Street Style

Downtown L.A.'s Fashion District has always had an effervescent buzz of creative energy swirling through it, but lately the stylish 'hood is increasingly starting to look like an urban art gallery without walls as more and more creative street artists leave their mark. And we couldn't be more impressed.

Earlier this week, Shepard Fairey's renowned Los Angeles guerilla-artist collective Obey Giant added a touch of pizzazz to an alley off Olympic with an intricate new mural near the California Market Center -- homebase of California Apparel News. And mere feet from that spot sits original creations by prolific L.A. designer Destroy All Design, whose monster motifs of a groovy ghoul and a "Frankenstroy" graphic adorn the walls of an abandoned building. Across the street from this monster mash is a beautifully mastered spray-painted graphic of a girl on a swing left by iconic British artist Banksy, who made his mark in Downtown L.A. last month when he was in town to attend the Oscars (his doc Exit Through the Gift Shop was nominated for an award).

Obey and Banksy's graphics have launched their own successful T-shirt and apparel lines, and we hope to see these new designs popping up on the tees of local hipsters any day now.

Of course, you can always marvel at the work these wonderfuly talented urban artists in a more controlled environment by heading over to Crewfest's "Above the Radar" art walk in Downtown Los Angeles on April 14, which will include an installation by Destroy All Design. And on April 17, L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art will open its new exhibit, "Art in the Streets," which includes work by Fairey and 49 other creative types from across the country, at the Geffen Contemporary.