Fashion Shows

Over the years, we've noticed that fashion weeks are a lot like high school -- with cliques and hierarchies, where seemingly insignificant things (like where you sit) take on exaggerated importance. Because L.A.'s latest efforts to pull together a cohesive, organized week have turned into a fashion "month," rather than survey the mosaic of events, we're focusing on the star students instead: the assorted designers (established as well as the up-and-comers), retailers, muses and shutterbugs who reflect the true DNA of the City of Angels.

Michael Jackson couldn't have picked a better time to make a comeback. There he was on Thursday, the fashion muse of the fall season, announcing his "final" tour in London while dressed in a sparkly, "Thriller"-era jacket that looked a lot like the ones coming down the runway at Balmain just hours before at Paris Fashion Week.

Despite the poor economic times, the H1N1 virus and the advent of new austerity, buyers and press did indeed show up to see the spring-summer 2010 men's collections at the runway shows that wrapped up here Sunday. But the designers? They seemed to be thousands of miles away: tramping around the Egyptian desert (John Galliano), soaring above the clouds (Paul Smith) and even getting ready for a lunar landing (Alfred Dunhill).

A pair of newcomers to Paris men's fashion week set out their stark vision of menswear, and they didn't so much push the envelope as light it on fire and beat out the flames with a gilded elk horn. Avant-garde London-based designer Gareth Pugh, known for his intricate geometric designs and out-there pieces, closed out the four days of Fall/Winter 2009-2010 shows in Paris on Sunday with the debut of his men's line.

The spotlight is shining more brightly than ever on Jason Wu, the 26-year-old designer who shot to stardom last month when Michelle Obama chose his ivory chiffon confection, embroidered with organza flowers, for her inaugural ball gown. So it's no wonder that there was huge interest Friday in Wu's fall runway show, the first big event of Fashion Week.

It's amazing how often in fashion that a moment from the past brings into focus what's happening in the present. Such was the case over the weekend at New York Fashion Week. Signs of the recession are everywhere here -- the missing faces in the front row, including Saks Fifth Avenue fashion director Michael Fink, who was laid off last month; the empty storefronts on Madison Avenue; the scaled-back shows.

SOMETIME during the runway shows here last week, I had the distinct impression that a lot of designers weren't speaking to me. Instead, they were winking at Katy Perry with a nautical striped playsuit, nudging Beyonce with a Rococo-painted bustier dress, or sidling up to Cate Blanchett with a sweeping watercolor gown. And it didn't even matter if the stars were there. That doesn't play the way it used to, though.

CAR WRECK prints embroidered with glass shards, aerodynamic forms frozen in motion -- Hussein Chalayan's Spring collection, titled "Inertia," captured the chaos of a week when the global economic crisis was hurtling out of control and Washington was stalled trying to fix it.

Sunday | Premium denim The strategy L.A. has made the $200 price tag an American way of life and put names such as Earl Jean, 7 for All Mankind and Rock & Republic on hips around the globe. The A-Team 2 p.m. | Crate Denim Chad Hilton and company turn dead-stock denim into raw, simple jeans made right in downtown L.A. As they branch into bags and men's shirts, they shouldn't have to leave town to strut their stuff. 3 p.m.

THE BIRTHPLACE of haute denim and home to red carpet events that beam celebrities in designer gowns into millions of homes from Burbank to Belfast, Los Angeles is unique in its ability to serve up clothes that are not just coveted from afar but are worn by real people. Add to that the 24/7 celebrity exposure of every bag and shoe that steps out to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and the City of Angels is arguably the most influential style city in the world.