When the Mercedes-Benz Los Angeles Fashion Week opens this weekend, the models will walk down the runways in their usual setting the somewhat industrial area of Culver City. But pressure is building to move the waning event to downtown Los Angeles.
“L.A. Fashion Week needs to be in Los Angeles. If you have a Los Angeles Fashion Week, why would you have it in Culver City?” asked Cynthia Ruiz, the head of Voices of Fashion, a city-run advisory group that is turning up the heat for the event to defect to the Los Angeles Fashion District.
While the owners of the event, Smashbox Studios of Culver City and IMG Fashion of New York, said they have not made any commitments, they admitted to being at least open to the prospect of producing the event downtown.
“We are always looking for new locations,” said Zach Eichman, the vice president of public relations for IMG Fashion.
Third-generation Angeleno and co-founder of Smashbox Studios, Davis Factor, expressed ambivalence about moving the event, which is held in a series of tents at his venue.
“Logistically, the center of town would be best,” he said. “Although all the showrooms are downtown, it’s not where most people live.”
Voices of Fashion argues that designers and buyers would benefit from a move to the heart of the Los Angeles fashion industry.
“Culver City is not accessible for buyers make it in downtown Los Angeles,” said Janine Blaine, the director of the West Coast branch of the Doneger Group, a New York-based retail consultant. “The venue and quality of the shows have not attracted West Coast designers. And unfortunately we have lost many great California designers to the New York show.”
Blaine points to the defection of Los Angeles-based designers Jenni Kayne and BCBG to the New York Fashion Week show.
Fashion Week, staged in the fall and the spring, lets designers strut their creations to the media and high-end buyers. However, several participants have complained about various aspects, such as the lack of many high-end designers and less interest in the event than the similar shows in New York and Miami. That’s why there’s an impetus to experiment with ways to enhance the show.
One such impetus would be to cater more to buyers, the ones who purchase apparel for boutiques and even high-end department stores. Now, the show is aimed at the media.
“Bringing Fashion Week to downtown Los Angeles would be a big plus to buyers and make the experience a much more buyer-friendly one,” said Kent Smith, the executive director of the L.A. Fashion District.
But Factor, Eichman and several others said that catering to buyers would miss the point of L.A. Fashion Week.
“It’s not all about buyers,” said Factor. “Fashion shows are not buying houses.”
So what do fashion designers gain by participating in L.A. Fashion Week?
“The opportunity to get their name out there and receive a lot of press. Their collections will be photographed by a hundred photographers and give their sales people beautiful photographs,” Factor explained. “It gives artists the chance to show their creativity and art.”
Defector alert
Los Angeles-based designer Sue Wong said the publicity she received by participating in Fashion Week was enormous. Wong, renowned for her regal and eye-catching evening gowns, nabbed a spot as a judge on CW’s America’s Top Model after one of its producers attended the launch of her collection at Smashbox Studios.
A glittery cadre of stars and starlets sport Wong’s designs, including Jessica Biel, Tyra Banks, Miley Cyrus and Vanessa Williams.
Yet, Wong is not on the upcoming Fashion Week line-up. Instead, Wong plans to unveil her fall 08′ collection, called “Opulent Restraint,” at her landmark Los Feliz estate, The Cedars, where Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and other legends once resided.
“Designers are trying to spin tale because they are frustrated with the Mercedes-Benz show,” Blaine said.
In fact, Wong’s decision illustrates another force that is pushing the show out of Culver City. There is nothing to prevent a competing fashion show from popping up, and if enough designers defect, that could happen, several said.
For that matter, downtown’s California Market Center is expanding to accommodate more fashion shows, and it could become a venue for Fashion Week or any other fashion show.
The 13-story market center, owned by Jamison Properties, boasts of 1,000 showrooms and nearly 10,000 product lines, according to its spokesperson.
Regardless, the L.A. Fashion Week that begins March 9 will be in Culver City. Thereafter, it’s a little less certain. No plans have been set for next year.
“As a matter of business, we are always looking for other locations and we have a number of staff meetings with groups to explore locations in Los Angeles,” Eichman said.
