L.A. Fashion Week Spring '04: Magda Berliner
As unconventional as her designs, Magda Berliner’s showing of her Spring/Summer 2004 collection, held on Oct. 28 during Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A., felt more like an art installation than a fashion presentation. Berliner displayed 11 of her designs on mannequins and dressed five stoic models on stools in one-of-a-kind handmade lace dresses and leather wrap lace-up boots.
Berliner explained the inspiration for her presentation: “I met Mr. George Martin from Patina-V, who designed the mannequins for the [California Design] Biennial at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. When I saw the clothes on the mannequins, they were so graceful and they represented what I hoped to achieve with the collection—what I hope to achieve in every collection. I like every woman to feel graceful and lovely in my clothes.”
Berliner was inspired by recent travels to the island of Hydra in Greece and Budapest, Hungary, to create a collection with an Old World feel, including handmade lace dresses, custom- embroidered printed-cotton voile pieces, menswear and little-boy styles, and designs featuring Berliner’s specialty of detailing with aluminum and stainless-steel mesh.
Styles included a gold matador bolero, a push-up pinafore in cotton voile, a gray-andwhite striped boy blazer and matching pants worn with a “Fairy” T-shirt, an ’80s-inspired purple tomboy tunic and leggings, and a purple blotter wrap top and a maille poncho paired with boys’ gray-and-white striped shorts. —N.J.S.
