Now you don't have to be a celebrity stylist or in the West Hollywood area to shop the fine vintage finds at Decades. A selection of LBDs (that's little black dresses) has been carefully curated by Decades owner Cameron Silver and will be sold on HauteLook on Monday and Tuesday.
The sale includes dresses from YSL, Nina Ricci, Versace and Chloe as well as baubles, bags and jackets.
A vintage LBD is perfect for the holiday social swirl -- and unlike the usual vintage treasure hunt, no tiring digging or sorting required. And because it's a Haute Look sale, tags are slashed to sample sale prices.
Decades sale on HauteLook begins Monday and continues until Tuesday at www.hautelook.com.
The 2009 Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists brought their designs to the Chateau Marmont last Friday for a runway show beneath the palm trees and billboards in the hotel’s back garden.
Sally Singer, fashion news director of Vogue, introduced the 11 women's wear, menswear, jewelry and accessory designers, who have worked in everything from banking to wardrobe styling and have trained under the likes of Helmut Lang, Karl Lagerfeld and Ralph Lauren.
Each designer showed five spring/summer 2010 looks. The afternoon's highlight was Ohne Titel, designed by Alexa Adams and Flora Gil, who met as students at Parsons School of Design. Their knit dresses, tops and leggings are really fabric art—a marvel of stark architectural lines, body-conscious banding and draping inspired by Egyptian wall paintings. (The two were also feted on Thursday night at the salon-style Zainab boutique in Hollywood, which carries their collection. )
Both Gary Graham and Alabama Chanin showed edgy prairie looks (corsets, petticoats and ticking stripes for Graham; homespun layers and fraying embroideries for Chanin), while L.A. shoe designer George Esquivel’s handmade boots and lace-up shoes looked lived in and loved.
In the menswear category, Simon Spurr is a rising star for slim-cut suits that are American prep with a dash of British tailoring. He said afterward that he wished his pieces had been ironed before hitting the runway, but I kind of liked their rumpled texture. (Decades' Cameron Silver wore his support on his sleeve -- literally -- turning out in one of Spurr's suits.)
The crowd was a chic one, filled with celebrities (ranging from the familiar faces, Eva Mendes, Mary-Kate Olsen and Jessica Alba, to relative newcomers including recently redheaded Lily Collins and "Glee's" Dianna Agron, who was bound for LAX and the World Series, where the cast would sing the National Anthem before Game 3).
There were plenty of designers looking on too (Juicy Couture’s Pamela Skaist Levy and Gela Nash Taylor, Russell Simmons, Jeremy Scott, J.C. Obando, Chrome Hearts’ Laurie Stark, Toms Shoes' Blake Mycoskie and Trovata's John Whitledge), along with hairstylist Frédéric Fekkai, the beauty partner for the event.
Model/designer Erin Wasson was dressed very Venice Beach boho, in blousy print pants and motorcycle boots, and carrying an ethnic handbag. (She was bound for the beach for Halloween, to go camping with her dogs and swim in her birthday suit, she said.) Commenting on her recent turn as preppy purveyor J. Crew’s catalog cover model, Wasson said she had heard more comments about that than anything else in her career. Apparently, some people in the blogosphere considered it a betrayal of her edgy image. Her response? "Hey, a model's got to work."
After the show Vogue West Coast Senior Editor Lisa Love, in a dress by Obando, a finalist from last year's competition, escorted guests to the lobby for Champagne, macarons and tea. The winner of the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund prize, which includes cash and industry mentoring, will be announced in New York on Nov. 15.
-- Booth Moore
Top photo: A spring look from Ohne Titel. Credit: Donato Sardella /WireImage courtesy of Vogue.
Bottom photo: A spring look from Simon Spurr. Credit: Donato Sardella /WireImage courtesy of Vogue.
Jason Wu, the 27-year-old designer whose star has risen considerably since Michelle Obama wore one of his frothy creations during the inaugural ball, drew a very stylish crowd while showing his spring 2010 collection at Neiman Marcus last night.
His friend and perennial fashion plate Diane Kruger hosted the event dressed in a one-shoulder-black-with-teal-polka-dots cocktail frock, accented with Roger Vivier heels and Eddie Borgo bracelets. "We met at Cannes, and we've been friends ever since," said Kruger, who certainly has carte blanche to her share of designer duds, having been the face of Chanel and Louis Vuitton but has recently favored Wu's creations. A few other starlets donned his designs, looking more grown-up and put together than their late teen years would suggest. Katie Cassidy, Jessica Stroup and Amber Heard all wore short dresses by Wu. Heard's high blond ponytail, porcelain skin and bright red pout made her look like a dead ringer for Scarlett Johansson.
Star wattage aside, the crowd of fashion industry insiders, stylists and socialites took in the collection worn by models posing around the department store floor. Everything from a simple, solid colored emerald green dress to a pale pink and white feathered cocktail number came out during the event, perpetuating Wu's reputation for making refined and feminine clothes. But unlike his past collections, several pieces in his spring line had a few raw and rough edges -- a touch purposely put there by the designer who played around with the juxtaposition of hard and soft. "I was really inspired by [sculptor] Tara Donovan and Tim Burton," says Wu. "It's sculptural versus stitches. I like the contrast between romantic and rough around the edges." Judging by the turnout for the Beverly Hills event and his rapidly growing celebrity following, it seems his fans will too.
-- Melissa Magsaysay
Photo (top left): Cameron Silver, left, and Jason Wu. Credit: Melissa Magsaysay
Gossip, first impressions, trends in the making, celebrities and style setters. A regular feature by fashion critic Booth Moore.
NEW YORK -- It was a big night for Los Angeles at the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards, the apparel industry equivalent to the Oscars held at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on Monday. Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy, who started making dresses in their parents' guest house in Pasadena just four years ago, took the womenswear designer of the year award.
Not since James Galanos won the lifetime achievement award in 1984 has a Left Coast label made such an impact on the Seventh Avenue-centric CFDA, a non-profit trade organization that supports American designers. Unlike Galanos, whose beaded confections were all Nancy Reagan perfection, the Mulleavys' horror-film-meets-haute-couture aesthetic reflects the dichotomy of the California dream with blood red-streaked and graffitied chiffon gowns, shredded leather leggings and bike jackets and spike-covered stilettos.
The self-taught sisters have earned a loyal following in Hollywood with celebs such as Kirsten Dunst, who led the designers' cheering section Monday night. Also in the visiting-from-California contingent: Decades' Cameron Silver, Toms Shoes' Blake Mycoskie and Trovata's John Whitledge.
It was thrilling to see vintage treasures from Cameron Silver's
Decades store on the runway at Downtown L.A. Fashion Week at the
Geffen Contemporary on Thursday night. It was like seeing fashion
history in motion watching the dazzling ruby red sequin 1960s Norman
Norell cocktail dress, the one-shouldered fringed fuchsia 1970s YSL
couture gown (I’ll take that one), and the 1980s purple Valentino
“harem gown,” something Jeannie would wear only much chicer.
At first I thought it was strange for vintage to be at a fashion
week event, which is supposed to be all about the new. But after all,
vintage is one of the pillars of L.A. style. The red carpet is not only
a fashion show, it's a fashion history lesson thanks to Silver and
others like him who have taught stars that the secret to looking truly
chic and unique is to wear something that nobody else could possibly
have. Not to mention all the designers who come here to scour the Rose
Bowl Flea Market for inspiration and old denim. It seemed appropriate
to pay tribute to that, and to Silver who has been such a huge part of
spreading that message around the world.
The event was put together by Leanna Lewis with a front row that
included Nicole Richie and Nicky Hilton. And, unlike so many
runway shows here, the production value was top-notch -- jewelry by H.
Stern, hair by Jonathan Antin and shoes by Brian Atwood. (That said, I
could have done without the Latex-squeezed songstresses as an opener).
“I hope we set a precedent for what L.A. fashion week can and should look
like,” Silver said. “I was always so ambivalent about it, but seeing it
downtown and in such a dramatic space could really inspire our local
talent and attract the international media. Why not have NYC fashion
week relocate to L.A.? They want all of our stars attending anyway!”
Honestly, we've been dragging our feet on putting together the definitive list of fashion-related events scheduled to unspool around town for the next nine days. Partly because it involves an eye-glazing number of acronyms and creepy-sounding labels (as a general rule of thumb, you should avoid naming your clothing line after a medical procedure), and partly because the crazy-quilt of upstarts, one-offs and seemingly random events doesn't appear to have much in common with the format or purpose of a traditional Fashion Week. (Back in October we offered up one possible solution). In its current state it hardly feels deserving of the initial caps afforded to other cities. No, it may technically be a week of fashion, but it's no Fashion Week.
Maybe that will change. Perhaps BOXeight will stop railing against the corporate suits long enough to be the unifying force the city's fashion industry needs. Or maybe COLA or the long-incubating DLAFW will surprise us. In the meantime, here's the lowdown on the rundown:
Friday, March 13
Gen Art/BOXeight “kick-off” to Los Angeles Fashion Week (sold out) Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway 8 p.m. Grai, Society for Rational Dress and Raquel Allegra BOXeight solo shows (Tickets available to the general public): 11 p.m. Sonia Vera Swimwear 12 p.m. J. Gerard presentation
Saturday, March 14
BOXeight, Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway (Tickets available to the general public)
2 p.m. Jen Awad 4 p.m. Smoke & Mirrors 5 p.m. David Alexander 6 p.m. COA 7 p.m. Future Heretics 8 p.m. martinMARTIN 9 p.m. LAEKEN 10 p.m. SkinGraft 11 p.m. Young Hollywood presentation featuring UNIF, KIN, World Coco, Dim Mak, YHBF CO, Cody Kennedy
Sunday, March 15
BOXeight, Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway
3 p.m. Mike Vensel 4 p.m. Hayley Starr 5 p.m. The Battalion 6 p.m. Sahaja 7 p.m. Yotam Solomon 8 p.m. Sjobeck 9 p.m. Maxine Dillon 10 p.m. Li Cari by Jazmin Whitley
7-10 p.m. Whitley Kros art installation/Fall 2009 presentation hosted by Erika Christensen, 1201 S. La Brea Ave. (Note: Unlike the BOXeight events, this is not open to the general public.)
Thursday, March 19 11 a.m. Kevan Hall Fall 2009 runway collection and charity luncheon, Beverly Wilshire 7 p.m. Downtown Los Angeles Fashion Week (DLAFW) hosts "An Evening of 20th Century Glamour," hosted by Cameron Silver and Rachel Griffiths and a presentation of Louis Verdad's Louver line. Both at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 North Central Ave. (Tickets available to the general public).
Friday, March 20
City of Los Angeles Fashion Week (COLA), 843 Los Angeles St. (open to industry trade by invitation only) 7:30 p.m. Eksempel 9 p.m. Fremont 10:30 p.m. B.Son
Saturday, March 21
City of Los Angeles Fashion Week (COLA), 843 Los Angeles St. (open to industry trade by invitation only) 7:30 p.m. Joyrich 9 p.m. Brian Lichtenberg
In addition, the California Market Center is hosting a handful of runway shows as part of its market week lineup, all of which are open to industry trade only. The complete schedule can be found here.
