Smashbox Sets Initial Lineup
Smashbox owners Dean and Davis Factor kicked off their Los Angeles Fashion Week plans with a very L.A. soireacute;e. Designers, stylists, photographers, press members and publicists mingled on Sept. 23 in one of Smashbox’s stark-white studios in Culver City, Calif.
“We are very behind this event,” said Dean Factor, speaking of fashion week. “We have our whole hear ts—and a lot of our resources— behind it.”
The Factors held the party to announce a portion of the 27-designer lineup for the Oct. 25–Nov. 1 run of Smashbox Fashion Week.
Among the confirmed lines showing are:
bull; David Rodriguez bull; Chip & Pepper bull; Jeremy Scott bull; H. Starlet bull; As Four bull; Loy and Ford bull; Rock & Republic bull; Whiteboy bull; Kloz Horse bull; Jackie Rodgers bull; Bao Tranchi bull; Jamie Presley bull; Daly Bain
With the current lineup, Smashbox Fashion Week is positioning itself to be the location for up-and-coming talent, according to Davis Factor.
“What is Smashbox Fashion Week all about? I feel we are the X Games of fashion,” he said. “We’re the venue for emerging and cutting-edge talent that goes to a different level.”
Smashbox has hired New York production company Rand M, which has produced runway shows for BCBGMaxAzria, Betsey Johnson and Matthew Williamson. Smashbox has also hired publicrelations firm Rogers & Cowan and put together an advisory board that includes retailers, stylists and representatives from modeling agencies and fashion publications (including California Apparel News).
Advisory board member Karen Mamont, director of merchandise for the California Market Center, addressed the crowd, noting that Los Angeles has long had a fashion week well attended by local fashionistas. But, said Mamont, “with fabulous sponsors like the Factors, we will reach our goal of international recognition of Los Angeles Fashion Week.”
Stylist Philip Block, who is also on the advisor y board, gave a quick but rousing speech in praise of California fashion—noting that West Coast style, which has long been dismissed, now turns up in the fashion pages of Vogue.
“I spent the last week in New York—we’ve seen it and done it,” he said. “This is where fashion wants to be. This is the place to look for the future.”
