By Laura Medina
KTLA's The GalleryLA Fashion Weekend Runway Show at Sunset Gower Studios. Who says Los Angeles or Hollywood is nothing but glitz-out bedazzling and rhinestones?
Mikey Koffman's The GalleryLA, in collaboration with KTLA's (Channel 5 locally within Los Angeles), proves otherwise.
A dash of prep has been tossed in for good taste to tame down the preceived whackiness of what outsiders assume is Los Angeles/Californian fashion.
Here are the strongest collections from the two nights show, Doctrine for women and Civil Society for men.
The wearer-friendly Doctrine showcases what is the best in Los Angeles, high-tech, lightweight denim that moves along with the body while retaining its shape and tailoring. Nothing saggy here.
The cutting-edge denim in flares, capris, and culottes-yes, culottes-reflectes the taste and yearning for the free-wheeling, devil-may-care Seventies when gas prices hit sky high, a war was raging on, people let loose their frustration in dance music (disco), and women took full-range of their hard-won but never-ending liberation.
This is Americana Sportswear at its full speed where the American Preppy Woman took charge.
A simple dose of a mustard yellow rib knit turtleneck sweater makes the super-tight but stretchable jeans appealing to the girl-next-door.
Doctrine revisited the American Woman persona in pairing the Western Ranch Blouse with a printed scarf, knotted at the neck instead of a necklace. The interfering skirt was replaced with a pair of culottes with pussy bow blouses or rosettes and riding blazers and those renewed classics of tan leather riding boots.
The subgenre of American Women sportswear was the Southern California item of the flowing linen or cotton tunic with embroidered neckline and collar. Yes, it received the hippie treatment of a fur vest but for hot days and cold nights for the forever-on-the-go American woman, she cannot think of a better pairing.
The foundation of these changings and pairings are the high-tech denim capris, refining the skinny jeans, giving them more mileage or low-slung rise flares in bringing that Seventies sexy back when Parisian chic met Hollywood hip.
KTLA's highlight runway video on second night with Civil Society.Civil Society, likes its namesake, has built a niche of "the gentleman hipster."
It never relinquish of reincarnating the functionally classic military parka and flight jacket and vest then sprucing them up with the preppy mainstay of neckties and bow ties for the rising league of refined Fine Young Gentlemen or Dandies who are still sporty enough to wear gloves while roaring their motorcycles.
Civil Society also retooled preppy style, fabrication, and tailoring. They took knits then resewed them into collared blazers. They slimmed down the frumpy and puffy fishing vest, attached a hoodie and furnished it with zippered military pockets. They replaced the cliche Navy Sack Blazer with a sleeker motorcross jacket.
They opened and ended their show with their new and emerging generation of customer, an eight years-old boy wowed the crowd by tipping his cap to them. Then, he finished it off by titling his aviator shades. All awhile doing it in a bow tie.
Civil Society proves a man can still be hip without being rowdy and still a gentleman without being dowdy.
Twentieth-First Century Dandy.
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