Celebrity endorsements have become a de facto benchmark of fashion branding.  A fledgling label hasn’t earned its industry stripes without a boldfaced list of Hollywood hotties amongst its loyal fans.

No one understands this better than the fashion firms who showed Fall Collections during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.  Nextgen style icons Mary-Kate and Ashley, Paris and Nicky, Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Trachtenberg ignited front rows at Smashbox Studios.  Meanwhile, new Bebe faces Rebecca Romijn and Eva Longoria sparked their own shutterbug frenzy. 

But is Los Angeles a serious fashion contender or simply a pastiche of Tinseltown?  Do left coast runway regulars Eduardo Lucero and Kevan Hall influence American fashion or is the real weight carried by global brands like streetwise Ed Hardy and after-five darling Sue Wong?  How do avant-garde editorial faves like Imitation of Christ, Jenni Kayne and Monarchy reflect their West Coast roots and just where does cultural curator Gen Art discover its New Guarde?

Celebrating its sixth season, last month’s Fashion Week was a true reflection of LA’s iconoclastic apparel industry.  Alternative venues produced by newcomer BOXeight drew attendees back to downtown’s gritty theatre district, while Corey Lynn Calter and Carolyn Vaille opted for private events.  Ungaro’s Peter Dundas held court at Neiman Marcus while Frankie B’s rock-chick Daniella Clarke hosted an undisclosed dinner party and olfactory connoisseurs migrated to Chateau Marmot for a whiff of Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fleur du Male.

In some way, each of these brands is leveraging the LA Lifestyle.  Though the techniques may vary, they’re all marketing products the way Los Angelinos live, shop and dress.  Perhaps this stylist-turned-actress-turned designer anomaly is what makes California’s geography so appealing to global consumers and why so many leading brands are born here.  Amid the eclectic dichotomy of Hollywood glamour, glam-goth, emo-surf-punk, pornstar pretty and vintage princess emerges an exciting cultural phenomenon that attracts buyers, editors, trend spotters and investors all hungry for the Next Big Thing.

In this sanguine fashion climate, the only barrier to entry is cold hard cash and the all-access pass is a firm conviction that your niche market is underserved.  And if you make it big its VIP lounges, liquor sponsors and red carpets all the way, baby.  Now that’s something any fledgling starlet could tell you!

Debra Stevenson is a passionate trend tracker and a frequent seminar speaker at FBI.  She’s the president of Trend Agitator, a consultancy and blog providing insider analysis of lifestyle trends and market strategy to leading forecasters, international media and global brands. To learn more about how global trends affect your business, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it


LINKS:
mbfashionweek.com/losangeles/
boxeight.com
genart.org
trendagitator.com

-Debra Stevenson

First Published 5/07