L.A. Fashion Week Fall '08: Jared Gold
On March 14, Jared Gold took fashion directly to the people. The Salt Lake City–based designer erected a runway half the length of a football field at Union Station in Los Angeles for a fashion show attended by more than 1,000 of his eccentric fans. Immediately after the last model departed the catwalk, Gold opened the curtains to a pop-up store where guests could buy some of the styles they just saw. “It’s important to me to see the immediate response to how people feel about the fashion instead of all this endless speculation. It’s like, let’s just crank the till right now,” Gold said.
The designer was inspired by Fabergeacute;, folkloric prints and; in contrast, a “really heavy mod kind of feel” for his Spring ’08 Jared Gold collection, titled “Czarina.” Models rocked pink, blue and neon-yellow Marie Antoinette–esque powdered updos that matched the exaggerated proportions of the outfits. Fitted and cropped shrugs in tapestry stripes had voluminous puffed sleeves. The skirt of a strapless baby-doll dress ballooned like a Russian cathedral onion dome. In a hybrid of Gold’s two inspirations, an oversized giraffe print in iridescent foil adorned the back of amod green-and-white-striped draped, knit cape. Other curious prints—such as walrus, rabbit and deer—possessed an antiquarian fairy-tale whimsy and adorned dresses, gathered skirts and tees. On the male models, Gold offered a sneak peek of his forthcoming Fall ’08 “historicist” underwear collection, which will include candy striped long johns and knee-length boxer briefs.—Rhea Cortado
