L.A. Fashion Week Fall 2002: MartinMartin
Editors and stylists turned out for the first solo show from MartinMartin’s husband-and-wife design team, Eric and Diane Martin. Los Angeles retailer Aero and Co. sponsored the April 13 show at the trendy Vermont restaurant in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.
The Martins’ collection—dubbed “ugly/beauty”—showed off the designers’ talent for painstaking tailoring combined with thoughtful deconstruction. The nearly monochromatic presentation included items in wool gabardine, wool jersey, cotton canvas, stretch-viscose crepe and lamb leather—all in black. Several items had a hint of white lining peaking below a jacket or skirt hem, but the single element of color was a red wool jersey sweater embellished with a “crawling vine” of tucking.
Of particular note was a double-breasted, floor-length stretch-canvas coat with “lantern sleeves” (three-quarter-length sleeves that flared slightly above the elbow, then tapers back in at the hem) worn over a full “petal” skirt with asymmetrical hem in leather. Other high points included the pin-striped “modern ballgown skirt” with asymmetrical tucking at the hem, the tailored pin-striped “gangster pants” and the floor-length “moth-eaten” coat in felted wool/cashmere.—Alison A. Nieder
