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FROM LOS ANGELES Los Angeles's inability to maintain a single cohesive Fashion Week concept has been widely publicized—particularly after the partnership between Smashbox and IMG dissolved last year. But in its place has arisen something of a fashion month; most of October will see fashion-related events in town, with clusters of events taking shape under multiple structural umbrellas.

Between October 12 and 20, the festivities and shows are officially centered around the downtown area, with market week in Hollywood from October 28 through Halloween. Among the early events was Sue Wong's preview for her spring 2010 collection at her historic home, the Cedars; Wong billed the October 8 event as an unofficial kickoff to L.A. Fashion Week. MORE >>

L.A. Fashion Week, Sue Wong, Gen Art, Flaunt

NEWS 05.18.09 1:49 PM

Rock Media Stakes a Claim to L.A. Fashion Week Next Fall at Paramount

The last incarnation of IMG's L.A. Fashion Week in October 2008
Photo: BizBash

FROM LOS ANGELES After IMG's well-publicized departure last fall from the Los Angeles Fashion Week scene left a vacancy for an owner of the show program, New York-based Rock Media and Entertainment intends to step in beginning next fall. The firm has planned a series at Paramount Studios on October 28 to 31, to be known as "Rock Fashion Week L.A." The company is also involved in the twice yearly Miami Fashion Week, known there too as "Rock Fashion Week," and in New York with Elle as a partner for a program called "Style 360."

Rock Media president Nicole Purcell, who has yet to distribute official releases or detailed information regarding the project, said, "It's the right time. We would have come anyway [even if IMG had stayed]. Our fashion division is growing bigger and bigger. The recession is still here, but it's slowly going away—let me knock on wood right now—and we thought the fall was the right time to come out." MORE >>

Fashion Week, L.A. Fashion Week

Q & A 03.12.09 11:56 AM

Jennifer Üner Overseeing Calendar for More-Diffuse-Than-Ever L.A. Fashion Week

Jennifer Üner
Photo: Bradley Meinz

FROM LOS ANGELES Fashion Week in Los Angeles has never been quite the cohesive entity it is in other international cities. For five years, a partnership between IMG and Smashbox Studios created a more organized program centered in Culver City, but the widely publicized dissolution of that agreement after last season left something of a void.

Independent marketing consultant Jennifer Üner has spent the last seven years overseeing the biannual calendar at FashionWeekLA.com, the most comprehensive and longest-running local calendar of the somewhat ragtag collection of events that has historically made up the week. For this season's Fashion Week—which begins Friday—Üner's calendar is taking on an even greater significance as the industry's unofficial scheduling clearinghouse in the vacuum left after the formal partnership ended. (Üner also manages events and created the Los Angeles Fashion Awards.) We talked to her about how this season's schedule has come together.

Tell us about Fashion Week Los Angeles’s first season since the Smashbox partnership ended.
With the crash of the economy, it was a timely departure for IMG, producers of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios. Their departure, plus the economy, has created a season of uncertainty. As a result, we are seeing fewer of the more established brands showing on the runway. On the flip side, this leaves room for newcomers to grab some attention. We are seeing a rise in the number of new independent producers who wish to fill the void left by IMG. Usually it is individual designers producing shows in a variety of off-site venues. This year, we see producers determined to pioneer new venues and attract the designers to show with them.
MORE >>

L.A. Fashion Week, Smashbox, Mercedes-Benz Los Angeles Fashion Week, IMG Fashion, Sponsorships

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