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Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

By ABIGAIL LEICHMAN, STAFF WRITER

He's dressed Halle Berry, Christie Brinkley, Janet Jackson, Glenn Close and Cindy Crawford. Now he wants to dress the rest of us.

Celebrity stylist Wayne Scot Lukas fresh from a stint as guest host of Home Shopping Network's "Spring Style Report" headlines "LukaStyle," a new HSN show airing next week launching his exclusive line of clothing.

You can rest assured that coming from a guy who played French horn in the marching band of Bergenfield High School in the 1980s, LukaStyle is affordable. The pieces range from $22 for slim cropped pants to $69.90 for a cotton scuba jacket.

"Because I grew up as a kid in New Jersey with not a lot of money, I wanted my clothing to be competitively inexpensive," said Lukas, who now splits his time between Manhattan and the Jersey Shore but frequently visits his hometown to see family. "I want women to be able to afford all colors and not have to choose or edit."

Another dollar-saver: Every dress, skirt, pant, top, jacket, cardigan, hoodie and tank is machine washable and dryable. Some are made of an acrylic blend called Tecnocashmere that took five years to develop. (Technosuede, with a four-way stretch, is due this fall.)

Lukas put 20 years of styling experience into designing the separates some with built-in body shapers which come in sizes XS to 3X (about a 28).

"I put in double darts and other tweaks to make things fit ideally," he said, "so you can move and really live in the clothes. I want the soccer mom and the fashion editor to wear the same jacket and look just as stylish."

Each piece went through more than a dozen fittings. "I made a trumpet skirt with a soft waistband that eases out from the top so it doesn't dent at the hip," Lukas said. "I put my mom in it, and she looked so metropolitan."

His "S'wrap," a foldable sweater-wrap dress that he deems "the scrunchie of 2007; everyone will want one," is available at different price points in materials such as cotton Lycra and Tecnocashmere. "Christie Brinkley saw them and wanted the whole collection," the stylist reported.

Color is important to Lukas. "My feeling is that when you were 3 and grabbed that purple sweater, you didn't care if it was after Labor Day or winter or spring," he said. "I'm not into colors for the season but for how you feel today and what you want to wear to feel good."

LukaStyle colors are based on objects from nature pomegranates, mangoes, green landscapes.

To eliminate guesswork, Lukas created photo hangtags that suggest a variety of wardrobe combinations. These are not unlike the Polaroid shots he gives celebrity clients to remind them how to mix and match their clothes when he's not around. You will be able to buy a wardrobe book in which to display them.

The entire collection, along with LukasLessons styling tips, will be available at hsn.com as of Wednesday. "LukaStyle" will debut at 2 a.m. Wednesday, with additional shows at 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. next Thursday and again April 28 and 29.

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E-mail: leichman@northjersey.com

(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.