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FGILA Presents: "Meet the Power Players of Fashion"

Dec 01 2009

I attended the Fashion Group International’s “Meet the Power Players of Fashion”, a panel of fashion bloggers and editors who discussed ‘who starts the trends? Are they created online? Through blogs or tweets? Etc…’; which took place at BoxEight Studios in downtown LA. Introduced by John Arguelles; Susan Stein, fashion editor at Palm Springs Life Magazine moderated the dialogue between Jayne Seward- Fashion Editor at Apparel News, Laurie Pike- Style Editor at Los Angeles Magazine, Erin Weinger- Publisher and Co-Founder of Style Section LA, Kristen Calavas- President and Co-Founder of TheLookbook.com and Tasha Adams- Editor/Creator of Blackburnandsweetzer.com.

As a blogger and designer, I found it very informative. I was in awe that were are over 112 million blogs *according to Technorati December 2007* and *according to WWD* over 2 million fashion blogs in 2006.

Susan asked questions like, “What is a trend?”, “What types of mediums (print, magazines or social networks *twitter or facebook*) has the most influence over trends?”, “Are trends and customer buying patterns the same thing? Who has the most influence over today’s consumer?”…etc…. I remember celebrities were brought up over having influence over today’s consumers… Lady Gaga, Brad & Angelina and Michelle Obama were particular celebrities mentioned. John also played the comedian for the evening, when the topic of “Did you ever start a trend?” came up and one of the panelists mentioned bandanas, he went out of the room and came back in wearing a purple bandana (“gangsta-style” in my opinion), but nevertheless, very amusing.

The evening ended with a DVD of Spring 2010 runway trends from Paris, Milan and New York, courtesy of Marylou Luther- creative director at International Syndicate and the headquarters of FGI.

SPECIAL THANKS: FGILA, John Arguelles, Jayne Seward (Apparel News and www.veryverychic.com) , Laurie Pike, Susan Stein, Tasha Adams, Kristen Calavas, Erin Weineger, Dorothy Woglom, Michele Bernard, Elizabeth Matthews, the crew at BoxEight Studios (1446 E. Washington Blvd. LA 90021), J, Emily Heintz, and Ilse Metchek. Check out www.fgila.org for more information on Fashion Group International of Los Angeles.

Rock Madness Fashion Show @ BoxEight 1/31/09

Feb 10 2009

What does an awesome hairstylist, “Hollywood’s Notorious Fashion Coordinator”, photo shoots and a fashion show have in common? Why “Rock Madness Fashion Show” at BoxEight Studios in downtown Los Angeles, of course! And it was hosted by Joseph Rene and Parris Harris.

I arrived a little after four, parked my car and walked into the bustling warehouse- turned- photo studio. Models were milling around or in make-up with Joseph Rene and Parris was running all over the place, making sure everything was in order. I made my way to the back of the place, and ran into my friends Jenny, who was modeling Trendy Rags and her friend, Crystal. I just love it when you go to industry events and you see the same people over and over again. It’s like we’re all one big, happy family! Kudos to the fashion industry!

Now, on to the important stuff! Let’s meet some of the ‘fahbulous’ people that helped put this unique show together. Joseph Rene, celebrity hair stylist and Executive Producer of the show. Joseph had a lot of energy through-out the night, despite being up until 3am, making the hair extensions for the models. He, along with Parris, came up with the “Rock Madness” idea three months prior to the show. He was approached by Trendy Rags to do a a live photo shoot and fashion show. And of course, the show was something that I’ve never seen before and it turned out to be a huge success.

The other co-producer, Parris Harris and I had to meet up for coffee, due to him being extremely busy the night of the show. His inspiration for the show was hot men and women and energy mixed with ‘fantasticness’ all at the same time. He and Joseph wanted to have a 70’s and 80’s theme. The wildness of the 70’s along with the make-up of the 80’s. They chose Trendy Rags and David Kahn Jeanswear as the featured designers of the event.

Trendy Rags is owned by Jimmy Lee and offers two lines, “Motor City Legends” and “Fresh and Famous”. This is the third event for Lee, however, he’s done other shows at major Hollywood clubs. He manufactures here in LA, not far from BoxEight. Motor City Legends is influenced by rock, whereas Fresh and Famous has an 80’s influence. The colors are bright and the garments have an urban and street feel to them. The lines include: tees, hoodies, thermals and will eventually feature denim. The tee from Fresh and Famous that stated, “Recession My Ass” was especially made for this show. (And is one of my favs!) Trendy Rag tees range from $75- 600. Check out Jimmy Lee’s brands at www.trendyrags.com, www.freshandfamous.com, and www.motorcitylegends.com.

The fashion duo chose David Kahn Jeanswear as the other designer because Parris loved that the flared jeans were 70’s and the skinny jeans were more 80’s, sticking to the theme of course. I spoke with Alesia Poynter, representing Mr. Kahn, who had a meeting that evening. She was quite helpful when I asked about the line. Mr. Kahn met Parris through a myspace ad last year. David Kahn is known for making women feel beautiful and comfortable in the jeans. He’s fitting women ranging from twenty to sixty years old. The jeans have just enough stretch in them that anyone can wear them. They also manufacure here in LA. The jeans are made from Japanese and Italian Premium Denim. They retail at $150-200. The line is viewable at www.davidkahnjeanswear.com.

I enjoyed the energy of the night… as a budding photographer myself, it was exciting watching the main photographer/owner of BoxEight, Peter Gurnz shoot the models strutting down the runway to the loud, pulsating music by DJ Joe and then have a “mini-shoot” at the vintage car parked at the end of the runway.

Special Shout-Out’s to: Dominic (Make Me a Supermodel), Tiffany Pollier (I Love NY), Mo (Mo’s Models), iModels, Sense Magazine, BoxEight Studios (www.boxeight.com), Bliss Tea, Jeff Knight Photography

EXTRA NOTES: You can reach Joseph Rene at www.josephrenesalon.com. Parris Harris is also a designer, he has a line named, “Punk Mail”, which is mainly reconstructed garments. Check out all of Parris’s “dysfunctional function” at www.justintv.com/parrisharris, www.myspace.com/phashiontv and www.parrisharris.com.

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