L.A. Fashion Week Fall '08: Julia Clancey
Julia Clancey flew from London for her first appearance at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., on March 9.
While she arrived safe and sound, her collection got stuck for days at customs at Los Angeles International Airport. Her frocks almost didn’t make it in time for the fashion show. “I was completely convinced it wasn’t going to happen,” said the petite designer after her Fall/Winter 2008 collection showed on the runway. “It was just madness.”
But a little more than 24 hours before the show was scheduled, she got a callthat the dresses had been released.
With that in mind, Clancey started her show with a political statement. A model paraded up and down the runway with a poster that read “Haute Haters” on the front. On the back it said: “Is this customary?”
Fortunately, fashion-week attendees were not denied the vision of Clancey’s sophisticated eveningwear, which sparkled under the spotlights.
The London-based designer said she took her cue this season from “My Fair Lady,” which featured everyone dressed to the nines to watch the horse races at Ascot. “I love that scene. Everyone was dressed in black and white.”
Much of her collection came in those colors too, with splashes of bright reds and purples to pump up the palette.
Many of the dresses were influenced by the Roaring ’20s and made of silk chiffon or lameacute;, favorites in Clancey’s design closet. Black sequins were used to embroider edges or sculpt designs or fashion glitzy yolks. —Deborah Belgum
