California Apparel News

Nick Verreos was one of the first designers to show at Smashbox Studios during Los Angeles Fashion Week—back before the Culver City, Calif., venue teamed up with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week organizers IMG.

This season, he’ll be back at Smashbox—but working the front row rather than the catwalk.

Verreos, the co-designer of the Nikolaki label and a past contestant on Bravo’s fashion reality show, “Project Runway,” will be covering the Los Angeles Fashion Week shows in a blog on Bravo’s Web site (www.bravotv.com). (Another “Project Runway” alum, Daniel Vosavic, covered New York Fashion Week for Bravo.)

This will be the first time has Verreos covered Los Angeles Fashion Week, although the designer writes about the European shows on his own blog (www.uber.com/nickverreos).“I write about the couture shows. It’s just little Nick, writing from downtown L.A.,” he said.

The Fashion Week gig comes on the heels of several other high-profile assignments.Verreos was one of the hosts on E! Television’s pre-show Oscar coverage—part of an all-day marathon leading up to the Feb. 24 Academy Awards.

The ebullient designer hosted fashion segments with E’s Debbie Matenopoulos and reality-show star Kim Kardashian from a studio at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel overlooking Hollywood Boulevard, where the Kodak Theatre, the home to the Oscars, is based.

“I’ve dressed Debbie,” said Verreos, who presented an award to the producers of “Project Runway” at last October’s Los Angeles Fashion Awards, where Matenopoulos was the host.

“I had a blast with her at the L.A. Fashion Awards,” Verreos said.

For E’s pre-Oscar coverage, Verreos discussed fashions inspired by the nominated films, as well as red-carpet trends. The show ended with an evening-gown runway show, which included one of Verreos’ dresses.

The designer had a fashion crisis of his own prior to the show. He was planning to wear a suit from the Viktor & Rolf collection for H&M but decided that he needed “to step it up a bit.”So he called fellow “Project Runway” alumnus John Wade, who designs windows for Marc Jacobs. Serendipitously, the Los Angeles store had just received three tuxedos in stock—a notch-lapel style with a slim pant. Verreos said he cleared a credit card and headed over to the Melrose Avenue store.

“The jacket fit perfectly,” he said, adding that the Marc Jacobs tailor was able to quickly alter the pant to fit.

In true multi-tasking fashion, Verreos met with a stylist for Marlee Matlin at the Marc Jacobs store. The Oscar-winning actress had borrowed three of Verreos’ dresses to wear to the Academy Awards. She selected one, and her stylist dropped by the Marc Jacobs store to return the other two to Verreos and to show him the jewelry Matlin would be wearing with the dress.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Matlin’s win for “Children of a Lesser God,” and the actress, who is competing in the upcoming season of reality show “Dancing With the Stars,” wore Verreos’ dress on the red carpet at the Oscars.“You know how hard it is to get a gown on the red carpet?” Verreos said. “It’s the biggest runway in the world. It’s like winning the lottery.”

But Verreos’ Oscar moment was not quite over. The day after the awards show, the designer appeared on the TV Guide Channel to discuss the fashions worn on the red carpet with actress and retailer Lisa Rinna and stylists Paul Venoit and Jennifer Rade.

Although this was Verreos’ first time hosting any Academy Award coverage, his stint on “Project Runway” has led to multiple appearances on the TV Guide Channel, MSNBC and regional television programs. All this has been good practice for his Academy Award debut, he said.

“People think because you’ve been on TV, you’re good at this. But imagine being thrown into this scene where you’re reading a teleprompter for the first time,” he said.

Verreos said he was both excited and nervous about the Oscar coverage, but in the end, he drew on his experience in the fashion industry and as a fashion instructor at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.

“I’m comfortable doing this—and I have the reacute;sumeacute; to back it up,” he said. “It all comes from an educated point of view—but I can add my fun Nick stuff.” —Alison A. Nieder