Los Angeles Fashion Week Spring 2002: Petro Zillia
Teenagers they’re not, but Yosi Dori and Nony Tochterman, the husband-and-wife team behind Petro Zillia, are avid rave fans.
“We’re inspired by music, the creativity and energy,” Dori said. “The beads, the colors—it’s what fashion is about. Couture is wonderful, but there is more out there.”
The couple translated the theme into a vibrant showcase of flowing designs and fusion of textiles at Petro Zillia’s debut fashion show at Audi Presents Designer Collections of Los Angeles Fashion Week.
On display was a sea of chiffon in a lime-colored lace gypsy skirt, a lime-colored bias-cut slip dress, an asymmetrical salmon halter dress and a sheer white chiffon top gathered in lace. There was also a riot of color in patchwork slip dresses and frayed skirts and tube and shell tops in hues of lavender, purple, turquoise and lilac.
The designers took ownership of denim by adding red and green topstitching to a white micro-mini skirt and jacket and decorating denim Capri pants and a knee-length skirt in strips of pink and ribbon attachments.
With just two weeks to prepare for the event, Dori and Tochterman couldn’t locate the right shoes they needed for the models, so they decided to create their own. The pair scoured swap meets to find the $20 stiletto heels that they adorned with paint, sequins and bows.“We have two kids, so it was relentless,” Tochterman said. “We would go home at night, have dinner, do homework, give them showers and then start on the shoes.”
They finally relaxed when a woman dressed in a pink tulle corset dress took to the runway after their show and sang operatically. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
