L.A. Fashion Week Fall '07: Literature Noir
Torn yellow-book pages and blood-red rose petals on the runway set a melancholy mood for Elliot Hans and Kaya B.’s debut collection of Literature Noir at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios on March 20.
“It’s very Jack the Ripper meets a romantic kind of Goth feel,” said Los Angeles–based Hans, who worked at Morphine Generation during the Los Angeles label’s early stages as a T-shirt line.
Titled “Voyageur de Temps,” the duo’s collection was inspired by their travels to London, where they took notes on the self-styled Brits about town and B’s native Turkey, where Istanbul’s tanneries provided the hand-washed lambskin leather details that graced nearly every item in the collection. A black studded-leather empire band toughened up a cap-sleeve dress in a black-and-tan Valentine’s print of cupids and flowers. Worn brown leather elbow patches and piping took a men’s double-breasted cardigan out of the ordinary. Jackets were the most compelling, from a women’s zip-up hooded jacket with black leather tape traced in a curve down the front to a men’s bomber jacket with trench-coat shoulder flaps worn over a T-shirt featuring a flock of bats. —Rhea Cortado
