California Apparel News

“This is not Paris. It’s not Milan. It’s not New York. And it’s definitely not Culver City.” That was how Peter Gurnz described BOXeight Fashion Week at the end of the event’s three-day run in downtown Los Angeles.

Gurnz’ closing-night remarks were a pointed reference to Smashbox Studios, the Culver City, Calif.–based photography studio—and cosmetics brand—that co-hosted the central Los Angeles Fashion Week events for the past five years. But location wasn’t the only dig at Smashbox in Gurnz’s speech. The BOXeight co-founder also used the opportunity to introduce a new line of BOXeight cosmetics, which debuted at the show.

Smashbox cosmetics is quite the goliath to take on—the brand is sold around the world, and the company is owned by the great-grandsons of legendary makeup artist Max Factor. Still, it’s not the craziest line extension. BOXeight was founded by a group of photographers, artists and designers. In addition to fashion week, the group operates a photo studio in downtown Los Angeles. And for the cosmetics launch, BOXeight makeup director Anna Rose Kern and her team made the products available to the designers showing at BOXeight.

Kern, a makeup artist and hairstylist, said she’s been working with BOXeight on the cosmetics launch since the beginning of the year.

“The owner of BOXeight has been thinking about launching a cosmetics line for some time, and I was planning on doing the same on my own, as well,” she said. “So, when I mentioned the idea to him, it seemed like the perfect fit. What goes better with a photography studio than a cosmetics line? It’s the ideal blend for an up-and-coming brand like BOXeight.”

The launch collection includes a mineral bronzer, eye shadow, liquid liner and lip gloss.

“I see this collection growing in many ways,” Kern continued. “We are so excited to expand our brand. We want BOXeight cosmetics to fun and functional, something that can be used by professionals as well as the everyday woman.”

Now in its fifth season, BOXeight Fashion Week lined up a roster of 20 runway shows, including this season’s Gen Art event. Each evening, the event drew an ever-growing crowd of revelers who remained after the fashion shows to party amid the tarnished grandeur of the Los Angeles Theatre.

This season, BOXeight stepped into a void left by Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, organized by New York–based IMG and Smashbox Studios. IMG and Smashbox held their last co-hosted event at the studio’s Culver City location last October.

BOXeight is one of several groups to step into that void. The City of Los Angeles Fashion Week—CoLA—kicks off a two-day run on March 20 with a lineup of five designers. The California Market Center also returns to the runway lineup with an opening-night party and eight fashion shows during the March 20–24 run of Los Angeles Fashion Market. And Downtown L.A. Fashion Week will kick off with a March 19 benefit for the Museum of Contemporary Art, which will feature the debut of a new collection by Louis Verdad and a vintage runway show organized by Decades owner Cameron Silver. —Alison N. Nieder