Giving Designers the Magic Touch
To: Readers
From: Michael Quintanilla, Times Fashion Writer
Hey, L.A., guess who kicked off Fashion Week here in the Big Apple? Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the former Laker himself, and his lovely wife, Cookie. They were in Manhattan hosting a weekend of festivities on behalf of the Magic Johnson Foundation that ended Sunday night with a rousing “Salute to African American Designers.”
The event, appropriately dubbed “Magic in Manhattan,” showcased several African American designers--including five from Los Angeles. The slick fashion show, produced by L.A.’s Paula Bond, had the audience on its feet six times in a packed tent in Bryant Park. The show officially kicked off Fashion Week, known here as “General Motors’ Fashion Week.” Last year, the foundation’s first show here was the week’s closing event.
Johnson said the idea for the show occurred to him a few years ago while he was on a plane talking to a friend about black designers he knows and supports.
“It’s a tough business for them, and I’m glad to help them with this showcase,” he said in an earlier interview at a reception at the swank Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
The show literally put the spotlight on Los Angeles designers GiGi Hunter, Dion Lattimore, Scott Torrellas, Mikel Kilgour and Celia Sweet and raised money for the foundation’s National Breast Cancer Awareness Initiative for minority women.
“Jump on the bandwagon with us, and help us save lives,” Cookie Johnson told a capacity crowd that had its eyes glued to guests such as actress Lynn Whitfield, MTV veejay Ananda Lewis, model Tyson Beckford, Halston designer Kevan Hall and USC alum and Beverly Hills restaurateur Keyshawn Johnson and his wife, Shikiri.
But once the lights dimmed and the music was cranked up, all eyes turned to the runway. The Los Angeles designers shared the limelight with New York designers Epperson, Edward Wilkerson, Shaka King and Manale.
Los Angeles-born designers Dion Lattimore and Scott Torrellas--both from the San Gabriel Valley--are known as the design duo Dion Scott.
Backstage after the show, the two took a breather. They operate a shop called Dion Scott on Robertson Boulevard in Beverly Hills, where their custom men’s suits sell for between $1,200 and $2,700. Mikel Kilgour and Celia Sweet, a husband-and-wife designing team, moved to Los Angeles from New Jersey last year, to help design a women’s line for the company.
“Gucci sent for Tom Ford, and Dion and I sent for Kilgour and Sweet,” Torrellas said. Los Angeles Sparks player Lisa Leslie and former USC basketball star Cheryl Miller, coach of the Women’s National Basketball Assn.’s Phoenix Mercury, are among Dion Scott’s clients.
“It’s extremely important to show in New York,” said Lattimore, who designs and custom-tailors suits for Magic Johnson as well as for New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, Cleveland Indians outfielder David Justice and Dallas Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith.
Lattimore, a graduate of Ganesha High School in Pomona, worked as a professional model for nearly 12 years before leaving the runway for designing. Torrellas graduated from L.A.’s Wilson High School. The two met in 1992 while working for an Orange County clothing store and decided to start a business.
The duo’s current collection, which they describe as “old school Harlem meets the millennium,” includes men’s and women’s wear and features classic tailored suits in the style of Desi Arnaz and Cary Grant.
GiGi Hunter, who has lived in Los Angeles for 19 years, opened her own downtown factory last year and today sells her hand-knit dresses, gowns and separates, which range in price from $280 to $800. Her line is carried at Nordstrom and about 30 boutiques across the country. In Hunter’s first collection in New York, each garment had a snug fit, forming almost a second skin of vibrantly colored silk ribbon yarn with skin-baring details like crocheted window panes.
“I just sort of fell into this,” Hunter said about designing. While hoofing it up during a two-year stint with television’s Solid Gold dancers, Hunter--still svelte and fit at 39--had lots of time on her hands. So she put them to work, knitting--a craft she learned from her sister, Toni--while waiting her turn to dance.
Hunter’s first designing break came during a gig as a dancer for the Broadway musical “The Wiz,” when she knitted a slinky dress for Jasmine Guy, the show’s star. Then she outfitted dancers for singer Baby Face six years ago. After a show, Eula Smith, a Southern California Nordstrom buyer, approached Hunter to design some dresses for the store. These days, Hunter is in demand with clients such as Jada Pinkett-Smith, Patti Labelle, Jennifer Lopez and Cookie Johnson.
You go, girl. The Magic show scored a 10 on this guy’s scale.
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E-mail Michael Quintanilla at socalliving@latimes.com.
