Linda Immediato(a beaming Jeffery Sebelia after his epic 52-look show at Vibiana)
COSA NOSTRA
BOXeight festivities were off to a slow start last night. When we arrived at 5:00 p.m. the courtyard of Vibiana was practically empty, bartenders stood idle, a coffee bar sat untouched and by 5:15 most of the seats for Jeffery Sebelia's Cosa Nostra show, scheduled to start at 5, were still empty. But in just 15 minutes, the place swelled with people and all the seats were filled. Vibiana was a great choice for a venue, really gave it a sense of grandeur, a nod to a former golden age of Los Angeles, and while the sun set high in the cathedral's windows, we hunkered down for the show.
The theme was Into the Wild, one of my favorite books of all time. And while there were a fair amount of t-shirts and jeans, the standard garb of the book's protagonist, I felt the theme really carried itself more in the relaxed loose fit of the clothes, the tattered edges and especially in the sun-faded dusty blue jeans. They almost looked like they were washed with sand, they reminded me of the desert. Sebelia does dresses really well, there were a number of pretty floral dresses, very sweet and sexy.
He also used some cool fabric, a nylon hybrid, that made jeans and rain-slickers look wet. There was lots of silver, pearl and champagne.
COSA NOSTRA, the crowd
Front and center were debonair designer Jared Gold and writer-slash-scapegrace Clint Catalyst. Gold gave us the scoop on his upcoming show this season—it will be held in his new home of Salt Lake City, Utah, the models have been curated by Catalyst including some actresses (Busy Philips). The collection, as he described it, is Nordic Belle Epoque through an old school chola filter. I'm booking my tickets now!
We saw actor Lucas Haas, and Ima Robot Tim Anderson. Tim's producing Lucas's new cd.
I saw Zoë Day (pictured above) dancing in the aisles of the church with sunglasses on to some Stevie Nicks song. I had to talk to her. “I grew up around fashion,” she tells me as she takes off her shades. Who's her favorite designer? “Well,” she says, “he is my father so I'm going to have to say Elmer Ave.” Elmer Ave! Zoë's dad is none other than Jonny Day (right above), one fourth of the Elmer Ave designing team, Ward Robinson (left)
was with him. Ward and I sampled make-up at Smashbox last year. And planned to catch up soon. The guys are hard at work on their men's line…
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