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At last, Los Angeles' fashion week is coming of age. For too long, L.A. style has been characterized either by one-of-a-kind, reworked vintage pieces, the now-ubiquitous Juicy Couture sweat suit or low-slung jeans. But this season, designers are finally realizing that to have a vital fashion week, they have to go beyond the experimental and the obvious to create clothes that make a runway show worthwhile.
A little showmanship doesn't hurt either.
Designer Bao Tranchi's fiance and business partner, Jack Atlantis, who performed in L.A.'s glam rock Club Makeup at the El Rey Theatre a few years back, set the tone for her high-spirited show at Smashbox Studios by singing David Bowie's "Scary Monsters."
What followed was a sultry procession of models carrying birdcages, lanterns and parasols, evoking the Vietnamese designer's birthplace. They wore kimono-like suede coats and corseted leather jackets with jagged hems inspired, Tranchi said, by everything from 15th century armor to her Asian heritage.
Her most interesting pieces, however, were dramatic, hand- distressed silk jersey gowns in midnight blue or burgundy, stretched over the body, with cobweb-like crochet detailing around the shoulders. "We don't need to dress in jeans, T-shirts and sweats," said Tranchi, 24, one of the most promising talents to come out of the first few days of runway shows here. "We can do clothes that are avant-garde but also wearable."
Corey Lynn Calter, a graduate of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology who has created costumes for the Los Angeles and San Francisco operas, captured the freewheeling fun of her childhood summers at the Jersey shore in the 1970s without too many retro references. A jaunty umbrella print, splashed on a cotton halter- top minidress, could chase even the darkest storm clouds away. And a long skirt in a lively jungle print brought to mind the poolside...