Fire-Permit Problems Scuttle Fashion Week Event
A new runway event series called Los Angeles Fashion Week was scheduled for an Oct. 21–25 run, but it was abruptly canceled Oct. 20, leaving the 18 designers scheduled to show their collections without a venue.
The event could not get the correct public-assemblage permits from the Los Angeles Fire Department, according to fire officials and event promoter Susan Costa.
The runway shows were to be held at LA Production Studios, located at 1025 E. 16th St. in downtown Los Angeles. The film-production house is located on an industrial street a couple of blocks away from the San Pedro Street exit of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway.
Costa, the event’s executive producer, said use of the building had been donated for runway shows by the building owner and she did not have enough time to find an alternative venue and reschedule events for all of the designers.
Designers from California as well as Mexico, Europe and Africa had paid up to $5,000 to produce their runway shows at Costa’s event. She vowed to reimburse the designers their money, although she did not give a timeline for payment. The event will not be rescheduled.
“They left us in limbo,” Costa complained about the Los Angeles city departments charged with the permitting of the event. She alleged she was not informed of the building’s permit status in a timely matter. When fire department officials did tell her about the permit issues, there was no appeals process to challenge the department’s decision.
In addition to working as executive producer of the Los Angeles Fashion Week event, Costa produced runway events for women’s contemporary label Li Cari in March 2010. She also appeared in the 2009 MTV program House of Jazmin, which followed Costa’s daughter, Jazmin Whitley, as she designs the Li Cari line.
Los Angeles Fire Department officials said the building’s owner and promoters of the event had prior knowledge that there were unresolved permit issues at the LA Production Studio building. The commercial building was never zoned for public assemblies or parties, according to fire department officials. The fire department had disbanded a party there in November 2009 because of overcrowding and because it had not been properly inspected for safety by the department, said Fire Capt. Paul Ybarra. A permit had been requested to allow parties at LA Production Studios after November 2009 and had yet to be approved.
“We want to do business, but it has to be done safely,” Ybarra said. The Los Angeles mayor’s office had requested the fire department recommend other venues to Costa, which, Ybarra said, the department did a few days before the scheduled start of the show.
The designers scheduled to debut their collections at this event reported they were shocked by what they felt was an abrupt cancellation. “I was totally devastated,” said Priscy Ratcliff of Priscy’s House of Design. Ratcliff also works as an instructor at El Camino College and an adviser to the fashion department at California State University, Northridge.
Ratcliff had spent $5,000 of her own money to participate in Costa’s event, took time off from her business to prepare for the show and invited many guests. “Things come up, but you always have a plan A, B, C or D for an alternative. But [Costa] was stuck on this building,” Ratcliff said. She is considering rescheduling the debut of her collection to a group show to be produced by Fashion Business Inc. in December and perhaps a solo show around Valentine’s Day.
La Jolla, Calif.–based designer Anh Volcek said the abrupt cancellation left her scrambling to find another venue to show her debut women’s contemporary collection, L’Une. “I tried so hard to talk to different organizations and save the week,” she said. Instead of a fashion show, she settled on producing a photo shoot for L’Une on Oct. 21.—Andrew Asch
