Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia show fall Oscar de la Renta at the Colleagues’ lunch in L.A.

Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia made their first trip to Los Angeles on Wednesday on behalf of Oscar de la Renta for The Colleagues’ Annual Spring Luncheon, for which the fashion house has been a longtime supporter by presenting its runway show as the finale.

Kim was also making her first-ever visit to Los Angeles, but she didn’t even have enough time to adjust to the time difference, as the duo had to be back in New York to receive an honor at the Pratt graduate show on Thursday night.

“This lunch is kind of like the family tradition, something I know was dear to Oscar. Last night when we had dinner at Ginny and David Sydorick’s house, I really felt like I came to family instead of an event,” she said.

Kim said the resort collection was coming along well, but “we’re pulled everywhere for events so we really have to focus when we get back.”

She said it wasn’t hard to wear two design hats because “it’s a very different kind of girl we are dressing and that’s what makes it easy for us to design.”

Garcia noted, “I think it’s like playing a different character. You envision a different woman going different places and there is a little bit of an overlap between them but what I like about having two jobs is, once you have an idea you work on it for a little bit and then you let it sleep. Then you work on an idea for another brand and when you come back to that idea for the first brand, it either becomes relevant to the rest of the collection or it dies, because you don’t overwork it. Overworking it is one of the biggest problems a designer has, in my opinion. When something looks contrived it loses its naïveté or effortlessness and what we want to make sure we have in both brands.”

Of taking on multiple jobs, Kim said, “We kind of have to in our generation. It’s like our way is the only way.”

The event, attended by donors and Colleagues members Rochelle Gores Fredston, Nancy Davis, Kelly Chapman Meyer, Sherry Lansing and more, also honored Alain Bernard, chief executive officer of Van Cleef & Arpels, which sponsored the luncheon.

Before the fall 2017 show began — there were a few showroom pieces included in the 58 looks — Amy Poehler presented the Champion of Children award to Carol Burnett, who took questions from the audience as she used to do on her television show. One woman asked if she could do her signature Tarzan call, and she obliged before saying, “And now I think it’s time for dessert.”

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