Fashion Shows

As society grows more visually sophisticated, fashion shows have had to keep up, adding theatrical elements unheard of in previous decades. Props, sets, choreography and music have become nearly as important as the clothes. Pizazz has become the name of the game, says Beverly Eckert of Huntington Beach, one of the area's top coordinators of charitable fund-raising fashion events, "and that takes time." "The minute the client books us and a theme is developed, the planning begins," she says.

As the fall fashion shows continue, this week winding their way to Milan, the final details for next month's runway shows in L.A. are still being ironed out. The most hotly anticipated event is being organized by 7th on Sixth, the same outfit that stages New York's Fashion Week at Bryant Park. "Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A." will take place April 1 through 4 at the Downtown Standard Hotel, with three runways that will cost designers $750 to $3,500 to rent (compared to $20,000 at Bryant Park).

Reporting the runway shows in Milan and Paris for the San Francisco Examiner in the late 1980s, Gladys Perint Palmer first began to appreciate the absurdity of the fashion world: "My first moment was when I saw this vision coming at me in a green faux Statue of Liberty headdress and a choker of piano keys." That vision was Anna Piaggi, the eccentric Italian Vogue columnist known for her stage makeup and blue hair, and it launched Palmer's career as a fashion illustrator.

Suddenly, fashion designer Roberto Cavalli is high-profile, with billboards all across this city and his name tripping off the lips of Hollywood stars (Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, et al.) and their stylists. A new Cavalli store has opened on the prestigious via Della Spiga, with one to follow in Los Angeles. Chic women are strutting out of fashionable restaurants wearing his trademark tiger-print shirts and skintight snakeskin-printed jeans.

Fashion shows may be defined as a presentation of clothes modeled by unworldly creatures who go by such names as Elle, Paulina or Tyra. But the only thing "Odyssey . . . En Vogue," held at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel on Sunday, had in common with fashion shows in Paris and Milan was the helter-skelter behind-the-scenes preparations. Otherwise, the show featured women and men of average proportions modeling clothes donated by various stores in the Topanga Plaza and Promenade Mall.

Getting fitted Thursday for a teen fashion show, Katie Sereno knew what she didn't want in a formal dress. Nothing slinky. Nothing slitted, backless or plunging. And, please, nothing bellybutton-baring. In a teen fashion world ruled by the likes of Britney Spears, this eliminates just about any off-the-rack gown.

So now that the runway shows are over, what's the future of L.A. fashion week? "If you build buzz, they will come," said David Caruso, marketing director at IMG. The sports and entertainment marketing firm is planning to produce fashion shows for the first time here in November. The shows will probably take place over a couple of days rather than a week, Caruso said Tuesday in L.A.

Sean "Puffy" Combs, the hip-hop bad boy of American fashion, took his streetwise flair to the catwalk Wednesday with a new line of Sean John Loungewear. The collection of men's underwear, pajamas and robes made its formal debut at a fashion show staged at Bloomingdale's, where the store's fashion director, Kal Ruttenstein, said the line was selling well in less than two weeks on the shelves.

A houndstooth-check mummy suit with matching purse at Jean-Paul Gaultier's show got people giggling, and a sequined bodysuit as thin as skin raised some eyebrows at Gianni Versace. But it took a fishnet top with gardenia pasties, at Chanel no less, to make members of the world's most fashion savvy audience admit they were mildly shocked. Once again this spring, European designers--and even a few in New York--spun their most fantastic ideas down the runway.

Runway photographs from Milan and Paris should come with a warning label that reads: The hairstyles, makeup and accessories depicted are not meant to be taken seriously and / or imitated by consumers, even those with an extremely good sense of humor.