L.A. Fashion Week Spring '03: martinMARTIN
The husband and wife design team of Eric and Diane Moss Martin offered buyers and the fashion press a view into the yin and yang of their Spring/Summer 2003 collection, shown Nov. 3 at a converted loft building in downtown Los Angeles. The Martins continued their solid-color motif from past seasons, showing sets of pure whites and blacks along with some olive, ecru and midnight blue.
The meaning behind their collection stems from world events, which the Martins express through solid colors— black to represent anguish, olives and neutrals for unrest, and white for peace. “We wanted to look at glamour versus utilitarianism,” said Eric Martin. “We’re looking at the sad events of the world as well as the ethereal.”
The yin and yang theme was played out through contrasting masculine and feminine silhouettes, off-kilter vs. perfectly balanced, and chic vs. street. So, along with the heavier cotton cargo pants, fencing and cutout jackets are the pure white dresses of linen and nylon with feminine detailing, slip dresses with rough-hewn edges, draped T-shirts and harlequin skirts.
The fabrics can be distressed, wrinkled or clean; primarily used are cottons—tulle, boiled and poplar—along with nylon/linen combos and tropical wools.
With martinMARTIN, there’s never just one side to the story. Even the venue they chose for their fashion show spoke to that—a worn-down industrial building transformed into a stylish 21st-century apartment complex. —Robert McAllister
