Voom Bows at Mica Showroom
For the Voom girl, Spring/Summer 2005 is the season when she can transform into one of five feminine archetypes blessed with appropriately cute wardrobes. That’s what Joy Han suggested at her Jan. 15 fashion show for the new contemporary line produced by Average Joe Inc., which also makes the missy dress line Mica.
In Mica’s eighth-floor showroom in The New Mart, Han presented her interpretations of a 1950s debutante, military hot mama, bohemian babe, punky prep and Grecian goddess.
Han, who partnered with Average Joe after meeting one of the owners at her Voom store in the Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles about six months ago, launched the line in Fall 2004. The fashion show, however, marked the wholesale business’s debut to California’s fashionistas and celebrities, as well as buyers from other states who visited for Los Angeles Market Week.
Han, who hails from Korea, said that compared to Mica, “Voom is more funky, fun, bright, sexy.” A self-professed fan of color, she paired fuchsia with lime green and burgundy with purple. She also mixed fabrics, showing, for example, seersucker on top of denim. The show’s 53 outfits included details such as floral appliqueacute;s, embroideries of alligators, sash ties and shirring.
Because she needed jeans to anchor some of the flouncy tops but did not have enough time to make her own, Han used reconstructed long skirts, boot-cut jeans and other items from Levi Strauss & Co., which sponsored the show with Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, BMI and House of Blues. Han said that perhaps in the future she will design jeans for the line.
—Khanh T.L. Tran
