L&T MEETS THE LEGAL EAGLE
Byline: Holly Haber
DALLAS — Erin Brockovich Ellis really does dress like that.
The legal file clerk made famous by the film “Erin Brockovich” vouched for the accuracy of the movie sartorially and otherwise during a humorous speech at a benefit luncheon for 1,500 here at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel.
With Lord & Taylor as the lead sponsor, the event netted more than $225,000 for Special Care & Career Services, a non-profit group that helps disabled people find and hold jobs. It was organized by Attorneys Serving the Community, a charitable association of 150 women lawyers.
“We are reengineering the image of Lord & Taylor and we want to do things that are fun for women,” said LaVelle Olexa, senior vice president of fashion merchandising at Lord & Taylor. “With our new president, Jane Elfers, we are looking at repositioning the store to bring back a bit of the polish.” That effort includes a prototype store opening Aug. 3 at a new mall in Plano, a Dallas suburb, and staging high-profile special events and fund-raisers, such as with Brockovich Ellis. The heroine began her presentation by lauding the work done by the luncheon’s beneficiary and said the film’s depiction of her efforts to secure a landmark $333 million judgement against Pacific Gas & Electric for polluting groundwater and creating a health hazard as “95 percent accurate.”
“People always ask me, ‘Do you really dress like that?’ Yes, I do. I love bustiers,” Brockovich Ellis admitted, gesturing to the nude stretch camisole she wore under a bronze silk shantung pantsuit with sequined lace trim by Bradley Bayou. “They want to know, ‘Was there really a biker?’ Yes, and had the real George looked anything like Aaron Eckhart, believe me I would have never thrown him out.”
Brockovich Ellis went on to tout the virtue of persistence and to urge the audience to be true to themselves, honest and ethical.
Reared in Lawrence, Kan., Brockovich Ellis has ties to this city and to fashion. She lived here for two years while earning an associate’s degree in fashion and merchandising from Miss Wade’s Fashion Merchandising College, now called Wade College.
“I was always getting suspended because I wouldn’t wear a bra and pantyhose,” she recalled. “Who wants to wear pantyhose in 108-degree heat? Miss Wade says she’s not responsible for the way I dress. I said, ‘what’s wrong with the way I dress?”‘