L.A. Fashion Week Spring '08: Petro Zillia

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios in Culver City, Calif., closed on a cheerful note thanks to designer Nony Tochterman, who returned to the runway—and wholesale business—with a small collection of dresses in a full spectrum of colors.

From the moment the first model walked down the runway, stopped and smiled sweetly for the bank of photographers, Tochterman set the happy tone for the Oct. 18 show.

“The whole feeling was about L.A. and the L.A. girl—and she needs to be perky and happy,” said Tochterman, who escorted the quintessential L.A. girl Paris Hilton to her seat minutes before the show started.

The show featured 21 looks: nine for daytime and 12 for evening. The candy colors on the runway echoed those found on the packaging of the makeup line Tochterman recently launched in collaboration with Smashbox cosmetics. Indeed, Tochterman said, the show was the result of several collaborations: Fred Segal Beauty did the hair and Smashbox did the makeup using Tochterman’s new line. Brazilian shoe line Gracienne created gold sandals for the show, the belts were by Spear, and jewelry line Noir created oversize hoop and heart earrings.

The collection marks a return to the wholesale side of the business for Tochterman, who scaled back her business when she opened her store, House of Petro Zillia, on Los Angeles’ West Third Street last year.

Runway looks included a strapless short jumper in cheery yellow sateen and both long and short ruffled dresses in lipstick red, canary yellow and coral. A strapless jumper in fuchsia satin was also worn by Hilton in turquoise, while a dramatic floor-length vest in gold Lurex was paired with a high-waist hot short in gold. —A.A.N.