LA Fashion Call to Action
Alfonso Campos, Tarina Tarantino, Nick Verreos
In June we invited LA fashion professionals to a reception on the beautiful beachside rooftop of the new Hotel Erwin in Santa Monica. The purpose? To contemplate the opportunities of a more decentralized LA Fashion Week than in years past, with a few key show hubs and lots of “off site” happenings in hillside homes, retail stores and random cool places across the city.
Would designers heed the call? Clearly only the free thinkers, experimenters and rule breakers, e.g., those not already programmed to jet off to show in NY, Paris, London and Milan. LA has an opportunity for a paradigm shift, to define “Fashion Week” on new terms. This is, after all, the creative capital of the world. Does it really need to be the same white runway and same white tent as every other fashion city? We don’t think so. Does it need to be concentrated into a single timeframe? We DO think so: because it is with this calendar concentration that LA become’s a meaningful Fashion Week live event destination for visiting buyers, celebrities and press.
We predict it will be years before we see the glittering fashion establishment return to LA for more than an Oscar party, photo shoot, or raid of certain vintage couture closet. In the meantime, we salute the energy of LA’s vibrant independents with new services at FashionWeekLA.com.
