Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall I 2003: Kate O'Connor
Kate O’Connor, who put herself on the fashion map with a line of handcrafted signature ponchos last season, revealed clingy, sexy looks for her sophomore collection, which she unveiled on April 3 at the Downtown Standard Hotel.
O’Connor did not abandon those ponchos, but she did show some sleeker silhouettes for Fall. Skinny pants in silk and merino and a number of clingy mini dresses in turtleneck, halter and tube-top styles revealed the female form quite well. A black silk halter dress and two revealing V-neck jumpsuits were especially sexy. Ponchos came in muted earth tones and featured alpaca and composites of linen, hemp, silk and cotton. Chocolate, fawn, olive, avocado and a smattering of creams and whites dominated the collection’s palette.
O’Connor remains a big fan of stripes, and her Fall collection displayed straight horizontal, offset and multicolored, mod stripe patterns.
The designer said she wanted to leave indelible sensory impressions on her customers through her choice of colors and fabrics.
It’s “like the smell of a stranger’s perfume or the green of an avocado,” she said. —Robert McAllister
