L.A. Fashion Week Fall '04: Louis Verdad
Louis Verdad’s Fall/Winter 2004 collection was a beautiful and dramatic finale for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City. The show, held on April 2, drew a full house that included designer Michael Kors, who was in town shooting an advertising campaign and visiting his mother.
For the show, Verdad created a femme fatale gangster story. On the runway, two hunky men in tank tops, corsets and striped pants danced and flirted with beautiful vixens dressed in Verdad’s signature 1940s-inspired looks.
Verdad said he wanted to develop very sexy silhouettes using fabrics that are not sexy at all. “I really want women to feel empowered by what I design,” he added.
In addition to Verdad’s beautifully tailored suits, key looks included a plaid strapless column gown with double-tier ruffles, a brown tweed maxi poncho with a vintage fur collar, a black Supplex trench coat and cigarette trousers with lambskin details, a black-and-white wool tweed coat with Swarovski crystal beads over a black silk Spanish-lace dress, and a taupe wool tweed aviator jumpsuit. —N. Jayne Seward
