Hello, is anybody home?
There was so much to look at during Justin Timberlake’s runway show you almost forgot it was about a denim line -- B-boys in sweater vests somersaulting over each other and cholo girls shaking their booties in short shorts, flirty farm girls in frilly dresses and Beverly Hillbillies in rockabilly pompadours.
The A-list front row -- including Eve, Wilmer Valderama, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Patrick Dempsey and Timberlake’s girlfriend Cameron Diaz -- was literally whooping for jeans from Timberlake’s William Rast line, with the stylized W on the back pockets. The denim looked great, the skinny fits cuffed and topped with gingham Western shirts for men or bow-front blouses for women. Shorts cut off at the knee and a postage-stamp miniskirt came in a cloudy gray wash, while pinstripes looked cool on a cropped jacket, worn over a sweater dress.
Between the dancers, the celebrities and the after-party next door at Boulevard3 (where Timberlake performed with pals Adam Levine from Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am and ‘N Sync bandmate JC Chasez), the show was the best example yet of the synergy that can and should be happening at L.A. Fashion Week. This show was as exciting as any in New York or Europe -- but in a completely L.A. way. And instead of hearing “SexyBack” as the soundtrack for Dolce & Gabbana, there was Timberlake shaking it live, right in the middle of the crowd.
Too bad that kind of synergy wasn’t happening at Smashbox Studios, the Culver City venue that hosted 30 shows this week and is now in its third year of partnering with New York-based IMG to produce the event.
Looking back, the problem with L.A. Fashion Week is that it has never reflected L.A. fashion. Between shows, I had an hour to kill on Robertson Boulevard, so I wandered into a few boutiques and nearly every piece I touched was from an L.A. label.
Not one of them was on the spring runway here.
Around the world, stores are filling their racks with clothes designed and made in this city, the largest manufacturing hub in the country. Trina Turk, Vince, Robert Rodriguez, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent, even Kitson, not just a boutique anymore but a clothing line, could all profit from the brand-building that comes from presenting a designer’s full vision on a runway. Powerhouses such as True Religion, Juicy Couture and Chrome Hearts have all benefited from their association with the Southern California lifestyle. Surf and skate brands Quiksilver, Roxy and Volcom have made billions in this market.
Again, not one showed here this week.
Why not?
“I can’t tell you how many times I have asked, begged,” says Fern Mallis, vice president of IMG. “But they pooh-pooh their own town.”
According to Davis Factor, co-founder of Smashbox Studios, more than 250 designers applied to show at Fashion Week this season, submitting photos and reels of their work. “There are a lot we say no way,” he said. But, considering the number of flops, that seems unlikely.
Money is sometimes given as a reason, but how could it be? The price of renting a venue at Smashbox is low compared to fashion weeks in other cities. Venues can be had for as little as $5,000, the largest going for $10,000. A designer of any note should easily be able to secure sponsorship money to pay for a show, which costs $25,000 minimum.
Mallis admits IMG could do more, employing someone year-round in Los Angeles as it does in New York, to schmooze with the fashion community here. She is also rethinking who should be showing.
Critics, myself included, initially complained that premium denim did not need to be on the runway. But it is a defining part of L.A. style, with more than 100 brands based here. And the William Rast show proved that it can be exciting and intelligent on the runway.
“In the beginning we got feedback that people wanted to see the Magda Berliners, the Richard Tylers, the Michelle Masons and Eduardo Luceros,” Mallis says. “But in this industry, they are in one season and out the next. We resisted denim, but the more time we’ve spent here, maybe it’s what people want.”
Space is also an issue. Some designers, such as Timberlake and his partner Trace Ayala, do not want a traditional runway presentation. But the Smashbox setup requires it. So, L.A. Fashion Week organizers are shopping for a new, more adaptable venue. That doesn’t mean the end of the partnership with IMG. And with Mercedes-Benz signed on for another three years as title sponsor, the shows aren’t going away any time soon.
“For better or worse, we are in this together,” Factor says.
Right now, L.A. has a fashion week that’s neither about Los Angeles nor the world of fashion. It attracts few tastemakers from the fashion press or trend-makers from store buying offices -- when the world can’t take its eyes off L.A.
Naughty and nice
There are those who do support the event season after season, even if it does occasionally resemble a bad celebrity sideshow. In the final days, Kevan Hall was the star, with his superbly styled collection of refined evening gowns. Drawing inspiration from the heavens, he started on a chicly simple note with a silvery slip of an evening shift. Twinkling sequins showed up again on elegant evening pants paired with one of Hall’s now signature white blouses.
A white satin bubble dress with a tornado of twisting black tulle over the top, belted at the middle, touched on spring’s volume trend, while a flocked tulle tea dress textured with sequin tendrils may just have been the season’s perfect white dress, if it weren’t for the dazzling white silk jersey plunge gown with a sterling silver orb belt later in the show, which recalled Hall’s days at Halston.
But it was when Hall started to move into color that things really heated up, on a sunset orange draped ball skirt and a night sky-blue taffeta creation with a perfectly pleated bustier and a single shoulder strap. The hair was sophisticated and slicked back; the jewelry from Hall’s new line was spectacular, especially the silver earrings dangling planetary orbs. And judging by the stars in Virginia Madsen’s eyes in the front row, Hall will have them waiting in line come awards season.
Chan Luu brought the understated elegance of her jewelry designs to clothing, most notably everyone’s favorite basic, the T-shirt. She paired a hot pink T-shirt with trompe l’oeil necklaces with a simple pleated cotton skirt with a chiffon hem, and a black T-shirt with delicate pleating at the neckline with a black silk dirndl skirt. Spring being the season of the dress, there was a silk taffeta Empire waist version with the patina of old paper, with layered rosebud and ribbon necklaces on top, and a white flutter-sleeve style with allover floral embroidery that had the charm of a single strand of pearls.
Elsie Katz’s Donna Baxter went for the English rose theme with a lovely white soutache shift with an oversized black bow at the neck and some very campy white hot pants with a bustle in back, while Sheri Bodell’s woodland nymphs wore earthy beaded shifts and the teased-out ‘80s hairstyles that have been all the rage here this week.
Erica Davies showed a sweet collection of dresses on a sandy runway outside the store Iconology, the best in a lime fan print with a silk racer back and studded details, and a rainbow tulip print with a triangle top and raw edged cross-back straps.
Elsewhere, designers mixed naughty and nice, bringing some of the sexual undertones seen in collections in Europe to L.A.
Jennifer Nicholson paired cutie pie baby doll dresses in eye and lip prints, and wood grain leggings, with Latex thigh-high boots and necklaces dangling ben wa balls.
Joy Han’s Voom collection was the surprise hit of the week with adorable bubble and puff-sleeve dresses in children’s characters Raggedy Ann, Bonnie Bonnet and Elephant Parade prints, paired with spiky fetish boots for a kind of Harajuku chic. Denim bloomers with colorful buttons had a Butterick sewing pattern/DIY appeal, paired with a tank top with Woodsy Owl on the front, and a black trench coat looked fresh with bubble sleeves. The vintage lace print silk dresses at the end were winners too, the best cinched with a patent leather obi belt.
But nobody was naughtier than David Cardona at Collection Bebe.
After last season’s refined tulip skirts and cropped jackets, the spring collection included a white shift dress with peekaboo panel over the cleavage, a black gown with half a bodice and half a black corset, and a see-through lace flight suit. (Who doesn’t need one?).
There were 1980s undertones with Versace-like gold hardware on dresses, and one or two wearable pairs of skinny pants paired with hourglass shaped jackets. But mostly, it felt like these girls should have been on a coffee table at a bachelor party, not a runway.
