L.A. Fashion Week Spring '09: Leila Hafzi
Tibetan mythology played a center role in designer Leila Hafzi’s first runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif.
The Norwegian designer, who traveled from her native country to Los Angeles just for the Oct. 16 show, is renowned for using natural fibers that have natural dyes and are eco-friendly. For her Spring/Summer ’09 collection, called Utopia, she chose mostly Grecian-style evening gowns crafted of silk and manufactured in Nepal. Other styles combined knitted pashmina with silk or hand-knitted wild nettle. “The designs are inspired by ’70s glam and monk drapings from Tibet,” said Hafzi, whose father is from Iran but lives in Norway.
The designer, who relaunched her line in 2005, took bright colors—such as a marigold yellow, Mediterranean turquoise or flamingo pink—and paired them with imprints of Tibetan mythological animals, from monkeys and horses to tigers and leopards. The animals were hand-painted on the garments by tattoo artist Mike the Athens.
The result was a colorful array of rich gowns, both short and long, that flowed with every step down the catwalk. Gowns came in off-the-shoulder silhouettes or gathered in a scoop or deep plunging neckline. Solid-colored dresses were often accented with a vivid scarf emblazoned with an animal motif. —Deborah Belgum
