Los Angeles Fashion to Be Rewarded
A major fashion industry awards program is being organized just in time to kick off Los Angeles Fashion Market for Spring 2006. The L.A. Fashion Awards will take place at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 21, the first day of market week.
The awards show will feature a return of the Moss Adams Fashion Innovator (MAFI) Award, which is given out by accounting firm Moss Adams to a designer or apparel team for innovation in unique and compelling designs, production, and presentation.
Moss Adams launched the MAFI awards in 2003. Los Angeles designer Corey Lynn Calter was the first recipient. The second recipient was Daniella Clarke, who started contemporary clothing line Frankie B in 1999.
Other awards to be handed out include: the Fashion Achievement Award, for sustained success and accomplishment by an apparel brand through fashion leadership and retail distribution; the Marketing Excellence Award, for the most compelling or innovative advertising or marketing campaign by a fashion company; the Fashion Retailer Award, for the retailer with the largest fashion following; the Fashion Communication Award, for enhancing the business of Los Angeles fashion and style; and the Inspiration Award, for someone outside the fashion industry (such as an architect, artist or developer) who has given particular support to the apparel community.
The awards may be presented in conjunction with a fashion show, said Mary Hill, who is producing the awards program with Jennifer Uner, the former executive director of advertising and marketing at the California Market Center.
“We haven’t made a final determination that there will be a fashion show,” said Hill, who has produced the fashion shows put on by the CMC at the Orpheum Theatre. “But it is at the forefront of what we want to do.”
—Deborah Belgum