{"id":3280,"date":"2009-07-14T16:27:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T20:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.modacycle.com\/?p=3280"},"modified":"2009-07-14T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T20:31:17","slug":"a-look-at-whats-new-from-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/2009\/07\/14\/a-look-at-whats-new-from-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look At What’s New From Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

story and snapshots by Charles Beckwith<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, I was invited to check out a few smaller Los Angeles designers’ fall 2010 collections at the Agent Red International showroom on 39th Street here in New York, hosted by a PR group called The Gallery Los Angeles<\/a>. Here are some of the things that stood out.<\/p>\n

The first thing I saw was a new line of women’s motorcycle jackets<\/strong> by Logan Riese<\/a>. Basically three parts badass and one part lace. They’re tough, put together well, and I saw some very creative choices in lining. The pieces retail from $500 for the basics, up to as much as $3,000 for higher-end custom pieces.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2209\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2217\"<\/p>\n

I found the applied symbology to be a little too derivative and heavy handed on several pieces. The materials and cuts are fantastic, but there is serious over-decoration without enough originality in play.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2213\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2212\"<\/p>\n

Definite skill and potential demonstrated, but the vision is clouded by cliched pop icons, applied without customization to the garments beyond placement. Like with fine perfume or cologne, a signature icon should only really be detectable when you get close. These icons seem designed to convey a blunt message all the way to the back row, and do not leave anything to reveal at point blank range, therefore feeling more costumey and fit for posers than the fashion forward.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2211\"<\/p>\n

For every flash of brilliance, like the lining of the jacket in the image above, there is a cliche hangnail of death on the sleeve. The cuts and materials of these jackets should be enough to project their quality at some distance, but the designer doesn’t seem willing to trust his own work in that way, and burdens them with what could best be described as cheap tricks. This feminine line is new, and I hope he learns to be a little less heavy handed with the ladies jackets in the future, because there is a lot of potential here with the craftsmanship.<\/p>\n

(continued on the next page<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Babakul<\/a> is a line of well-made denim and corduroy pieces. Relatively unremarkable lineup, but I love the signature hardware, which is this cool little flower button with a nail through it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2220\"<\/p>\n

I was also impressed with this checker-washed jacket and its funky over the top exposed threading.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2221\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2222\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2223\"<\/p>\n

The next collection that caught my attention was KorAni<\/a>, by Ani Karapetian. More great hardware!<\/strong> This new designer used to be a trim buyer, so she has solid knowledge of hardware vendors and what is currently available and possible.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2225\"<\/p>\n

Ani says, “I’m very future-inspired, so I use a lot of metal.”<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2237\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2226\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2227\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2229\"<\/p>\n

The metal wasn’t the best thing on display, though. I loved these functional leather buttons.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2231\"<\/p>\n

The collection is full of sweeping status quo-defying cuts and innovative use of closures to create form.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2239\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2241\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2243\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2244\"<\/p>\n

Further down the line I met Dolores M. Gill, designer of Dirty Dog Jeans<\/a>. The name fits the garments, many of which are designed for the rough players in the L.A. gay community. Note the zip-off rock and roll jeans.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2251\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2252\"<\/p>\n

Much more interesting to me than the subculture denim, though, was a set of jewelery made from Indian newspapers encased in resin<\/strong>. Dolores was kind enough to forward some macro-photography images of these very interesting pieces:<\/p>\n

\"dirty_dog_usa\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, I was invited to check out a few smaller Los Angeles designers’ fall 2010 collections at the Agent Red International showroom on 39th Street here in New York, hosted by a PR group called The Gallery Los Angeles. Here are some of the things that stood out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[120,114,119,118,115,117,116,121,72,113],"class_list":["post-3280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-babakul","tag-dirty-dog-jeans","tag-hardware","tag-jackets","tag-karani","tag-leather","tag-logan-riese","tag-los-angeles","tag-new-designers","tag-showroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modacycle.com\/old_modacycle_jan_2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}