Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall '06: Elsie Katz Couture
Seattle designer Donna Baxter read Tim Burton’s “The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy” and never looked at beauty the same way. Burton wrote the collection of stories about children who don’t fit in because of the way they look. So with her Fall ’06 collection, shown March 20 at Mercedes-Benz at Smashbox Studios, the ebullient Baxter started designing from the inside out, concentrating on how garments fit and feel against the skin.
That took nothing away from the aesthetics, which drew strong and positive responses at her “Pretty Girls” fashion show. In fact, it may have enhanced it.
Baxter’s signature looks feature vintage-inspired silhouettes and she took it to another level in her second run at L.A. Fashion Week.
For Fall, Baxter offered flirtatious looks with a vintage appeal featuring wiggle dresses, fox fur “chubby” vests and wraps as well as flapper dresses with crystal bead swags, cowl-back cocktail dresses and sailor blouses that were matched up with pencil skirts.
More elaborate pieces included a lavender “crumbcatcher” gown and a pleated “goddess” gown. —Robert McAllister
