Los Angeles Fashion Week opened in true L.A. fashion — with celebrities, diversity, rock ’n’ roll and irreverence.
Sunday night’s debut at Smashbox Studios covered the design spectrum, from local-favorite Louis Verdad’s fresh, sassy cuts, to Sue Wong’s ornate dresses, and Japanese denim-maker Evisu’s funky fits.
Featuring the designers’ 2007 spring collections, the showings set the tone of Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week, a series of 32 shows over five days that continues to gain respect in the fashion world in recent years.
VerdadFor Verdad, raised in Mexico and based in Los Angeles, inspiration for his cleanly tailored but flirty collection came from actress Natalie Portman and her Golden Globe-winning stint as a wig-wearing sex kitten in the 2004 film “Closer.”
“I thought, this is a theme I should get inspired by. I love her beauty. Her aesthetic is gorgeous,” Verdad told The Associated Press backstage before his show.
Models sashaying down the runway to the tune of “Hello, I Love You” by another L.A. export, the Doors, wore an array of short, cinched dresses in a cream-colored palette, thigh-skimming shorts and cropped jackets with ankle boots and sleekly bobbed blonde and black wigs, similar to Portman’s in the film.
“We’re doing a younger silhouette. ... The hemline is higher, much higher,” Verdad said. “This collection is more a modern approach. I like it because it’s sort of fun, playful.”
Looks rooted in the 1980s are already on the street this fall, and Verdad plans for them to be around this spring too, as he offered straight, narrow pants, wide belts and gold metallic prints. Gold is better suited for spring than silver, the designer said.
“But still, there are a couple of my beautiful fitted dresses in there,” noted Verdad, who is known for gowns and expert construction. Past collections of his have been influenced by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and curvaceous ’50s starlets.
This go-around he featured a one-shoulder gold knit and linen bubble dress and an ivory mini-dress with sweeping bell sleeves and a plunging back.
“It was beautiful,” gushed “Gilmore Girls” actress Alexis Bledel of Verdad’s collection. “I especially like the last one,” she said of a loose-fitting cashmere and chiffon evening gown with a long, elegant train.
Other celebrity attendees included actress Garcelle Beauvais and “Grey’s Anatomy” star Sara Ramirez.
Sue Wong
Another local talent, longtime designer Sue Wong, took a different, more colorfully dense, approach to her collection.
Influenced by everything from 19th century prints to Art Deco sculptures and Moroccan art, Wong titled her show “Neo Romantics,” but could have also called it “Around the World in 80 Days.”
Music played a big part, with a dreamy harp solo jump-starting the show, and each of the collection’s 10 culturally distinct categories paired with a different tune.
“Young Innocents” featured wispy embroidered slip dresses, including a beautiful avocado-colored number with a pleated skirt and delicately stitched rosettes on top, while “Fiesta,” accompanied by a salsa song, injected shots of color into Mexican party dresses with full skirts.
“Chelsea,” set to Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” showcased paisley dresses in sheer blue, green and pink.
At her best, Wong demonstrated her knack for detail, from ’20s-inspired gowns with crisply beaded backs and flowing skirts to a lavishly embroidered white wedding dress and matching coat. At her worst, she weighed down chiffon and silk dresses with too much beading and embellishment.
Evisu
Japanese-based Evisu started off, literally, with a bang.
In front of a backdrop emulating an urban skyline, two musicians pounded on traditional Japanese Taiko drums before a bare chested male model wearing slouchy jeans and carrying denim-encased blocks spelling “E—V—I—S—U” stomped down the catwalk.
Founded in 1991 by designer Hidehiko Yamane, and distributed outside Japan by Peter Caplowe, the high-end denim company’s jeans sell for hundreds of dollars. Yet in its press materials, it says it still adheres to values of “humor and irreverence.”
Those qualities came through on the catwalk in the company’s first U.S. showing.
One female model strutted down the runway wearing a pair of jeans as a bolero jacket. Another male model sported two pairs of sparkly denims — one open at the fly to reveal the other layered underneath.
A skintight strapless black denim jumpsuit sizzled alongside metallic bomber jackets, and a floor-length silver robe paired with skinny, slick jeans brought on audience hollers and applause.
The biggest applause, however, greeted a female model who, tired of her ill-fitting 5-inch heels, pulled them off of her feet, held them up in the air, and kept on walking, grinning the whole time.