Laguna Beach-based clothing designer Stone Cold Fox is the work of 24-year-old best friends who draw inspiration from styles and eras from well before they were born.
Cydney Morris and Dallas Wand started out making clothes for friends. They formed a business last year after getting some interest from boutiques.
“We didn’t expect to have our own studio,” Wand said.
Stone Cold Fox is small, with estimated yearly sales of less than $1 million. It’s generated a buzz among some boutiques for its clothes for young women.
The company makes lacy tops, gowns, knitted wraps and other clothes. They have a decidedly 1970s vibe—think Stevie Nicks. Morris and Wand also draw inspiration from the Old West, gypsies, foreign films and vintage clothes.
Clients
Stone Cold Fox clothes sell in Santa Monica-based Planet Blue, which has a few stores in Southern California, and at Elyse Walker in Pacific Palisades, Westerly Boutique in Corona del Mar, Patina in Costa Mesa and Stanton James of Beverly Hills, among others.
Planet Blue picked up the clothes last year for “the mix of new and vintage in their approach,” said Rachael Robbins Kachko, director of buying operations for the retailer.
Stone Cold Fox is “very sexy and feminine,” she said. “We love lace.”
Wearers of the clothes range from 18 to 35 years old, said Lauren Matocha, manager for Elyse Walker.
“I feel like it’s going to be a good line for us,” she said.
Morris and Wand also sell clothes from their Laguna Beach studio. Stone Cold Fox’s clothes hang on a rack at their cottage-like office off Pacific Coast Highway.
“We have our personal clientele who come and do fittings,” Morris said.
Orders also come in online. Business is strong in Australia, according to Morris.
Clothes prices range from $150 to $2,000. An average dress is about $600. The handiwork and fabric—which includes silk and velvet—drive prices.
Morris designs and hand sews each original piece, which is used to show store buyers.
“We’re old fashioned,” Morris said. “I just draw clothes, sketch it out and do patterns. It’s really old school.”
Once an original is sewn, Stone Cold Fox takes the sample and pattern to Santa Ana, where it enlists a pack of sewers.
Morris and Wand spend two days a week in Los Angeles buying fabric.
“We use laces and velvets,” Morris said. “It’s kind of our look.”
The duo “listened to Fleetwood Mac the whole time we were making” Stone Cold Fox’s Gypsy Decay collection, Wand said.
Stone Cold Fox has a few collections. Along with Gypsy Decay, there is Lady Bonita and Foreign Cinema.
Morris and Wand named their brand Stone Cold Fox after a line in the 1999 movie “The Virgin Suicides.”
There’s a scene where actor Josh Hartnett wraps his arms around a girl and calls her a stone cold fox.
“It’s like a ’70s babe,” Morris said.
Friends since second grade, Morris and Wand both studied fashion.
Morris studied design and sewing at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Wand attended Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles.
Wand originally thought she’d become a buyer for a store. She now takes care of the store accounts and handles marketing and photo shoots for Stone Cold Fox.
Growth Plans
They intend to grow the business slowly.
“We’re still learning a lot about the industry,” Wand said.
“A lot of companies grow too fast and bomb,” Morris said.
The partners don’t have debt or investors. They’re conservative with income, most of which goes back into the business.
They also get a lot of help from friends.
A friend does photos for Stone Cold Fox’s marketing portfolios. Another does makeup.
The models?
“They’re our friends,” Wand said. “We’re all helping each other out.”
Friends get paid in clothes.
Stone Cold Fox also has gotten a boost from boutique operator Stanton James, which promotes its designers to the fashion media.
“We were able to get them a lot of press,” said Lia Kennedy, who owns Stanton James with her sister, Brittany Price.
Kennedy and her sister, both from Newport Beach, were familiar with Stone Cold Fox.
“We like the whole chill vibe of it,” she said. “It looks like you threw it on, but you look amazing.”
