L.A. Fashion Week Spring '09: Amelia Toro
For Amelia Toro, fashion might as well be about dance. It’s because a dancer’s graceful movement was one of the inspirations for the Colombia-based designer’s debut runway show Oct 16 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif. While movement was paramount, Toro banished any notion of dancers’ body suits and tights. Instead, her Spring 2009 collection stressed a wide spectrum of styles, including mod dresses, 1950s-style pencil skirts and pantsuits.
Her baby-doll dresses bore Pucci-style geometric shapes. Ankle- length dresses featured long 1960s-style horizontal stripes. Toro cleansed her palate with her white tuxedo jacket. She said she helped create an ease of movement for her collection by using lightweight materials such as silk organza, crinkle chiffon and light woolens, which provided stretch.
A sense of whimsy was key to the show’s spirit. Cloth butterflies and dragonflies were attached to the small hats and headbands worn by the show’s models. —Andrew Asch
