Gendy AlimurungThe other night was more Gen Art. Again at the Petersen Automotive Museum. Eight new designers showed collections, six womenswear (Nanushka, Quail, Peonie, Wayf, Laeken, Maxine Dillon) and two menswear (Wayne Hadly, KZO). My favorites were KZO and Laeken.
This is KZO. It's designed by a bashful young man named Joel K. The men sort of looked like they were futuristic, grunge warriors. One guy was shrouded in head-to-toe flannel, as if he'd run through Kurt Cobain's laundry line in a desert sand storm. I'd also like to report that Doc Martens are back. Maybe this is the beginning of a 90's resurgence.
This is my absolute favorite look of the evening, from Laeken. The girl is wearing oversized eyeglasses, a black bubble short-jumper-shirt thingy with a drawstring waist. It's simple, understated, comfy-seeming, and sexy in a librarian Lolita visits the beach way.
These are some other looks from the show. The girl in pink is wearing Quail. The guy in pink is in Wayne Hadly. The swimsuits, worn by the women with the perfect figures, are by Peonie. When the girl in the long, columnar white skirt by Wayf came out, she could barely walk. “My grandmother has a house dress just like that,” said my seatmate when one of the Nanushka models came out in a peach tank dress.
Oh, while guests were waiting to be seated, one of the bits of entertainment that kept people scratching their heads was this woman in a plexiglass box. She was pretending to be a cat-burglar trying to steal some jewels. She crept around the enclosure, in an Irma Vep-ish black catsuit and mask, with a plastic gun, while muttering into an earpiece. She did that for what seems like hours. Imagine having that on your resume: Cat Burglar in Plastic Box at Fashion Show. It's a step up from Disneyland Jungle Cruise Boat Guide, but not much.
Event host Mandy Moore was hanging out in the VIP area giving an interview to Extra TV. People accreted around her, trying not to look like they were accreting while casting secret glances at her in all her gorgeous tallness, which made it look like Mandy was being snubbed by a crowd who'd gathered around for the express purpose of ignoring her. I've captured her here looking rather like a squirrel. I'll attribute that to my inability to take a focused picture despite a $500 camera and to her girlish charm.
This coming Thursday, I'll have a more thorough debriefing of the events at Fashion Week in our print edition. I'll be posting more each day of Fashion Week right here on this blog. I would have posted this last night, except in a misguided bid to blend in with the crowd, I wore stilettos to the show (big mistake) and came home with blisters so big Kate Moss could have had a Jacuzzi bath in them. I came home, ministered to the battle wounds, curled up into a fetal ball and went to sleep.
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