L.A. Fashion Week Fall '05: Kevan Hall
Kevan Hall’s Fall 2005 collection of ready-to-wear and evening gowns was inspired by the opulent style of opera diva Maria Callas. On March 16, the designer showed his collection at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City.
“What I loved about her was her grand sense of style—all the drama in her life and her restrained elegance,”
Hall said of the singer.Hall borrowed elements of Callas’ style during the peak of her career in the 1950s and 1960s to design the sleek, clean lines of the collection. Her use of fur, pearl necklaces, and elegant makeup and hairstyles filtered into his looks. Cocktail-length and full-length gowns in chocolate, rouge, topaz, teal and blond were accented with bust-line details and bands of crystal and rhinestone beading reminiscent of the 1960s. Luxe fabrications created extra drama, with iridescent silk taffetas, beaded tweeds and plaids, and large houndstooth checks. Hall added structure to support and construct the fuller silhouettes, including the beautiful ball gowns and dropped-torso dresses with flounces and petticoats underneath. “Because she was an opera singer, the clothes are grand, and they’re operatic,” he said.
Standout pieces included a Swakara lamb coat over a black wool jersey dress, a blond suit with fur cuffs and a ruby lacquered chiffon gown with sunburst pleating. —N. Jayne Seward
