The punk, the bebe and the runner-up

BEHIND a dingy Hollywood storefront, Erik Hart is putting the finishing touches on his fall collection for Morphine Generation. In less than two years, Hart -- a frontman for a punk-rock band who has no training in fashion -- has grown a line of T-shirts silk-screened with skulls and crossbones into a full range of sportswear.

“I print the linings with my own artwork,” he says, unbuttoning a navy peacoat to reveal a delicate pink toile print. “It’s an English country setting gone awry.”

He’s right. Upon closer examination, one can see these knicker-clad children are frolicking with machine guns.

Los Angeles Fashion Week may not be influential enough to set trends or lure major players from the East Coast. According to its producers, it’s not even financially profitable. Still, the twice-yearly event becomes more strangely interesting with every coming season. The fall season begins today at Smashbox Studios in Culver City with more than 35 shows and a new “denim day,” to capitalize on Southern California’s chief fashion export.

The schedule is a grab bag of designers, some of whom have traveled from other countries to show at the L.A. week, which is much friendlier to newcomers than its counterparts in New York and Europe. The diverse lineup includes labels with music connections, a “Project Runway” runner-up and contemporary label bebe, where Mischa Barton will grace the front row.

London-based Agent Provocateur is crossing the pond to show lingerie on the flesh-friendly L.A. runways, and Mexican designer Carlo Demichelis, a favorite of Naomi Campbell, is also touching down here for the first time. Meanwhile, Vancouver, Canada-based Chulo Pony arrives stateside for this, the seventh season at Smashbox Studios. Recently picked up by Fred Segal, the label is a product of Nettwerk Music Group, the record/management company that represents Avril Lavigne, Dido and Sarah McLachlan.

Closer to home, the Irvine-based knitwear brand St. John canceled its show last week, unable to get its design house in order in time. Another no-show is Nony Tochterman, who is forgoing fashion week to focus on her new store, House of Petro Zillia, scheduled to open this summer on 3rd Street.

But after showing in New York for several seasons, Jennifer Nicholson -- daughter of Jack -- is coming home. Corey Lynn Calter, known for her whimsical, feminine clothes, is back after a maternity leave, while David Meister, whose $30-million dress business is headquartered in the city of Industry, is introducing an expanded collection.

Hart, 26, started his label out of his garage in 2004 to fund his band Suicide Club, which has a sound he characterizes as “violent dance music.” Now Morphine Generation is a $10-million brand, he says, with men’s and women’s wear ranging from $82 to $800 sold locally at H. Lorenzo, Theodore and Fred Segal. And his fashion industry profits have given him the creative freedom to produce his music on his own record label.

“New Romantic Collapse” is the theme for his Smashbox debut, when he will show cashmere sweaters, denim and more tailored pieces. But he’s proudest of capes, inspired by Civil War-era designs found at a shop in Glendale. He’s really into military patches too -- sewn onto kilts and jackets and specially designed to feature the Morphine Generation logo.

Maybe Michael Jackson was onto something.

“When I started, I was selling $82 silk-screened T-shirts with holes in them, and that was innovative,” Hart says. “But now you can buy a T-shirt like that at Urban Outfitters, so I have to stay one step ahead.”

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A series of firsts

OVER in Sherman Oaks, last season’s “Project Runway” finalist Kara Saun has more modest goals. Pinning a dress on a mannequin in her living room, she’s hoping her first runway show will bring her first retail account. Since her stint on TV last year, Saun has been working behind the camera as a costume designer on pilots for the WB and UPN.

A native of South Carolina, she dreamed of working in fashion even as a teen, when she designed the cheerleading outfits for her high school pep squad. She arrived in L.A. in 1996, working as an assistant costumer on “Malcolm and Eddie.” After missing the L.A. casting call for “Project Runway,” she hopped a flight to Miami for the last audition, because she wanted it so badly.

She calls her experience on the Bravo TV show “fashion boot camp” and says if she learned one thing, it’s that every collection needs a story. For fall, hers is titled “2056.” It’s inspired by the work of Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai and by her own dark mood post-Katrina, when she was “very conflicted about fashion.”

The result is a polished group of red-carpet-ready gowns and separates, in rich shades of blue, burgundy, gray and black, including a sweater with a ruffled keyhole front, and a silk eyelet cocktail dress. “Very sexy and sophisticated but without excess,” she explains. “It probably didn’t help that I was watching ‘Sin City’ over and over.”

Last week, the fashion industry spoof “Zoolander” was flickering on the TV behind her. “We watch it every morning, don’t we, Marietta?” she says to her assistant, leaning over a sewing machine in the corner. “You gotta laugh.”

Over at the bebe design studio in Century City, designer David Cardona is managing to keep his sense of humor too, despite having mere weeks to finish the first runway collection for the brand.

Bebe, the publicly traded company known for skimpy separates, did close to $300 million in retail sales last year. A mall staple with 228 stores, the company opened on Rodeo Drive late last year signaling the intent to target a high-end customer. That includes the red-carpet set, catered to in a private studio on the third floor.

At the time, Chief Executive Greg Scott said he was eager for bebe to be defined by more than imitation. So last month, a new team was announced, one that would take the label to the next level with a runway collection: Cardona, who trained with Richard Tyler; Arianne Phillips, Madonna’s stylist and an Oscar-nominated costume designer; and “O.C.” star Barton, the new face.

The arrival of bebe on the L.A. runways is worth noting. It’s the natural outcome of a trend started by popular brands such as BCBG and Juicy Couture -- a high-end designer collection springing out of the kind of contemporary (and sometimes knockoff) label that has long defined the Southern California apparel industry.

“This has been a dream of mine for a long time,” says Manny Mashouf, who founded bebe in San Francisco in 1976.

The fall collection is inspired by tulips. Standout pieces include a black, double face silk tulip skirt and a funnel neck coat with a balloon hem and seams circling the body. Although 40 looks will be shown, only a handful will end up in stores. Commercial viability is secondary to the show as branding strategy.

“This is one of the few companies,” Cardona says, “that will do a runway show of aspirational fashion, but also give you the attainable version.”

So at last bebe will be able to knock off itself.