Los Angeles Fashion Week Fall I 2003: David Cardona
Los Angeles designer David Cardona chose corsets, silk straps, ribbons and pintucks as inspiration for his Fall 2003 collection, which debuted April 1 on the main runway of the Downtown Standard Hotel.
Cardona used lingerie stylings to create some pieces in the collection, which boasted a deep color palette of bronze, merlot, chocolate brown and raven black.
Pieces such as a black-waist shirt with button-up sleeves worn with a pin-tucked leather skirt and a white-waist shirt paired with a tailored pencil skirt seemed to have been designed with a sexy legal secretary in mind. Other pieces—such as a burgundy leather, high-neck zip top paired with a marbled-print skirt and a black taffeta, cutout-neck top paired with a black leather, pleated skirt—offered harder, feminine looks. The designer infused the collection with antique cowhide, wool-blend “ponyskin” and butter-soft lamb. A dramatic leather trench coat with a 4-foot train stole the show at the finale. Cardona took a runway bow as the audience gave the designer a standing ovation.
What’s next for the fashion designer?
“Paris,” Cardona said. —Claudia Figueroa
