L.A. Fashion Week Fall '08: Gen Art's New Garde
Gen Art’s “The New Garde: A Celebration of Innovative Los Angeles Fashion” installation-style presentation went from luxe safari to modern minimalism and vintage-inspired staples with an edge. Held March 7 at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, the New Garde featured designers and labels Jesse Kamm, JMary and Les Sang des Betes by Trang Chau. Eveningwear designer Kara Saun showed three of her show-stopping gowns.
The nonprofit group produced large-scale vignettes to showcase each designer’s Fall 2008 collection, and guests wandered freely around the Park Plaza’s various indoor and outdoor spaces.
Chau, a sculptor by training, showed her Les Sang des Betes collection on a series of oversize platforms. Her collection, which moved from starkly minimal cropped jackets to an elaborately constructed coat with pools of pleated jersey, seemed to draw from modern and Gothic architecture. Standouts included a sleek, oversize wool vest with deeply scooped sides and a lightweight jacket with a draped collar detail.
Jesse Kamm’s “Into the Bush” collection for Fall 2008 could do double-duty as the wardrobe for a Katharine Hepburn type in an English colonial film epic. Packed with flowy fabrics cut into sharp silhouettes, Kamm’s collection was both romantic and utilitarian. The models, posed in a tent packed with rugs and vintage kerosene lamps, wore printed tunics, satin belted overalls, silk shirtdresses with rolled sleeves and crisp white blouses paired with high-waist wide-leg trousers.
JMary by Jennifer Mary channeled the disco era with an installation of models wearing cocktail dresses perfect for a modern Studio 54 spinning on an enormous mirrored platform. A two-tier pleated dress in black silk chiffon and a one-shoulder dress in wool referenced classic silhouettes. Super-clean wool coats featured classic details, including box pleats and full skirts, but looked fresh with unexpected twists, such as wool gauze and taffeta fabrications. —Erin Barajas
