Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Gen Art
The seventh installment of Gen Art’s Fresh Faces in Fashion attracted 1,100 people on Oct. 27 to the cavernous Hangar 8 at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport, which was transformed for one evening into a fashion scene.
Gen Art, a nonprofit organization that promotes the work of artists of all stripes, is known for launching the careers of young designers looking for a place to show their creations. This is the group that helped propel the careers of Louis Verdad, Alicia Lawhon and Jared Gold.
This year, eight designers, who focused on everything from swimwear to menswear, put their fashions on the catwalk.
bull; Issho designers Gordon Morikawa and Neely Shearer, owners of Los Angeles boutique Xin, debuted flirty dresses in light fabrics that encompassed a variety of prints, from geometric designs to bursts of multicolored dots. The designers wove lots of mauve and sky blue into their spectrum for Spring ’05.
bull; Desanka designer Desa Fasiska artfully displayed copper-colored piping on shorts, denim slacks and rompers. She also blended lots of mauve into her Spring ’05 collection as well as copper and various shades of green. Silhouettes ranged from cropped pants and slacks to skirts of various lengths.
bull; Maryam Nassirzadeh was another champion of mauve for Spring styles. The color was seen in the designer’s jackets, pants and dresses.
bull; Spectators stared with eyes wide open when tan and toned models came out wearing the Spring swimwear line created by Kerry Cushman, the designer behind kushcush. Cushman’s bikinis had flirty and flouncy skirts in back-to-the-future argyle and polka-dot designs.
bull; Waraire Boswell Menswear took a formal approach to men’s fashion with wonderfully tailored shirts that could be worn outside slacks.
Many of the tops had Boswell’s signature look: cuffs embroidered in whimsical motifs and paired with five buttons of different colors. His three-button blazers in velvety corduroy also carried his trademark embroidered cuffs, which have set his collection apart from other menswear lines. Seersucker was resuscitated in pastel colors for jackets and pants.
bull; Charles Stolarek, who created the Wooden Mustache label, said he designed his pieces with an element of childhood simplicity. Many of the hems on his skirts and dresses were unfinished.
Boxy panels of fabric formed tops with angular shoulders and gave A-line silhouettes to skirts.
bull; Todd Magill just launched his line, Wyeth, early this year, but already the collection has Fifth Avenue potential. Magill married classic designs with beautiful fabrics. Delicately ruffled skirts in deep blue or brown were paired with elegant tops. A raspberry-colored dress in charmeuse was matched with a deep wine–colored velvet jacket that helped make the line look sophisticated yet comfortable.
bull; The Gen Art runway show ended with a splash as Claire La Faye trotted out elaborately designed dresses reminiscent of tiered wedding cakes. There were layers of ruffles, trains, bows and corseted tops in rich fabrics and delicate colors.
Gen Art displayed several accessories lines, from shoes to handbags, along the walls of the hangar. They were C-Label Shoes by Chai Vasquez, Christie Martin Fine Jewelry by Christie Martin, DL & Co. by Douglas Little and Kim White Handbags by Kim White. —D.B.
