We made it, y'all. We barely made it through LA Fashion Week last week on the little amount of actualy food I ate and the even less amount of sleep. You see, the runway shows were during the afternoons, so yo'd expect that I could rush right home and blog the reviews, but oh no. Some of the "unofficial" shows that were were not held on-site at Smashbox Studios were later at night. Basically, the night shows were just an excuse to party.

2BFree was one of the designers who did their show elsewhere. They teamed up with 944, a lifestyle site and magazine, and took over Boulevard 3, a new "event space" in Hollywood. I'll do a short write-up of the runway show I didn't see (I'll explain later), but for now, let's just talk about the club chaos that was the 944 party.

Now before I go any further, let me clarify. There were two somewhat distinct groups of people at the event: the people who were there for the fashion show (which included "celebrities," other "talent" for the show, etc.) and the people who are part of 944, which advertised the "party" to their mailing list and basically opened up the guest list to anyone who signed up. The are to whom I will lovingly refer as "the club people."

We arrived at the appointed hour for "check-in." Unfortunately, unlike other shows that were well-organized, the people putting together the 2BFree event were running late, and therefore throw into a bit of disarray. Media check-in was on one side, everyone else was on the other side, but for some reason, the separation did not register with about 99% of the people who showed up. The Media Check-in area was closer to the front and had a smaller group of people, so people must have assumed that it was for "VIP." Every person who shoved his or her wayto the front of the mini mob scene on the media side wrangled anyone who looked official on the other side of the velvet rope claiming to be "VIP." I kept thinking to myself, "Everyone in this city is VIP for God's sake. It's probably more rare to be one of the party plebes." I think that 99% was actually 100% of the club people.

We waited long beyond the actual check-in time, the security guard yelling at people to "please step back by about two feet!" Whether this was for effect or truly because the 944 staff were still trying to get themselves together is unclear. I am aware that party promotoers often "hold the line" just to create a sense anticipation in the people waiting outside, and for the curb appeal. Long lines infront of club just look better.

Inside, the club is pretty, and when we walked in, it was empty. I had been right. They were holding the line out front for no good reason. The people who were inside were milling about trying not to look uncomfortable in their pre-buzzed stage. As we walked through toward the building (where we suspected there were more bars), everyone gave each other the up-down. I did, too. But at least I didn't stop and take pictures!

Like I said, the people were a mixed group. The "club people" were dressed in club clothes (very shiny, very short, very "Hollywood") and the fashion people were a little less, oh, I don't know, obvious? Still, even the fashion people (myself included) were dressed to impress. To be quite honest, while fashion trends and style change from season to season, it doesn't seem that "club wear" does. Every season, every year, it is always big hair, lots of skin and very very short skirts.

My favorite look of the evening was someone I spied early on. It was actually slightly difficult to tell whether she was of the 944 group or the fashion group. She was wearing her hair swept up, a smart little chartreuse mini dress with a fur belted fur coat, and white heels. I kind of think perhaps she was from the fashion group because she had the "balls" to wear white shoes with the black belt around her coat.

The main room of Boulevard 3 was the party space; the runway show was being held in a smaller, separate space. At the appointed time, we made our way over to the entrance and were not surprised to find that it was an utter mob scene. Media were trying to check in, and I am quite sure that there were other people there who were trying to squeeze through the tiny doorway just because everyone else was trying to. You know, just because there's a mob of people, it must be good. We waited, but didn't have the energy nor the patience to fight, so we turned around to go back to the bar. We never made it inside to see the show. We just put on our game faces and hung out in the party scene outside.

But it doesn't sound like we missed much of the graphically-printed, sporty knit casual wear of 2BFree Clothing.