Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall I 2003: John Sakalis
John Sakalis held his first solo runway presentation for his Fall/Winter collection on April 12 at the Colburn School of the Performing Arts. The alumnus of the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising had previously participated in group shows with other young designers.
For his Fall/Winter collection, Sakalis displayed lots of flowing skirts in red tartan plaid. These the designer paired with knit tops, which he sometimes adorned with lamb, rabbit or fox fur. He described his collection as “Scottish tartan plaid with a French-couture look.”
A black-and-gray wool gabardine coat lined with tartan plaid and topped with a Mongolian lamb collar was simplebut- elegant. Jackets looked sophisticated with dolman sleeves. A brown boucleacute;, oversize-sleeve sweater was coupled with camel-colored wool culottes.
Sakalis said his collection could be called “Brave Joan”—after a fictitious Scottish lass whom the designer invented as his fashion muse. According to his legend, she was abducted by the French in the late 19th century and tried to make her way home. —Deborah Belgum
