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Trend Spotters Turn To SoCal Fashionistas For Help

National retailers that want the look of Southern California depend on consulting firms such as Directives West, Barbara Fields Buying Office and Doneger Group to advise them on what's hot on the West Coast and will sell nationwide.

What these firms do "is beyond the runway," says Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association. Metchek refers to Sandy Richman--whose firm, Directives West, produced the L.A. Over Easy fashion show last month--as the West Coast "gatekeeper." The petite fashionista funnels tips to Macy's, Neiman Marcus, J.C. Penney, Abercrombie & Fitch and other clients.

Barbara Fields has spent 28 years sending trend-spotters to high schools, clubs and concerts to monitor what youth wears. If the paparazzi are perched in front of a hot store or restaurant, "we're there as well," she says. The much-larger New York-based Doneger Group opened an office at the California Market Center in 2005, where its competitors also are housed. Now it's expanding.

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