California Apparel News

Expect an independent spirit to run through Los Angeles Fashion Week next March.

Now that IMG has canceled its Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, no one has stepped in to take the place of the large-scale New Yorkshy;–based fashion-week producer.

Reveal Los Angeles was expected to fill the void with a hybrid event that combined runway shows at L.A. Live! in downtown Los Angeles and a trade-show component at the California Market Center. But Reveal L.A. producer IDG World Expo, producer of large tech-focused trade shows such as Macworld and E3, recently postponed the event’s launch from March to October.

With retail sales down drastically, store buyers are taking a conservative attitude in purchases, and designers are finding money scarce for staging a full-blown runway show that can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $45,000.

The one remaining multi-designer venue in Los Angeles is BOXeight, a center for artists, designers and photographers. Since 2007, BOXeight has been infusing itself into the fashion scene with inexpensive, indie-style fashion shows for up-and-coming designers. BOXeight plans to hold a four- or five-day fashion event in March with around 20 small designers showing their collections.

Peter Gurnz, BOXeight’s founder, is currently scouting locations and talking to downtown politicians and business-improvement officials about helping to organize a March event. He is aiming to hold a fashion-week event in downtown’s Historic Core, which could be at one of the architecturally stunning historic theaters on Broadway or elsewhere. Last year, BOXeight held fashion shows at Vibiana, the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, in downtown Los Angeles. Most recently, BOXeight organized fashion shows at its Washington Boulevard studios, a site that is a backup option for March.

“We are shooting on having about 20 designers in the show,” Gurnz said. He noted he already has confirmations from eight designers. They are B.Son, Seth Pratt, Fremont, MartinMartin, Anzevino and Florence, Yotam Solomon, Secta and COA.

“Although the economic situation is difficult, with our type of business model, we have a lot that can be done with very little,” said Gurnz, referring to the low-cost venue of the BOXeight studios. In the past, BOXeight has not charged designers for its runway space. “It’s not a pay-to-play concept. It is not based on financial productions and luxury-car companies. It comes down to artists’ involvement and how much they are willing to do for an amazing event,” he said.

Yet, with the economy making it harder to find sponsors, BOXeight might have to charge a minimal fee for the first time, Gurnz said.

Gen Art—the nonprofit organization created to promote new talent in fashion, music, film and art—will hold its New Garde event March 13 to promote up-and-coming designers. But the event is typically smaller than its Fresh Faces in Fashion runway event, which is held in the fall.

Smashbox weighing options

IMG pulled out of Los Angeles after a six-year run with its Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. For five of those years, IMG collaborated with Smashbox Studios, the commercial photography center in Culver City, Calif., to stage the shows.

Dean and Davis Factor, who own the studios, stated in October they were interested in organizing a similar event somewhere in Hollywood. The two wanted to move the event out of their studio because the fashion shows cut into their commercial photography business.

But Davis Factor hasn’t locked up a suitable location and probably won’t be able to get anything up and running until next October. In an e-mail, he said he wasn’t ready to release a formal statement yet about the event because he didn’t have an answer, but the economy probably isn’t helping to promote a March event.

With IMG and possibly Smashbox out of the picture for the Fall 2009 fashion-week season, designers are resorting to their own creative drive and limited pocketbooks to organize fashion events.

Galina Sobolev—who founded Single, her contemporary label of dresses, tops and pants, nearly 10 years ago—was a frequent participant in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios until a few years ago, when she felt the lineup of designers declined.

She is thinking about hosting a fashion show next March on the backyard deck of her home in Los Angeles’ Mount Olympus neighborhood, where the sparkling lights of downtown shimmer at night.

Her clients have gathered recently at her house for sample sales and champagne and have enjoyed the private feel of seeing her line. “They have all expressed a desire they would rather go to an event held in a much more glamorous ambience and atmosphere,” she said, noting she would also invite store buyers from her retail customers such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue to the event.

Sue Wong was another consistent presence every season on the fashion-week scene. For the first five years, she was always on the runway of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. But this year, she opted to show her collection of evening and day dresses, which retail for $450 to $500, at other locales, such as at her historic home, the restored Norma Talmadge estate in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, and at the California Market Center in downtown Los Angeles.

For her Fall 2009 collection, she might hold a fashion show in her offices and design atelier located inside a historic building near the old Bullocks Wilshire department store, an art deco building on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Showing at your atelier is a more European concept. Chanel used to invite her buyers and fashion press and show out of her design studio,” Wong said. “I bought my studio nine years ago and refurnished it. It’s the old advertising building for Bullocks Wilshire and is very artful.”

Another tried-and-true presence at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week going his own way is designer Kevan Hall, known for his sophisticated creations often worn on the red carpet by glamorous celebrities. Hall is teaming up with The Colleagues, a nonprofit that raises money for the Children’s Institute, to organize a fashion show for charity next March at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

He believes about 600 to 700 people will attend the show, which will include store buyers as well as individuals buying tickets to see his styles, which have an old-Hollywood feel.

Like many fashion-industry denizens, Hall is wondering what form the upcoming Los Angeles Fashion Week will take without a big, organized event that had become a staple of the fashion season. “This is going to be an interesting transition,” Hall said of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week’s closure. “Hopefully, we will see our designer talent pull out some stops and be creative and show the world how important our market is.”