including sketches they showed him for a T-shirt collection. One Christmas, all they wanted was advice. So he boxed up a trove of design information -- where to get great fabrics; manufacturing contacts, etc. -- to launch a line as well as the sketches he had saved and put them under the tree.

Last year they opened "Once Youth" T-shirts and tanks and have been selling them through social networks. T-shirt artwork by Asia includes a smiling skull printed in lace -- an odd mix of urban edginess with the Hall flair for femininity.

Fashion editor Barbara Bradley can be reached at (901) 529-2370 or bradley@commercialappeal.com.