Fashion With Compassion
More club scene than fashion show, Fashion With Compassion, an OC Weekly–sponsored fashion showheld April 11 benefiting Very Special Arts Orange County at the Detroit Bar on Costa Mesa’s rough-and-tumble west side, highlighted fashion from well-known Orange County-based designers Howe, Paul Frank and Obey.
The evening opened with young and edgy contemporary menswear label Howe. Owner Jade Howe calls his designs cowboy punk meets English gentleman. His meat-and-potatoes-rock-inspired collection featured pin-striped stretch denim with novelty printing, button-up shirts with French motifs and tuxedo jackets worn with vintage cowboy boots or Converse sneakers. Sid Vicious and Iggy Pop look-alikes riled the crowd while the punk rock version of “My Way” played.
But it was Paul Frank who stole the show with a whole smorgasbord of cool looks for Fall, as well as the debut of his new menswear collection, PF men’s department.
Frank’s Fall offerings for juniors included sinful Catholic schoolgirl styles meshed with New Wave influences—including plaid miniskirts, low-rise plaid stretch pants, white button-up shirt and sweater vest worn with red-and-black-striped leg warmers and a Gucci-esque print shirtdress with leather tie belt. French terry tracksuits, tank-and-briefs underwear sets, novelty-treated denim worn with a black sweater tube top with skull print and low-rise plaid stretch pants were a few more looks on the runway.
For men, the looks included a white long-sleeved shirt worn under a sky blue French terry short-sleeved shirt with contrast stitching with camouflage pants and slip on “Julius” shoes, striped poplin dress shirts and cotton pajama sets with silkscreen motifs—including Paul Frank amplifiers and drum set.
“We wanted to show people there are other fashion trends happening in Orange County besides surf culture. We wanted to present a design collection with world perspective,” said Ryan Heuser, president and co-founder of Paul Frank Industries.
“Slacker on a mountain” was the theme of Obey’s Fall 2002 collection, which featured hooded sweatshirts and olive cargo pants worn with a raglan tee, wool scarf and knitted beanie. —Claudia Figueroa
