WSJ Discovers L.A. Fashion, Then Dismisses It
I’m a big fan of the Wall Street Journal, but I’m often amused by their fashion stories, which tend to herald the return of the business suit (according to dry-cleaning associations) or the sudden popularity of stiletto heels or thong underwear.
But a story in today’s issue is threatening to ruin my day.
Today’s paper has a story about L.A. Fashion Week with a provocative title—“What if You Gave a Fashion Show and No One Came…”—guaranteed to stimulate grumpy discourse.
And I willingly rise to the occasion.
First, full disclosure: I’ve never met the author, Christina Binkley. But apparently, she and I were both at the recent party thrown by FashionWeekLA.com founder Jen Uner. (ApparelNews.net blogged about it last week.)
According to Binkley, the party was thrown to address a concern over “the cancellation of the city’s fashion week in March.”
I have two problems with that statement. First, Uner’s point in throwing the party was to get people talking and planning now for L.A. Fashion Week in October. Second, fashion week was NOT cancelled in March. There were more than 50 events going on around town. Not all were great shows, to be sure. But there were many that were excellent—well-organized and well-attended, with great fashion on display.
Every fashion week, it seems some journalist or blogger dismisses Los Angeles as a bastion of bad fashion and the city’s Fashion Week as a dull event that can’t draw A-list celebrities. And every fashion week, I wonder if these writers bothered to get off their couches to attend any events.
You can’t judge Los Angeles’ fashion by the images you see online. You have to get out there to see the shows, meet the designers and check out the street fashion in the crowd. You have to make a commitment to find the out-of-the-way venues. And you have to stay up for the late-night shows. It’s not easy—but that’s L.A., a city that looks deceptively easy to navigate but is, in reality, more complex than any other.
According to Binkley’s bio, “she lives in the fashion outpost of Los Angeles,” which leaves me wondering where she lives and where she’s getting her fashion news. Certainly not at ApparelNews.net—or the Los Angeles Times or Los Angeles magazine or Racked LA or Blackburn+ Sweetzer or any of the other publications and blogs where my coworkers and my colleagues are knocking themselves out to track down and report on the next, the new and the best in fashion.
Los Angeles has been and continues to be a center for innovative fashion. Trends begin here. This is why design teams from all over the world come here to shop our stores for “inspiration.” In fairness, Binkley does acknowledge this—or, at least, lets Lloyd Klein President John Arguelles say it (“L.A. is known for driving trends all over the globe”). But clearly, she thinks Los Angeles Fashion Week began and ended with IMG (producer—until last year—of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios).
Most WSJ stories are subscriber only—but this one is not. You can find it here.
Let us know what you think—about the story, about L.A. Fashion or about anything else.
Okay. Rant’s over. I’m going to send Binkley a free subscription to ApparelNews.net.
