BEL AIR – CHATEAU FALCONVIEW – 14 MARCH 2026
Step into Merle’s Closet for an insider’s view of the inner world of L.A. style.
is often referred to as “the world’s biggest runway fashion show,” but Phillip Plein, one of the world’s elite group of billionaire fashion designers (with a relatively low profile, at least in the U.S.), gave his fourth annual night before Oscars fashion show Saturday night at his Bel Air manse known as Chateau Falconview. “Manse” is actually a misnomer – his giant white columned – um, what? calling it “a crystal palace” would be an understatement – at the tippy top of Bel Air’s Fontenelle Way is actually just the guest house. In the hills above, he and his family’s real home – ten times the size – is still under construction.
Even in flamboyant Monte Carlo, it’s hard to imagine a capsule collection of thirteen gold, silver or black beaded fringed mini’s with matching shiny above the knee boots being staged with each model arriving in a custom Rolls Royce in front of a large sequin strewn crowd seated outside the manse.
Then they paraded through many first floor salons to a hungry crowd for such James Bond fantasies, most of which can afford it.
Matching these many thousands of dollars apiece fringed looks were the models themselves: curvy, busty, big hair teased even bigger, they’re relics of the Jayne Mansfield/Marilyn Monroe sex symbols days, attired in Tina Turner-like stage wear that shoppers in the wealthier parts of Europe and the Middle East clamor for. “He’s selling the fantasy of “hot chicks in hot cars” lifestyle to the world’s richest men,” an insider noted. While Plein’s stores in Beverly Hills, Kuwait, Doha, Dubai, Prague, Madrid, Hong Kong, China, Rome, etc., enhance that aesthetic, his own palatial homes in Bel Air, Lugano Switzerland, townhouse in New York and two year old Milanese Plein Hotel (he mostly shows in Milan) do it tenfold. Plein himself, muscles rippling under his svelte suit, arrived on a motorcycle to introduce the show. The many mega sized Rolls delivery cars had quite a task: deliver each model, then do a cagey three point return to escape the driveway plateau where the show was staged, to barrel down a steep hill high above the Bel Air Hotel. The cars had no choice but to come as close to the seated crowds as legally possible – adding to the James Bond high stakes atmosphere. Not one glass of Cristal spilled even a drop.
There are five each of these dresses, each one took a week to hand bead. Too bad Lara Croft isn’t real: the badass babe would rock every single some. So will some badass babes with long legs somewhere in the world – possibly in this well-appointed crowd. Too bad Sabrina Carpenter wasn’t there; this is much like her stage costumes. Except for her and this particular crowd, they aren’t costumes.
