Local Group Calls for L.A. Fashion Week Proposals
Los Angeles has been hosting a small-scale, grass-roots version of fashion week for the past several seasons. Now a group of fashion-industry executives is looking to organize that effort into a formal Los Angeles Fashion Week.
The Los Angeles Fashion Week committee has been meeting informally since May to discuss the concept and organization of a fashion week to be held in Spring 2002. The core group consists of members of the local fashion community, including representatives from California Apparel News.
Topics at recent meetings have included timing of the event, scope of the event and how to structure fashion week so that it does not conflict with other fashion events taking place in the city. Los Angeles-based designer organization Coalition of Los Angeles Designers (CLAD) has volunteered to organize and distribute a fashion-week calendar. A central fashion-week calendar will help designers and manufacturers to schedule their own events during fashion week at a time that won’t conflict with other events and will help the fashion community publicize the fashion shows, parties and fundraisers planned for the week.
Recent participants in the meetings have included designer Cynthia Vincent, owner of contemporary label St. Vincent and CLAD president; Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association and L.A. By Design; Lee Trimble, director of CLAD; Sara Stein and Margaret Schell, owners of Los Angeles public relations agency SPR; Rosemarie Brantley, head of the fashion department of Otis School of Design; Trish Moreno and Karen Mamont, California Mart executive marketing director and marketing and public relations, respectively; James Benton, director of development for the Fashion Business Incubator; Alison A. Nieder and Joselle Yokogawa, California Apparel News executive editor and fashion editor, respectively; Laurie Pike, Glue magazine founder and West Coast editor of Sportswear International; Rose Apodaca-Jones, West Coast editor of Women’s Wear Daily; Barbara Kramer, co-founder of Designers & Agents; and other members of the fashion community.
The Los Angeles Fashion Week committee is currently requesting proposals from companies interested in spearheading the efforts to create, organize and execute a formal Los Angeles Fashion Week. The proposals should include the concept, cost and implementation of launching the week. After reviewing the proposals, the Los Angeles Fashion Week committee plans to extend its support in organizing a formal fashion week. The deadline for proposals is Aug. 30. Submissions can be sent to Los Angeles Fashion Week committee, P.O. Box 481194, Los Angeles, CA 90048. For more information, call (323) 225-7800.
