FGI Announces Winners, Adds L.A. to Trend Report

Fashion Group International announced the winners of the 2006 FGI-LA Foundation Scholarship April 10 at its Fall 2006/07 Runway Report and Trend panel at The New Mart in downtown Los Angeles.

The recipients of the scholarships were Sura So, a student at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, for the Two-Year Evening/Special Occasion category; Alfonso Gaitan, also of FIDM, for Two-Year Contemporary Sportswear; Otis College of Art + Design student Esther Kim, for Four-Year Evening/Special Occasion; and Moyet Maestri, also of Otis, for Four-Year Contemporary Sportswear.

Discussing the upcoming Fall trends were designer David Meister, whose show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in March drew rave reviews; Booth Moore, fashion critic for the Los Angeles Times; and Michelle Dalton Tyree, owner of the new Iconology boutique in Los Angeles. Kristin Young, features editor of Angeleno magazine, served as the moderator.

“It’s a season of striking extremes,” Moore said. “There are straight and tight silhouettes—leggings. Or there is exaggerated volume, with huge skirts and rounded jackets. Proportion has become very important.”

The panelists agreed that the predominant color palette for the season is black and white, though Dalton Tyree said she’ll be pairing navy and black together for a fresh Fall look.

An audio-visual runway report closed the event, with major looks and trends from the runways of New York, London, Paris, Milan and, for the first time, Los Angeles. —Erin Barajas