Kissable at Diane Merrick, DIY at Nobody Jones

Keisha Whitaker, left, and Diane Merrick

Pioneering Los Angeles boutique owner Diane Merrick threw a soiree for friend Keisha Whitaker and her beauty line, Kissable Couture, on the night of April 20 at her Diane Merrick shop. Diane’s guest list included Keisha’s Academy Award-winning husband, Forest, who looked like a character from a tough-guy movie when he wore an oversized black beanie to the party.

Perhaps a little out of character were beauty-product sales at Diane Merrick. For the past few decades, Diane’s store has been known as a go-to place for jewelry and fashion, so why was she producing an event for a beauty line? “We were looking for an excuse to have a party,” Diane quipped. Sounds good enough to me.

Here’s more proof that the do-it-yourself ethos can work anywhere, even in fashion technology. On April 16, Los Angeles-based boutique Nobody Jones created a virtual fashion show for the Nobody Jones line. Instead of models traipsing down a runway, Nobody Jones owner and designer Odessa Bowden used a PowerPoint program and a Compaq projector to show images of models wearing her Nobody Jones styles in front of fantasy backdrops such as waterfalls and jungles. No 3-D animation here or bank-busting expenses. Fortunately, she kept unicorns and leprechauns out of the fantasy backdrops. Thanks, Odessa!

Dress from the Nobody Jones fashion line