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| Reviews: I just discovered this store today and have fallen in love with it. Most of the garments are made in LA, which i really appreciate. The fabrics are great and I especially love the reversible skirts. It's just a great space, so inviting and well decorated, you don't want to leave. boutiquepeek @ www.brandhabit.com Los Angeles is almost 6,000 miles from Paris, France. Step inside Nathalie Seaver’s quaint boutique on trendy West Third Street in L.A. and you wonder if you’ve been transported overseas. Self-proclaimed Francophile, Seaver, is the owner of the ten year old boutique which features her unique clothing designs as well as other fun trinkets that celebrities like Paris Hilton, Diane Lane and Christina Aguilera covet.
While Seaver’s mom, well-known chef Jeanette Seaver, concocted recipes in their New York City kitchen, adolescent Nathalie sewed her own skirts and dresses. Though one might think a budding designer would jump immediately into fashion design, Nathalie dabbled in television where she was a director of programming for the Showtime television network.
But there was a certain “je ne sais crois” about her work that left her dissatisfied. Seaver decided it was time to make a living making clothes. So far the results have been, how do you say. . .maqnifique!
The Deb Dress is at the top of two of my lists which include “Must Buy to Seduce Men” and “Must Buy to Wear While Moseying in Paris.”  Yes, those lists can be combined, but one is exclusively for the next time I visit Paris. While the shape is innocent and gently caresses the body, the fabric exudes sex appeal and curiosity about the femme fatale wearing it. Seaver’s line is extremely feminine and flirty without going over the top.
Some might consider the other items in her store over the top, but I think they’re just fun and fabulous! Figurine cheese graters and funky cufflinks? S’il vous plait!! 
Diane Mooney @ L.A. Weekly ONE EVENING WHILE WADING THROUGH a stack of scripts she'd brought home from Showtime, Nathalie Seaver, a vice president of original programming, suddenly realized that she'd rather be designing a dress than making a development deal. So she traded in her briefcase for needle and thread, and opened a shop where she showcases her line of limited-edition pieces, usually made out of retro-inspired fabrics imported from Europe: sumptuous silk bias-cut dresses that invoke Rita Hayworth's Gilda, faux-suede skirts that skim the body and end in a flirty flounce, cool cotton frocks with matching fabric belts for the sophisticated picnicgoer.
Seaver, who is self-taught, describes her designs as "classic with a wink. I'm inspired by the fluid, graceful lines of the 1930s. I want to design clothes that are flattering to women of all body types." She also draws on the swinging '60s, with crisp, mod-striped straight skirts, sequined sleeveless blouses and patterned psychedelic silk shirts with bell sleeves. "All my designs start with the fabric and how it feels on the body," she says.
Making crepe skirts led Seaver to come up with a chic take on reversible clothing: She loved the transparency of georgette, and found that if she layered the two fabrics, the crepe could act as both a liner and another skirt. Best of all, the skirts -- bright prints trimmed with a silk ribbon over a contrasting fabric that peeks out from the bottom -- come in three lengths and don't need to be ironed. A smart alternative to the usual drab travel wear. "I've had customers tell me they brought one or two of my skirts with them to Europe, and they didn't need anything else," says Seaver.
When she was 10 years old, Seaver decided she didn't like the clothes she saw in stores, so she began making her own outfits with her mother. At 14, she sold a long mixed-fabric skirt -- a template for what she does today -- to a fancy shop in her hometown, New York. It sold the next day. She continued making clothes for friends and family while selling her clothing to other stores, and finally opened her eponymous boutique.
Her store, with its fainting couch and dressing-room walls covered in fabric that Seaver carried back from France, evokes a breezy glamour à la Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey. Although Steven Soderbergh filmed a scene in her shop for his movie, Full Frontal, with Seaver in a cameo selling a dress that she designed, she doesn't miss her days in the movie business. "A film can be in development for years. I can sketch something today and have it made tomorrow. There's a lot of satisfaction in seeing your creative vision completed." Booth Moore - L.A. Times Forget product placement, store placement may be the newest in movie marketing high jinks. Seaver, the boutique on 3rd Street in Los Angeles, has a role in “Full Frontal,” the Steven Soderbergh film opening today.
It’s the Hollywood debut for the shop, but not for owner Nathalie Seaver. She worked as a D-girl for five years and has been friends with Soderbergh since he got his start directing the 1986 documentary about the pop music band Yes.
Seaver, a former vice president of original programming for Showtime, gave up deal making for designing. Four years ago, she opened the store to showcase her line of flouncy crepe skirts trimmed with satin ribbon, hand-painted silk blouses and sophisticated bias-cut dresses with a 1930s feel, all priced from $138 to $485.
“I was always coming home working on my skirt projects, so there was always that tug,” said Seaver of her days in the film industry. “It occurred to me that so many people would probably love my job, and if I wasn’t paying as much attention to it, I should probably give up the mantle.”
The focus of her line was guided by a personal wardrobe need. “For me, fun skirts were always missing from the market,” she said. “Skirts were either Lilly Pulitzer, which at the time wasn’t cool, or dowdy work wear.”
Without any training, she began producing below-the-knee crepe skirts in whimsical polka dot, feather and floral patterns, some with ribbon belts. Reversible silk georgette skirts, blouses with flippy cap sleeves and T-shirts followed. Seaver also does custom work, including bridal gowns.
When she designs, she tries to consider all body types and ages. “My clothes are not cut for a Barbie doll or a 12-year-old,” said Seaver, who refuses to disclose her age. “The 1930s really nailed it. You didn’t have to be rail-thin. I have wonderful archival books, and even the dresses that people wore to clean their houses back then were incredible. I’m going for that level of style.”
A collector of old quilts, she cites great fabric as the foundation for her clothing, which she designs at a studio near Little Tokyo. “I start with fabric and then figure out what to do with it.” She’s more likely to read a design magazine than a fashion magazine. “I’ll see how a velvet drape hangs against a brocade pillow and say, ‘Wow, I can do something with this.’ ”
Seaver has been craftsy since she was a girl, splitting her childhood between Manhattan and France. At age 7, she made a pair of disco ball earrings with two ping-pong balls, a bottle of glue and some glitter. A friend’s mother paid 50 cents for them. When she wasn’t buying clothes by the pound at thrift stores, Seaver was rummaging through her grandmother’s castoffs in the attic, and altering them to fit.
Her store is a bit like a boudoir with rich burgundy walls, Oriental rugs, a day bed and vintage French movie posters. It’s a favorite with celebs such as Rose McGowan, Patricia Heaton, Allison Janney and Susan Sarandon, who come for clothes and the large selection of gifts, many French-themed.
Soderbergh is also a regular, and Seaver was thrilled when he suggested the store for a scene in his film. “A lot of the movie is about real locations in L.A. that aren’t so obvious,” she said. The director, who was too busy this week to talk about his friend, also offered her a small role selling a dress she designed. Done in just half a day, the shoot was a breeze. “After all,” she said, “it was an old friend, the crew was really nice, I was in my own environment and [the role] wasn’t much of a stretch.”
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. And having the right friends. This is the eponymous store of Nathalie Seaver, an up-and-coming local designer whose style is to create complementary separates. The result is casual but practical fashion that is a hit with those who are looking to add a cosmopolitan feel to their closets. Nathalie Seaver counts her half-French origin as a major influence. So while colorfully patterned dresses and skirts adorn the racks on either side of the store, her fun unique gifts are treasures to serious shoppers*. If you’re looking for a refreshing break from the over-abundance of wannabe hip and trendy stores, Nathalie Seaver is a must-see.” *Like Paris Hilton, Patti Smith, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Aniston, Diane Lane, Carla Gugino, Seth Green, Christina Aguilera, Patricia Heaton, Peri Gilpin, Jenna Elfman, Ashley Jensen, Connie Britton and Rose McGowan. I fear that I'm falling in love with Nathalie Seaver. The store, that is... What I'm trying to say here is have you ever walked into a store and found 5 things you absolutely could not live without (even though mere moments before laying your eyes on those items, you had no idea that they existed)? That was my experience at Nathalie Seaver. After I walked to the front with my gifts for a friend and my gifts for me, I had a moment when I was trying to pay. One of those moments when you stop the clerk mid-checkout to add an item to your stash. Then immediately have to stop the transaction again to add just one more item. The next time I hit up this shop, I will refuse to start the checkout process until all possible merchandise has been properly reviewed. I realize that I'm the one at fault for messing up the order of things because I simply could not resist that apple lip balm (in the cute designer tin). I take full responsibility. Please don't take away my shopping privileges! Sometimes we forget just how good we have it in LA with the plethora of neighborhood boutique shops right under our noses. Nathalie Seaver - which is right in the middle of the West Third shopping stretch, just a couple of doors down from Joan's - is a great reminder of that fact. It's one of those quaint shops which makes you sigh a breath of relief knowing options still exist to spy a gift or great find, without making another trip to a cookie cutter mall with the rest of the sheep. Specializing in clothing (designed by the owner, Nathalie), gifts and little treasures, there's something here for just about everyone. We stumbled in after brunch and were amazed by the variety of unique offerings the shop is nearly overflowing with - designer rubber duckies (we left with "decorator duck"), vintage stripper cuff links, stenciled leatherette checkbook and ipod covers in yummy pastel colors for spring, magnets, soaps, custom aprons (that give Anthropologie a run for their money), some beautiful things for baby, and of course, clothes and accessories. Not all of Seaver's clothes fit my taste, but aside from the super fab aprons that actually make you want to cook, her brocade jackets are beautifully sewn and well worth the price of admission. If you're trying to find a special gift for someone hard to buy for, this boutique is not to be missed - not that you could miss the beautifully painted black and white floral exterior. Nathalie is a super helpful sweetheart, there's something for just about every budget, and she'll even gift wrap it for you before you go. LA doesn't get much better than that. From Laura Randall @ www.citysearch.com
In Short...The store is laid back and eminently browse-able, and, perhaps as a result, the celebrity quotient is high. Seaver displays her own designs--reversible print skirts, lighter-than-air silk blouses, little black dresses--amid shelves of vintage kitchenware, handbags and sets of Eiffel Tower highball glasses. The prices and selection vary widely--there is everything from a $550 chandelier to $7 musical magnets. Looking for a gift for the person who has everything? The search will likely end here. I was drawn to this boutique by an article in the LA Weekly. A development exec who decided she was happier designing clothes? who doesn't have that fantasy of dropping the job and opening a shop. [And, Growing Pains was also my favorite show way back when - go homeless kid Luke Brower!] The shop is a lovely little space with a lot of vintage jewelry and French housewares in addition to Nathalie Seaver's designs. I...have been back several times to pick up gifts. From CP @ www.butterflyinc.com/blog/:
Joan's On Third is everyone's favorite lunch and take out place with really good coffee... A couple of doors down from Joan's is Nathalie Seaver's wonderful store. She sews and designs very feminine women's clothing using great prints plus [she stocks] a terrific assortment of gifts. There's a bit of a French focus since those are her roots. | |
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