Fashion Festival’s DJ Groove Thing Goes on the Road

Everywhere you look, fashion designers and labels are co-opting DJ culture to push their products. Techno wunderkind Moby appears in Calvin Klein’s “dirty denim” ads, DJ duo Groove Armada models Levi’s, and on the runway in New York, DJ Mark Ronson made Betsey Johnson’s Playboy Bunny show really sing.

And no one understands the fashion-music connection better than L.A.’s Jed Wexler and Patrick Courrielche, who co-founded Ritual Expo three years ago. They conceived the Lollapalooza-like event to provide a place for Angelenos to buy streetwear from independent-minded California labels like Fine and BC Ethic, while at the same time being exposed to DJ culture, record labels and artists.

“Fashion and music people are both very trend-driven,” Wexler said. “When they are linked, they define each other as being new, and that’s what excites people.”

Now, DJ culture is rampant, and Ritual is going on the road, embarking on a tour that kicks off Sunday with a fashion-music event at the Shrine Exposition Center from 1 to 11 p.m. Clothes from Sinister, Chaos, Storm, Epoch and Sofia Coppola’s label, Milk Fed, will be accompanied by spinning from KCRW-FM’s Jason Bentley, DJ Ease of Nightmares on Wax and others. The tour continues on to Seattle, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and New York.

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More on shopping, one of my favorite subjects . . . The “Super Saturday” designer garage sale held every summer in the Hamptons to benefit ovarian cancer charities has been a must-shop for the New York social set since the event was conceived in 1998 by Donna Karan and the late Harper’s Bazaar editor Liz Tilberis. On Nov. 18, the sale is coming to L.A. for the first time. Hosted by Tracey Ullman, Super Saturday L.A. will offer clothes and accessories at prices 30% to 50% off retail from Ullman’s PurpleSkirt.com, Anna Sui, BCBG, Catherine Malandrino, Diane von Furstenberg, Fred Segal, Randolph Duke and more. Tickets, $125-$250. Info: (310) 201-8863.

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Love the dress code for the Boys & Girls Club’s Heroes & High Hopes Celebration on Oct. 17 honoring Jennifer Lopez: California business casual attire. That could mean almost anything, couldn’t it? Judging from Lopez’s flair for bare, I wouldn’t be surprised if she sported a bathing suit. . . . On second thought, make that a thong bikini.

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I’m happy to report, at long last, my sofa saga is over. Last month, I wrote about trying (in vain) to find a nonprofit that would accept my old Coyote Cafe print sofa, which is worn and cat-scratched, but by no means a loss.

I finally found a place that would take it off my hands: Tuesday’s Child (https://www.tuesdayschild.com). Founded in L.A. in 1988, the nonprofit maintains a warehouse in Culver City to collect sofas, car seats, beds, refrigerators and other goods for families affected by AIDS and HIV. Items are given directly to the needy, not resold.

My sofa, cat scratches and all, now resides in Long Beach with a single mom who is HIV-infected and her three children, according to John Sheeran, CEO of Tuesday’s Child. He said, “Right now, there’s a kid sitting on that sofa who didn’t have one before you came along.”