Los Angeles
From the valet parking to photographers staked out on the red carpet, the scene at Smashbox Studios in Culver City near Los Angeles on a recent afternoon looked like an awards ceremony. But instead of picking up golden statues, guests grabbed protein bars and flavored water on their way into rooms where they watched fashion shows.
Never heard of Coco Kliks or Samora? I hadn’t either. But L.A. is a city of dreams, and having your own show on the official schedule at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is one way of making them come true.
Who cares if the seats are filled with stylists, friends and relatives rather than the editor of Elle, and that store buyers are at the California Market Center instead of in the front row? Your creations are the ones under the lights.
And if you’ve been fortunate enough to dress an actress or two along the way, as Kevan Hall, Eduardo Lucero and Bradley Bayou have, it’s even better because you might entice them to sit in your front row. Garcelle Beauvais and Lisa Rinna were at Hall’s parade, while actresses Aisha Tyler and Jennifer Tilly attended Lucero’s show, and Angela Bassett and Paula Abdul were at Bayou.
Hall, who has worked in both New York and Los Angeles, is a talented designer who creates mostly cocktail clothes and evening gowns that draw attention but don’t overshadow.
Hall’s Atlantis-themed collection for next spring was filled with ocean blues and greens as well as rich corals and sunset oranges, some ombréd. The silhouettes were subtly sexy, dresses more likely to be worn by Beauvais than Britney Spears.
Next up was Single, a contemporary sportswear label designed by Galina Sobolev. Full of lace tops and scarf print dresses, the line underscored the breeziness that makes California clothes cool.
The shows here have been held for three years at Smashbox Studios, but this was the first time Davis and Dean Factor used the location to promote their Smashbox Cosmetics line.
The brothers teamed up with beauty retailer Sephora to stage a Hollywood-infused spectacle that would have impressed their great-grandfather, makeup legend Max Factor.
The brothers also enlisted the Rainforest Foundation because their spring colors are reminiscent of a lush, tropical climate and they could also give to the cause, says Davis, Smashbox’s creative director and a photographer who often shoots his magazine covers on-site.
For the show, they got creative and opened with a dancer bedecked in little more than a feather headdress, some glittery body paint and a “skirt” made of feathers and animal tails. Then models who had been painted and airbrushed pink, green or gold glided down the runway, followed by models whose faces revealed the trends: copper-shaded eyes, lids doused in purple, pouty pink lips.
Two Smashbox Rainforest Foundation compacts will hit the cosmetic counters in the spring, with a portion of the proceeds going to the charity.
It wouldn’t be California without shows dedicated to the denim culture, and Buffalo Jeans, Rock and Republic and Antik Denim obliged.
Pricey Antik jeans – we spied them for $298 at Kitson – are known for their back-pocket details. The look for spring ’06 is lacey, skinny and low-slung.
While the trends kept coming at Smashbox Studios, a few Denver retailers were stationed downtown. Denise Snyder, owner of Mariel in Larimer Square, says she tries to make it to a show or two during fashion week, but is usually so busy looking at lines at the building downtown, she can’t make the 10-mile trek to Culver City.
“I find a lot of up-and-coming designers in L.A. – every show there are new people there, the latest trends,” Snyder says.
Max Martinez, whose Max stores are in Boulder and Denver, looks for hot items at good prices. “By the time I get to L.A., I’ve been buying for five months in Europe and New York, so I’ve seen the major trends,” he says.
In addition to taking in a few shows at Culver City, I hit some other shopping hot spots. South Coast Plaza in Orange County, about 50 miles from L.A., is a mecca for high-fashion aficionados and often the place where retailers roll out concepts. From Armani to Zara, it’s chockablock with designer outposts.
Newly opened are stores for John Varvatos menswear, and locations selling clothes by Italian brands Replay and Valentino. Not fogetting their roots in nearby Huntington Beach, Quiksilver recently launched a store stocked with jeans, tees and accessories for young men.
We also cruised Robertson Boulevard in west Los Angeles, site of Lindsay Lohan’s latest automobile crash. It’s Rodeo Drive for Hollywood’s junior set, with stores like Kitson and Lisa Kline selling kitschy $48 “My Little Pony” tees to wear with $200 jeans from labels like True Religion and Hudson. The shopping district also offers shops by contemporary labels such as Nanette Lepore, BCBG, Agnes B. and Tory by TRB, as well as restaurants and antique stores.
In my economy-sized American rental car I felt a little out of place as all the Porsches and BMW convertibles zoomed by on Robertson. It reminded me of a quote the Mercedes-Benz public relations manager, Joe Richardson, gave to fashion magazine The Daily, about why Mercedes sponsors Fashion Week.
“In L.A., you are what you wear and you are what you drive,” Richardson told reporter Faran Krentcil. “There are lots of parallels; there are trends in fashion with color, shape and texture that translate into automobile trends too. The only big difference is, with fashion, you buy every season. Sadly, most of us don’t buy a Benz every season.”
Staff writer Suzanne S. Brown can be reached at 303-820-1697 or sbrown@denverpost.com.
