Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall 2001: Cornell Collins
Cornell Collins’ latest collection is inspired by the individual, according to the designer, who held his runway show on March 29, the evening before the official start date of Los Angeles fashion week. This season, Collins delivered a significantly cleaned-up collection at the Laboratory in downtown Los Angeles.
“There was a Bauhaus influence in the collection this season inspired by Paul Klee, one of the original artists who was taught at the Bauhaus,” explained Collins. “One of the skirts I call the ’Klee’ skirt because it is a re-creation of a painting that he did. Overall, that was the look I was going for this season.”
Persimmon, light green, light blue and light brown added pockets of color to an otherwise gray and black collection of mostly wool skirts, jackets, sweaters, pants and dresses. Most of Collins’ pieces remained simple, yet his special treatment of avant-garde detailing didn’t go unnoticed.
“With a lot of the pieces, you look at them and they’re familiar, in silhouette,” he said. “But you take a closer look and there’s extreme detail either in the way they’re put together or the fabric treatment or the style lines; so, there’s a lot of things you need to look a little closer at.”
One didn’t need to take a closer look at Collins’ black evening gowns to appreciate their amazingly intricate construction. The show’s finale piece—a black, silk organza, bias strip layered gown—did, however, seem less detail oriented than the rest, but upon a closer view it was hardly that.
“I had each organza strip cut into a one and a quarter-inch bias, then had them sewn on individually, one over the other, so there’s literally over 200 strips of bias from top to bottom of the gown,” Collins explained. “It’s done in a way where you don’t see any side seams, any waist seams, any of the darting.”
Perhaps Collins summed up his design style the best when he explained what type of woman wears his clothing: “At first glance, if she walked into a room, you may not necessarily notice her, because that’s not her style. But once you do notice her, you can’t take your eyes off of her for the rest of the evening.” —Joselle Yokogawa, Fashion Editor
