L.A. Fashion Week Fall '10: Chelsea Rebelle
For her Fall 2010 Chelsea Rebelle line, designer Sarah Brannon was inspired by the Gothic outcasts and misfits of cookie-cutter suburbia in her home country of New Zealand. “Those people really stand out there because it’s such a small, isolated country,” Brannon said. The designer now splits her time between living in London and Los Angeles, where Chelsea Rebelle is produced.
As a nod to those eccentric adolescents, Brannon infused a Gothic hint into the latest collection of her “consistently girly theme” line, shown on March 22 during Concept L.A. Fashion Week in downtown Los Angeles. Spider web–like fabrics, leather and spike details collided in fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland” details such as “Peter Pan” collars, “Little Red Riding” hooded capes, aprons and puffy sleeves.
Faux-fur pieces draped over the shoulders of a dress and accompanied by drops of blood were a narrative statement about “a girl-raised-by-wolves kind of thing that was a play on using fur,” said Brannon, who is a vegan.—Rhea Cortado
