West Coast Swing
Potluck dishes, warm beer and venues such as a downtown alley haven’t exactly landed L.A.’s fashion shows on the map with their more established counterparts in Milan, Paris and New York.
But this year could be different. Recent issues of Vogue, W and InStyle have found the fashion-forward turning westward for inspiration. Indie L.A. designers such as Jared Gold, Michelle Mason, Magda Berliner, Alicia Lawhon, Grant Krajecki of Grey Ant, and Stephan Loy and Frank Ford of loyandford have joined more established West Coast names like Richard Tyler and Henry Duarte on the international radar.
Many local names are working together to make L.A.’s Nov. 2-6 Fashion Week more cohesive and larger than before. Big-name companies Audi, Jet Blue and Sebastian are co-sponsoring shows, and the Coalition of Los Angeles Fashion Designers (CLAD) is organizing the week’s first-ever events calendar to avoid timing conflicts and to direct press and buyers toward the action.
What won’t be different this year is the avant-garde flavor of the collections and the grass-roots, all-hands-on-deck collaboration that has marked previous years. Like the spirit of the city, L.A. fashion is strongly nonconformist and highly artistic. The designs often seem to be an extension of the landscape, and downtown’s edgy ambience continues to be an inspiration.
“I decided to show downtown for my very first show four years ago, and at that time downtown was still really underdeveloped and unhip,” says designer and longtime Angeleno Michelle Mason. “I’m currently looking for a church to show in, but it must be downtown because I can’t break that tradition.” Mason, whose playfully tailored looks attract celebrity clients such as Courtney Love, Nicole Kidman, and Rose McGowan, describes this collection as inspired by Victorian and Edwardian times as well as by Christian saints and the clergy.
Another influence is her hometown: “People tell me that my clothes are really laid back, and I think that has a lot to do with the L.A. lifestyle,” she says. “My old boss, Richard Tyler, has been helping me out tremendously with this collection because he knows I’m having a hard time with deadlines. [Collaboration] like that is unheard of elsewhere.”
The work of American surrealist Joseph Cornell and antique silverware patterns influenced designer Jared Gold’s Spring 2002 collection. “It’s called Golden Syndrome,” he says. “It’s very ephemeral and kind of dreamy and very lightweight. The entire men’s and women’s collection fits into one suitcase.” But while the collection travels light, the presentation will not: “My mother and I are playing a Russian concerto on two concert grand pianos for the runway music.”
Gold also plans to help dress models at friends’ shows. “We started small, and we really had to band together, and now that’s in our blood,” he explains. To Gold, creative momentum is the order of the day for the local fashion scene. “There’s a really high concentration of people who are very open to and supportive of the arts,” says the designer, who works in a turn-of-the-century Westlake hotel. “I don’t see how I would be able to do what I do anywhere else.”
