Looking for a leader in the pack
It was the most hyped debut in the history of L.A.’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Just 30 years old, Carlos Rosario certainly has an impressive pedigree. He was a former assistant at Christian Dior Homme in Paris who also worked with Academy Award-winning Hollywood costume designer Colleen Atwood, creating fabrics for Jim Carrey’s costumes in “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.” And on Friday, he managed to do what no other designer showing here has ever done: He lured Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour to his front row.
It was the break L.A. Fashion Week was waiting for, but unfortunately Rosario wasn’t ready for his close-up. There was the pigeon-toed model; the just-rolled-out-of-bed makeup and hair that didn’t photograph well, making it difficult for the media to cover the collection; and the red gown that came out with the hanger straps dangling in plain sight.
“That one most-buzzed-about show could kill L.A. Fashion Week,” lamented boutique owner Tracey Ross afterward. “As a designer, you have one chance and you don’t want to look like an amateur. I can’t believe he let that model walk down the runway with those straps hanging out with Anna Wintour in the front row.”
What made the situation more frustrating was that Rosario’s ideas were good, the show just didn’t do them justice. His collection was spare and architectural, with a focus on texture -- such as a smart-looking black bolero that had a coiled effect and a gray wool trumpet skirt with a soft, ribbed-knit flounce. But the breakout piece was a milky white silk charmeuse gown with a train and black beads cascading down the shoulders like champagne bubbles, leading one to wonder if Rosario’s future may lie in eveningwear.
As the shows continued at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, an increase in the design quality of some of the collections couldn’t mask the nagging feeling that Fashion Week here still feels amateurish at times, like little more than a cheerleading session for a mass-market apparel industry and a photo op for wannabes and has-beens. What is missing is the sense that business is being done, as buyers stay away and the media struggle to make sense of it all.
In New York, Milan and Paris, much of the store buying is done in advance of the shows, but the runways are must-sees because they set a tone for the season that can translate into advertising, merchandising and editorial. (For example, if John Galliano does Edie Sedgwick at Dior, Saks Fifth Avenue might want to think about a 1960s-inspired spread in one of its fall catalogs, and Marie Claire magazine in its fall fashion issue.)
Most L.A. designers don’t have the money or clout to wield that kind of power in the industry. So the best the runways here can offer is a platform for emerging talent. But there does not seem to be enough of that to sustain five days of shows.
The more established L.A.-based designers who round out the schedule such as Sue Wong, who does a brisk business in moderately priced beaded and feathered dresses and always puts on a bang-up show, are not leaders. They are followers, interpreting trends rather than starting them. For buyers and editors, these lines don’t need to be seen on the runway, which raises the same question that comes around every season: Is there a point to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios besides providing an entertaining diversion for sponsors and guests who want to take in a few shows and some free tequila?
Wintour would have been better off attending the Jenni Kayne show on Friday night, a polished presentation of a focused collection. In her third season on the runway, Kayne has matured into a promising talent, with a flair for inventive yet easygoing evening separates and a keen color sense. A plum silk charmeuse skirt was finished with a soft ruffled bow in back and a hooded chocolate velvet cape edged in satin ruffles. The uneven hem on a ribbon-tied navy charmeuse drawstring skirt, paired with a black cashmere cardigan subtly trimmed in black rabbit fur, elicited the kind of second look all women dress for.
There were also plenty of elegantly tailored jackets and coats, the best in a plum velvet cutaway style with a single row of buttons off to one side. And for a finale, Kayne did the impossible, creating a sexy gown anyone could wear, with beads in all shades of green arranged in vertical rows to the knees, before angling to the floor, and sleeves sliced open for just the right touch of skin.
There’s no question that Juan Carlos Obando has talent. The highlights of his show were brushed-cotton full-skirted coats with oversized collars, neatly contoured to lift the bust. A high-waist black silk skirt that tied in front paired with a crisp white cotton blouse with extended cuffs was also a standout. But satin leggings and cocktail dresses in jewel tones with bra tops were too reminiscent of past collections from Tom Ford and Proenza Schouler. Obando needs to develop more ideas of his own.
Elsewhere on the runways, a designer named Meghan Fabulous offered artfully reworked vintage pieces with an ethnic twist, including a tunic dress with a geisha printed on the back that was fashioned from an old kimono, and a colorful halter gown glinting with tiny mirrors that was made from an old sari.
Magda Berliner continued to chug along with her lovely hand-assembled frocks made from antique pieces of lace and crochet, introducing into the mix an intriguing blue blanket-check jacket and an empire gown with a textural lambskin bodice. Her best piece was a dress made from ribbons of pretty white lace, with a chain-mail neckline.
Deborah Lindquist did recycled cashmere and tie-dyed jean skirts, while Morgane Le Fay was about asymmetrical pleated skirts in autumnal tweeds paired with fitted, short velvet jackets, with fedoras and flat boots lending an oddball Amish feeling.
Grey Ant’s Grant Krajecki proved that what L.A. Fashion Week lacks in raison d’etre, it can make up for in spirit.
He paid homage to the eclecticism of this city with a production that began with two teenage lovebirds making out on the runway, where they were attacked by a chain-saw-wielding murderer in a scene straight out of a camp horror film. Fake blood went splattering, causing one front-row fashion victim to toss her white Gucci purse into the crowd behind her, fearing for its life.
A second scene featured 1980s dancers in Jane Fonda gold spandex unitards, tan pantyhose and headbands. The clothes shown in between the theatrics were just as cool -- fitted, quilted flannel plaid jackets with contrast piping, short army-green pants pleated gently in front and back and a dark blue silk jumpsuit.
And just to make sure his audience was full of VIPs, Krajecki hired look-alikes of Michael Jackson, Cher and Boy George who were infinitely more interesting than the reality-show faux-lebs warming the seats at so many other shows this week.
Perhaps the secret to L.A. fashion week’s success could be in capturing more of this kind of eclecticism, rather than trying to fit designers here into the New York, Milan, Paris mold.
Grey Ant was a hit with Ross, the boutique owner.
“Now that’s a show,” she said. “That’s L.A.”
