L.A. Fashion Week Spring 2010: Fashion Business Inc.
Fashion Business Inc., the Los Angeles business incubator located in the California Market Center, kicked off Los Angeles Fashion Market by profiling five emerging designers in a runway event at FBI headquarters on Oct. 16.
The show was filled with creativity and compassion for fashion.
Leading the lineup was Alana Hale, a contemporary women’s label out of Valencia, Calif. The collection of romantic pieces was heavy on sophisticated frilly tops and skirts done in soft pastels mixed with beige and black. The Alana Hale line mixes the femininity of 18th-century France with the leather-clad rock ’n’ roll spirit of Los Angeles.
Next on the catwalk was ScooterGirls, a new line of fashion-oriented protective gear that can be worn while riding a motor scooter or motorbike. Some of the garments have reflective cuffs and collars; others have rain-proof fabric. All look very sturdy but sophisticated with tightly cinched-belt looks and hoodie coats. Arlene Battishill is the woman behind the line. She started riding a scooter in 2008 but had to go to Italy to find something stylish but safe to wear when out and about. Thus was born ScooterGirl, whose collection can easily be worn by non-scooter girls, too.
Also relatively new to the design scene is Mariska, designed by Maria Janossy, a Los Angeles lawyer who was born in Romania to Hungarian parents. Mariska has a certain bohemian look to it for casual wear and more-formal garments for office attire that showed well on the runway.
In the realm of T-shirts, Somy Ali started a line to create awareness of social and human-rights issues. The So-Me Designs’ T-shirts bear graphics and sayings to underline that philosophy. Ali, a former Bollywood actress born in Pakistan, said she would like everyone to forget about their religious and political differences and make the world a better place in which to live.
Up last on the runway was Dzhavael Couture, based in Brooklyn, N.Y., and carried by the Betty Bottom Showroom in the California Market Center. The Spring 2010 collection, designed for women of all ages, was predominantly done in blacks, whites and grays.—Deborah Belgum
