Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall I 2003: Naqada

Naqada’s trunk show on April Fool’s Day at the Downtown Standard Hotel was anything but a prank. Mexican designer Octavio Carlin was not part of Mercedes- Benz Shows L.A., but that did not stop the designer from showing his hot stuff in a private hotel suite a few flights above the hustle and bustle of the fashion-show preparations.

Mediterranean style–meets–Caribbean rhythm was the theme of Naqada’s 19- piece Fall 2003 collection. It was fitting, then, that models emerged from a corridor and gyrated onto a small stage to the beats of African drums.

Low-cut, bareback dresses and separates exuded style and sex appeal. Crisp, bright silk fabrications mixed with Baroque-motif prints. A pink boat-neck top with a matching A-line skirt, an off-the-shoulder silk blouse paired with charmeuse pants, and a moss-green cap-sleeve top with matching capri pants were just a few highlights in the collection. —Claudia Figueroa