Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring '05: Saja
Saja designer Yoo Lee is best known for her ’20s- and ’30s-inspired pieces in light, airy chiffon with a smattering of beaded trim. For her first runway show, held Oct. 26 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Lee included familiar details but also departed from her usual looks with several styles from the ’50s and ’60s.
The theme of the show was “an American girl going on a European tour by herself,” according to Lee. “She’s bohemian, she’s eclectic, and she’s traveling light,” she said.
For her imagined muse’s European tour, Lee packed knee-length gathered skirts in retro ’50s prints, a few tiered peasant skirts in crinkled gauze and a pale-green striped tunic trimmed in iridescent beads. There were pin-tucked dresses in crisp cotton, a crocheted dress in dusty rose, and a sundress in sunset shades of persimmon, yellow and tangerine. Printed sheer wrap dresses were topped with tiny see-though capelets with beaded trim or with open-weave crocheted shawls. There was also a series of translucent dresses that came in deep jewel tones, including a cobalt-blue halter dress and a plum dress with a paneled skirt that hearkened back to the jazz age.
The best pieces included cropped sailor pants with piping and buttons in contrastcolor fabric, tops trimmed in paillettes, and fitted jackets in lace and paillettes.
“We felt the collection was ready, the time was right, [and] the collection looks great,” Lee said. —A.A.N.
