Rayna Shin
Banner image above: Dylan Raasch and Brian Reid

San Diego Stylemakers

The fashion world may revolve around New York, Paris, and Milan, but San Diego’s proving to be a mighty little contender. In the following pages, meet several up-and-coming local design stars. Their creations — which range from streetwear to black-tie, ballet flats to sophisticated SoCal bling — have garnered national and international recognition.

Marisa Baratelli
The Marisa Baratelli collection speaks to women with a refined sensibility. Creative director and Solana Beach native Baratelli, whose mother Madeleine Cranfill founded the company, uses sumptuous Thai silks in dazzling jewel tones for her tailored separates and eveningwear.

"Because I live overseas," says Baratelli, "my personality tends to be a constant balance of mixing East and West, contemporary and classic, streamlined and embellished. I see that in our designs, as well."

The cosmopolitan Baratelli says she focuses on color, cut, and the best female features when she’s designing. (A Marisa Baratelli top is featured on this issue’s cover.) But those features, she points out, vary for different individuals.

"Freedom is the ability to move and express a woman’s best physical attributes in the cut of the garment," she explains.

One popular Marisa Baratelli look flatters every female form. "Strapless is universal because it opens the heart and shoulders," Baratelli says. "I believe that is where a woman’s beauty emanates."

Osiris Shoes’ Brian Reid and Dylan Raasch
Brian Reid, 34, is a founding partner of Osiris, the skateboard shoe company, and also its head designer. A local success story — skate punk turned global entrepreneur — Reid is funny and modest. He takes every opportunity to pay props to fellow Osiris designer, 31-year-old Dylan Raasch.

"Dylan and I are like yin and yang," says Reid. "We have different approaches. I’m the self-taught college dropout. He went to design school."

Raasch, who after hours is the bassist/singer for local band Years Around the Sun, says, "The challenge of designing is trying to make a creative idea sellable." Coming up with cost-effective new kicks for an ever-fickle market means lots of research and a spot-on intuition.

Reid points out that Osiris’s D3 model sold over a million pairs ("the shoe of the ’90s"). But, Reid adds, making money isn’t everything. "When you see someone walking down the street wearing your shoes, they’re wearing a piece of you."

Shoetique 101’s Rayna Shin
Rayna Shin thinks it’s common pace to own 300 pairs of shoes and admits she was once a shoeaholic. In 2001, when she was 23, the petite Korean beauty with a master’s degree in fine art decided to channel her obsession into something a little healthier. With help from her father and sister Janelle, she launched Shoetique 101, a luxury footwear brand now sold worldwide.

Shoetique 101’s boutique in Del Mar Plaza is white and clean-lined, the perfect backdrop to the shelves of gorgeous shoes, which range from sleek, comfort-minded patent ballet flats to pom-pommed strappy sandals in confectionary colors.

Though they are crafted by a patternmaker in Italy, Shin designs the shoes herself. She tracks general trends in fashion but specializes for different local markets (Shoetique 101 also has stores in Seoul, Tokyo, and Paris). She says she finds inspiration in the women she sees every day. "If they don’t have great shoes, I like to imagine what would be great for them."

Morgan Jean Jewelry’s Morgan Soule
She’s tall and thin and has piercing blue eyes and gold-spun hair that nearly reaches her waist. She effortlessly pairs an elegant black-and-white knit blazer with torn jeans and an AC/DC T-shirt. She is gorgeous and smart. And at just 25-years-old, born-and-bred Encinitas girl Morgan Soule has her own jewelry line that has been featured in Variety and worn by celebs like Tyra Banks.

The pieces in the Morgan Jean collection have a bicoastal appeal, mixing Southern California casual with East Coast sophistication (Soule started making jewelry while studying business at Georgetown). Her necklaces and bracelets can be worn one at a time, or, as Soule prefers it, layered creatively. Her signature look is semi-precious stones inset with tiny, bezel-cut gemstones.

"I design things that I would wear," Soule explains. Sure enough, she pairs several of her own pieces with the aforementioned rocker-chic ensemble, including the Swami’s Cluster necklace, which features tourmalated quartz, matte onyx, and a freshwater pearl. "It’s also affordable. And with my jewelry, you can dress it up or dress it down. Wear it to the office or wear it out."

Lust 4 Luxe’s Jeff Catalano
Jeff Catalano will never know the joy of carrying a beautiful handbag, but the designer says he gets plenty of pleasure from seeing stylish women enjoying his creations. "It’s such an incredible feeling," he enthuses.

Along with his business partner, David Savarese, the Del Mar resident is the talent behind the new-ish handbag brand Lust 4 Luxe (L4L). "Women lust for luxury," he explains of the brand’s moniker. "The luxury market is where it’s at. To carry a luxury bag says something of prestige, taste, and style."

Despite the fine leathers and hides, intricate designs, and solid hardware and danglers — as well as an exclusive, patented lighting system — the line is a lot more affordable than what high-end name-brand competitors offer.

When they first joined forces, Catalano and Savarese designed for private labels like Marciano and Bebe. But they both wanted to do higher-end handbags that they could actually put their names behind.

Lust 4 Luxe is carried locally in boutiques like Del Mar’s Jade Shoes and European Moda, as well as Fred Segal in Los Angeles and Henri Bendel in New York.
— AnnaMaria Stephens, photography by Kristy Ann Mann

Mirko Mangum: Marketing Mogul
Mirko Mangum probably couldn’t sit still even if he had all the free time in the world. The 30-something designer/entrepreneur seems to be caffeinated with creative energy, which is lucky for him because he’s got his hands full.

Right now he’s busy with UNIV, a streetwear brand whose cool flagship shop in Encinitas stocks a few other select labels, including limited-edition kicks. (Mangum and partner Tim Swart launched a UNIV outpost in South Beach, Florida, too.) Before UNIV, Mangum was the marketing genuis behind Alphanumeric (a popular streetwear line that he recently revived) and Zoo York (a skateboarding line that he brought from obscurity to international notoriety). Oh yeah, and he’ll be a daddy any minute — he and his wife are expecting son Nikko this May.

"There’s never a dull moment," he says while giving a tour of the ever-expanding UNIV headquarters. Mangum, a former pro skateboarder for Planet Earth, was born in Italy but relocated to El Cajon as a kid. He’s lived in North County since he was 18, with the exception of a few years in New York, where he surfed regularly at Rockaway Beach in Queens.

"Being a black man carrying a surfboard on the trains in New York, I got into some interesting conversations," he laughs. Locally, his favorite surf spot is Swami’s. "It’s mellow, the people are friendly, and the surf is good." — AnnaMaria Stephens, photo by Kristy Ann Mann