OC Fashion Week Planned
Orange County has sun, surf, skateboarders and national attention from “The O.C.” television show and the movie “Orange County.” Now Dewan and Dharmesh Pardiwala, who run fashion and entertainment magazine Influenza Online and a photo studio named Studio Moloko, want to produce what they call the first major fashion event for the area: OC Fashion Week.
The fledgling event will start on the Web, at www.ocfashionweek.com, and will eventually move to runway-style venues. The Pardiwala brothers, who are based in Norwalk, Calif., are forming an advisory board and seeking designers, sponsors and volunteers to help with the launch.
Dewan Pardiwala said they began working on the project in January. They expect to feature collections online twice a year. He said the Web-only presentation is “what is going to make OC Fashion Week unique.” The Internet also will allow them to show Orange County culture and provide an open forum to the public, which rarely gains access to conventional fashion shows that are aimed at retail buyers and media. He also said they want to work on television programming for the event.
The new venture faces the task of attracting talent and standing out in a crowded fashion calendar. IMG’s 7th on Sixth organizes Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., and Gen Art and P. Ka Bu, among others, hold series of shows in Los Angeles. Furthermore, Orange County–based companies such as Hurley International of Costa Mesa, Calif., already stage runway events in Los Angeles.
Dewan Pardiwala said they are still hammering out a timeline but hope to kick off the online event after the MAGIC International trade show in August and before Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in October.
—K.T.L.T.
