Seeking Fashion Advisors to the Mayor
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans to set up a Fashion Advisory Council made up of a cross section of representatives from the Los Angeles fashion industry.
Cynthia M. Ruiz and Sabrina Kay are helping find members of the committee, which is expected to advise the mayor on issues of importance to the fashion industry, including areas of improvement and ways to strengthen the fashion business in Los Angeles.
Ruiz is the president of the Board of Public Works of the City of Los Angeles, and Kay is the chairwoman and chief executive of Fashion Umbrella LLC, a Los Angeles branding and marketing firm that helps California companies break into the Asian market through the company’s LAdesigns boutiques, located in department stores in Shanghai and Seoul.
“The purpose of the Fashion Advisory Council is to bring members of the fashion industry together to bring input and to have the mayor work in partnership with the fashion industry,” said Ruiz.
“The mayor is committed to and interested in the fashion industry. He knows what an economic engine fashion is in L.A.”
Kay and Ruiz are looking for “fashionindustry stakeholders,” including manufacturers, designers, stylists, buyers, factors, lawyers, accountants and textile industry professionals. The two anticipate the council will have 20 to 30 members, who will meet biannually to discuss the industry’s current issues and concerns. They will be gathering letters of intent from potential applicants through June, in the hopes of having the council up and running by Los Angeles Fashion Week next fall.
“The fashion industry should be excited that we have so much of the mayor’s attention,” said Kay.
Anyone interested in being considered for the council can send a letter of intent to Kent Smith, executive director of the Los Angeles Fashion District Business Improvement District, at 110 E. Ninth St., Suite A1175, Los Angeles, CA 90079, or to Krista Kline, a member of the mayor’s business team, at City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., 13th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. —Alison A. Nieder
