L.A. Fashion Award nominees announced

Members of the Los Angeles fashion community converged on the Standard Hotel in West Hollywood last night to find out (as Heidi Klum might say) “who’s in and who’s out” of the running for the third annual L.A. Fashion Awards

And even though The Mirror’s home team, the Los Angeles Times Image section, had signed on as a media sponsor for the event, we weren’t tipped off ahead of time, so we trekked over to the Standard’s poolside patio to sip mojitos and wait for the names to be announced.

We’re glad we did, because it gave The Mirror a chance to catch up with retail legend (and nominee) Fred Segal, who was holding court at a table in the back with his daughter Sharon and assorted members of the fashion press.

It had been reported that Segal was planning to open a Las Vegas outpost of his eponymous retail concept at the W project, but he said a change in management had derailed that project. Instead, he said, he is focusing his energy on writing two books. One is an autobiography. (“I invented hip-huggers,” he told The Mirror. “And stone wash.”) The other is a collection of inspirational stories that include contributions from the Dalai Lama and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Though we could have listened to the retail titan wax on all evening, we needed to shuffle off to the other end of the patio, where the nominees for this year’s awards were being announced.

The nominees for the Moss Adams Fashion Innovator award are Jasmin Shokrian, Juan Carlos Obando, Rami Kashou and Thomas Wylde (Paula Thomas, designer).

In the marketing excellence category, the nominees are BCBG Max Azria, Guess by Marciano, Kitson and L.A. Eyeworks.

American Rag Cie, Fred Segal, Lisa Kline and The Way We Wore will face off for the honor of fashion retailer of the year.

The Los Angeles edition of DailyCandy (www.dailycandy.com/?city=2&switch=1) will be awarded the Fashion Communication award, and Bravo’s “Project Runway” is slated to take home the Inspiration Award. The Wells Fargo Century Fashion Achievement Award will be bestowed on Max Azria of the BCBG Max Azria Group. The awards ceremony will take place Oct. 26 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A.

adam.tschorn@latimes.com