Posts with tag LaFashionWeek

It's no secret that this year's fashion season is struggling against a super weak economy. You had to know something was wrong when designers like Vera Wang and Betsey Johnson dropped out of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, and then FW teamed up with McDonald's to promote McCafe. At LA Fashion Week, one of Kevan Hall's designs featured freeze-dried cranberries to promote Dial's new cranberry body wash.

We recently caught up with rising star Yotam Solomon, who was the youngest designer ever to show at Los Angeles Fashion Week. This Israeli-born prodigy is already an editorial favorite and has been featured in Women's Wear Daily and British Vogue for his beautiful ready to wear collections as well as his amazingly cutting edge, high fashion shoe designs.

Michael Buckner is a fashion and celebrity photographer who travels around the world taking pictures on the red carpet. He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the hottest entertainment industry events.


Models in bikinis headlined the second day of the last Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios since celebrities were a no-show at Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier.

Michael Buckner is a fashion and celebrity photographer who travels around the world taking pictures on the red carpet. He gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the hottest entertainment industry events.


The grand finale of IMG's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City is upon us. After 10 arduous seasons of t-shirts, jeans and cotton jersey dresses, the event organizer and the host are parting ways. And sadly, this may be the last runway I shoot for a long while. I'll spare you my emotional breakdown.

Much like people who fancy inserting chocolate chip cookies inside of their sandwiches before digesting them, we've always found LA Fashion Week somewhat odd, and to that end, kind of unnecessary.

No, we're not snobs. Although, our blogs new face lift has boosted the sheer wittiness of our posts! Seriously, it's just that we've never understood why someone would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to put on runway shows of collections that are currently be stocked in malls and worn by people.

Well, IMG and events planner Smashbox Studios must have been pondering a similar existential question as ours because last week they announced they would be eschewing future plans to continue to produce LA Fashion Week.

On the break-up, Davis Factor, who co-owns Smashbox told the LA Times: "My opinion is that they just didn't have the time to dedicate toward cultivating this event on a year-round basis. Nothing against IMG, but I think that New York is their big focus and it's difficult with everything they have going on all over the world. It would be hard for them to do LA on the level they do New York. My brother and I can."

So yeah. This is the last time Miss Lauren Conrad will be able to parade her jersey looks down a real runway. That is, of course, if she doesn't make the move to New York Fashion Week next season. Uh, syke!

[via Vogue UK]

After my head stopped spinning from the horror called IMASU by Kelly Nishimoto I needed two things ... a cocktail and a better runway show. I suppose I got both with Orthodox but I have a sneaking suspicion the cocktail helped me enjoy the second show more.

The show was short with only 22 looks in the collection and showcased both men's and women's fashions. The overall feel to me was slacker chic, which was the perfect match for the Nirvana cover song they played to open the show. Some key trends I picked out of the collection were metallics, geek glasses, ombre, purple, and gloves.

The great thing about the collection is that it was very wearable and that is exactly what I have to come to expect during LA Fashion Week shows. There was a fair amount of black and white in collection, which is perfect for mixing and matching. Nothing in the collection was too over-the-top so you could literally rip the clothes right off the runway and be on your way.

It looks like LA Fashion Week is starting to look up after all.

The highlight of LA Fashion Week for me was chatting with accessories designer Tarina Tarantino. I remember it like it was yesterday. There I was staring at the beautiful people when I saw this magnificent head of pink hair. It was Tarina.

If you aren't familiar with Tarina Tarantino, she is an LA-based jewelry designer who creates fun and girly accessories for the fashion-forward. She often draws inspiration from skulls, Barbie, Hello Kitty, and other adorable things. Celebrities like Hilary Duff, Paris Hilton, and Avril Lavigne are fans of her designs. I completely flip out for all of her designs, especially her Pink Head accessories (Hello Kitty with a head of pink hair).

Not to be a gushing fashionista stalker or anything, but Tarina is the nicest person ever. She showed me the ins and outs of her handbag, which she designed herself. The handbag she was carrying is part of her new handbag line that can be found in her boutiques or online.

My personal favorite is a limited edition clutch, pictured. The small clutch is made of pink vinyl, white leather and a Swarovksi crystal bow that doubles as a hand strap. The real kicker is the detachable chain that connects to a series of lucite bangles. Each bag comes with a certificate of authenticity and is designed with love from Tarina.

The third day of LA Fashion Week featured collections by Gregory Parkinson, Jenny Han, Christian Audigier, Dina Bar-El, Grey Ant and Whitley Kros.

My favorite show of the day was Dina Bar-El. Last year, Bar-El came under heavy criticism for using child models in her show, so as you might expect, the show was juvey-free this time around. I do have one gripe for Ms. Bar-El: what's up with all the white girls? Come on, Dina, get with the program.

However, if you can overlook her homogeneous choice in models, Bar-El's clothes were wonderful. Her evening wear was particularly stunning this time around. I loved the silk gowns in rich jewel tones and her plucky cocktail dresses with striking necklines. The simple makeup and sleek hair was also right on target.

My least favorite show was without question Christian Audigier's presentation. The catwalk/stage was set for high drama -- there was even moody lighting and music to match. To tell you the truth, I kind of think that the combination of the busy clothes and overwhelming set left me agitated. Consequently, I've got no love for the clothes either.

I wasn't sure what the designer was hoping to create. Some of the clothes had a 1920s Jazz Age feel -- flapper dresses, feather boas, cropped hair -- and I liked that part. However, some outfits looked like they were Jodie Foster's castoffs from the set of the movie Taxi Driver. Trust me, underage prostitute is not a good look. I also hated Audigier's makeup: red lips and dark eyes. Most models can't handle dramatic eyes and lips, and they end up looking like tweaked-out trannies.

Adding all of this up, if you can image an underage, tweaked-out trannie prostitute in a feather boa, you basically get Christian Audigier's Spring/Summer 08 collection. You can also check out the woman pictured at right.

We've picked out some of our favorites and our, well, least favorites for the Styledash LA Fashion Week Gallery. Let us know what you think.

Here are a few shots to check out:

Monday was the second day of shows at Smashbox Studios in LA, which included collections by Ecoganik, Coco Johnsen, Kevan Hall, Elsie Katz Couture, Joseph Domingo and, of course, Heatherette.

Adult film star Jenna Jameson once again opened up the Heatherette show with a duck-lipped bang. I can't say that I loved Heatherette's trailer-trash, kitschy Americana clothes. Actually, I can't even say that I liked them, but I feel a certain affinity for a label that survives by selling pricey clothes destined for the no-go-zone of your town's sketchiest Goodwill. I kid you not -- Vegas showgirls would have a hard time donning some of these get-ups. Jenna Jameson sure loves them though. Draw your own conclusions.

My favorite show yesterday was Elsie Katz Couture. Like the Chick by Nicky Hilton show on Sunday, the Elsie Katz Couture was made up of really great ready-to-wear fashions. I loved her use of color as well as her surprising hemlines (i.e.: Do my eyes deceive me or is that a tea-length gown?). Kudos are also due to Katz stylists -- the hair was amazing. I also like seeing non-blond models on the catwalk (model at right notwithstanding). Believe it or not, I think her interesting casting choices made the show stand out most of all.

We've picked out some of our favorites and our, well, least favorites for the Styledash LA Fashion Week Gallery. Let us know what you think.

Here are a few shots to check out:

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.

We were at it again, finishing off the last installment of one of the three fashion events duing LA Fashion Week. Both Kitten Fashion Week and BoxEight Fashions closed down last night to give way today to the Mercedes-Benz-IMG Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios.

Here's the outfit, with pictures that are close representatives, but not exact:

• BCBG mid-sleeve tunic in black that would be a top on a normal person, but was a minidress on me. It has the same type of large-armhole short sleeve as the top pictured, but no tie at the waist, and fell, on me, to about mid-thigh. Saucy!
• Enormous silver hoop earrings that could have hooked a killer whale and wide silver bangles all the way up my arms. The dress was short-sleeved and short - I had to keep my arms covered to stay warm!
• Oversized metallic tote similar to the Stella McCartney shown, but much brighter white silver than the almost coppery-color of the one pictured. Also, much less expensive than $1,200 at Bergdorf Goodman!
• Black patent leather heels.
• Over everything, a short little black leather trench coat.

Comments? Be brutal. I like that.

We're going to do our best to write about LA Fashion Week here on Styledash for the next week or so, with the official Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios starting on Sunday. Now we're going to let you know in advance that our "coverage" is going to be slightly different from the other sources. For designer bios, full galleries of every piece that stomps down the runway, celebrity interviews, and even "expert" commentary, you can find those everywhere. We'll be attending, and while we'll certainly focusing on the fashion, we're a little more interested in the stuff that you won't see all glossy and flossy on magazine sites. That's the good. We want the bad and the ugly because really now, isn't that more fun?

We'll also be doing a little experiement with Twitter, a new thing that lets people "microblog" what they are doing right now via SMS, IM, email, and the web. We set up a Styledash profile and I'll have my phone with me, so if you want to follow along, check for updates at www.twitter.com/styledash. Add us as a friend and you can get the live updates, you know, if you're obsessive like that.

Oh, and if you happen to be at any of the events or shows and see a little Asian girl running around text-messaging every five minutes, that's probably me. Come say hi!

You might think that fashion shows are all about glitz and glamour, but let me tell you, it is definitely not the fun and games that it appears to be from photos and videos on TV, the Internet, and in the papers. For the designer, models, and producers of the show, it is ALL work. Trust me, there is more than one reason why the models aren't smiling up there on the runway. I won't go into all the gory details about we encountered as media while trolling the LA Fashion Week shows over at Smashbox Studios last week, but I will list a few choice highlights:

• Parking - Parking is absolutely atrocious. You can valet park for about a billion dollars, but unless you drive a Maserati (or a Benz -- they sponsored the show), you will be faced with snickers and hushed "OMGs" from the people waiting on the curb worse than if you were caught in a Gap t-shirt. From 1981. Hell, if you're wearing a Gap t-shirt from 1981, at least you'd be "retro." So, what do we plebeians do? We have luxury transport on a shuttle (read: short bus) from an off-site parking structure. Classy.
• Temperature - It is hot hot hot inside the main lobby, and we're not talking "that's hot" kind of hot. I am talking about the entire LA fashion world packed into a tiny studio lobby about the size of three trailers. Of course, if you're lucky enough to score a VIP bracelet, you can go into the uber-ooh-la-la space that's hidden away from the rest of us. I bet they had air conditioning. Come on people, this is LA in October. Dress for 80 degree weather so you're not sweating in your cashmere sweater dresses and tights.
  

It officially ended last Thursday, but we are still reeling.

Deidre and I were running around Smashbox Studios all of last week getting our fill all the pretty (and not so pretty) little things for Spring 2007 at LA's Fashion Week, sponsored by Mercedes Benz. Obviously, between two people, we didn't get to every single show, and for some of them, we didn't even get invitation, but hey, bitterness on a blog is so becoming.

We've already put up some stuff, but boy do we have a lot more coming!

Styledash at LA Fashion Week:
We're going to be running around LA Fashion Week
Checking out the Thrive fashion show
Fashionably uninvited, life at LA Fashion week
Frankie B., rocking the jeans for a good cause
Samora's spring collection, fashion goes romantic
Checking out Chan Luu at LA Fashion Week
Watching the Elsie Katz show at LA Fashion Week (video)
Ashley Paige's bikini babes
The flirty floral fashions of Uriel Saenz
LA Fashion Week: Watch a show, win a prize