FASHION
2013 Newsmaker: Los Angeles Fashion Week's New Venues, New Players
Los Angeles Fashion Week has been an independent effort ever since IMG Fashion and Smashbox Studios shuttered their joint effort, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, in 2008. In the intervening years, several show organizers have tried to recreate the multi-designer format in a central location. This fall, the week took on a new look with new venues, new players and a jam-packed schedule that spread over three weeks.
Blogger and runway show organizer Kelsi Smith joined the lineup last year with her Los Angeles Fashion Council event, featuring Los Angeles designers on the runway at various venues in downtown Los Angeles. In October, Smith partnered with real estate developer Caruso Affiliated and brought her two-day event to Caruso’s The Grove retail center.
Veronica Welch’s Style Fashion Week has had a longer run on the LA Fashion Week calendar, getting its start in 2011. In October, Welch partnered with AEG, the sports and entertainment company that owns LA Live, and moved her five-day event to a 42,000-square-foot tented venue at the entertainment complex, which also houses the Staples Center.
The two events were part of a lineup that included returning veterans of the scene—Concept Los Angeles Fashion Week, Project Ethos, Fashion Minga, Gen Art’s Fresh Faces in Fashion, Fashion Business Inc.’s All Aboard fashion fundraiser, Africa Fashion Week and LA Fashion Weekend, which returned to Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood before hosting a second event in Palm Springs, Calif. There were also several newcomers to the October schedule, including Men’s Fashion Week LA, which was held at the California Market Center, and Driven by Design, held at the LA Mart in downtown Los Angeles, as well as several solo events by designers including Sue Wong, Anthony Franco, Ashton Michael and Irene by Greg LaVoi.
