Orange County Fashion Week Debuts in Santa Ana
A hip artist’s village in the heart of Santa Ana, Calif., was the scene for the first annual OC Fashion Week, organized by the OC Fashion Association, a nonprofit whose mission is to promote the Orange County fashion scene.
The May 18–22 event was filled with design competitions, workshops, fund-raisers and runway shows.The debut party and the runway shows took place at the Grand Central Art Center, where Fall and Winter looks from Dual Society, Adolfo Sanchez, International Citizen Design House and MatteBlack hit the runway. Ironically,only one of the fashion labels participating in OC Fashion Weekmaintains an Orange County headquarters. However, an OCFA representativesaid that each label had a connection to the county, ranging from theOrange County birthplace of one of the designers to some being inspiredby the county’s influential style.
OC Fashion Week also offered acomeback and debut. MatteBlack, headquartered in the Southern Californiacities of Los Alamitos and San Luis Obispo, made its 2005 runway debutat Grand Central Art Center. The label marked its return to Santa Anawith a 20-look show, which heavily focused on its new knitwear line,made of alpaca and cashmere, said Julia Nish, a MatteBlack designer. Thelabel’s co-founder, Paul Wignall, said the Fall collection’sinspiration was the spaghetti Western films of the early 1970s. Underserape-style coverings, models wore waxed denim coats reminiscent ofleather jackets.
International Citizen, based in both La Jolla,Calif., and San Francisco, held its first runway show at OC FashionWeek. The 18-look show featured casualwear and basics with aninternational flair. Some styles featured T-shirts and polo shirtsbearing epaulets, military-style insignia and graphics of passportstamps. The line also featured a tank dress, a thermal shirt and hatsinspired by the Russian Revolution.
For the Fall 2011 collectionof Adolfo Sanchez, the Los Angeles–based Sanchez showed 11 differentpieces. Inspired by Goth and Victorian styles, one focus of the line wasthe little black dress. Sanchez used wool, leather, silk and fur to puthis stamp on the fashion classic. He also exhibited an evening gown,which featured a sash of black-and-olive silk rosettes.
DualSociety had a 12-look show. The Long Beach, Calif.–based company wasfounded by Rey Aquino, who also serves as OCFA’s treasurer. DualSociety’s Fall line was inspired by steampunk, a science-fiction genrethat mixes 19th-century and futuristic settings. The collection featuredfleece pants with suspender straps, a trench coat with leather flapsand a sweater with a mandarin collar. —Andrew Asch
