L.A. Fashion Week Spring '04: Alicia Lawhon
Alicia Lawhon reverted to simple styles for her “Soft Hits” fashion presentation, held on Oct. 30 at Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A. Lawhon is a co-founder of the Coalition of Los Angeles Designers and a longtime participant in Los Angeles Fashion Week.
The designer, who was one of four sponsor beneficiaries for the Mercedes-Benz event, showed lightly draped silhouettes with some geometric edges and playful detailing. It was a turn from the more-ornamented styles of her Fall 2003 collection, shown at Gen Art last season. For Spring 2004, Lawhon showed groupings of cotton voile dresses and separates, structured canvas minis and shorts, and vintage chiffons and knits, as well as menswear.
Each category focused on delicate detailing and shapes that highlighted form, including origami T-shirts and squared-off dresses. Simplicity was the common denominator. A voile tank dress in a pastel shade was embellished with ribbons or a couple of buttons. There were chiffon tops that were ruffled or adorned with sequins, yet even those weren’t over-complicated. Brushed-cotton shorts and minis were basic and yet featured standout contrast stitching. One effective combination was a black tailored shirt with a dotted collar worn over white hot pants.
Not everything was solid and basic. One look—a buttoned, ruffled dress with a checkered chiffon skirt—stood out from most of the collection as did a sampling of deconstructed preppy looks, but even these looks attained Lawhon’s goal of being soft, pretty and eye-catching. —Robert McAllister
