L.A. FASHION WEEK
October 11, 2008THE 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.
And yet, Los Angeles Fashion Week has never really taken off, partly because organizers have tried to make it fit the template of other fashion weeks around the globe, where success is a front row stocked with retail buyers and New York magazine editors.
Because it’s being judged by that yardstick, it falls short, and many influential local designers see no reason to show their work here. It also suffers from being an industry-insiders-only club in a city that thrives on pleasing the masses. (more…)
City of Ember
Review in a Hurry: That ol’ liberal Hollywood bias is translated into a kiddie flick that’s Brazil for tots. Two hundred years after humanity is forced underground, one girl’s tenacious spirit unlocks the secret to her people’s future.
The Bigger Picture: The details are fairy-tale vague in City of Ember, and the fascism is PG-rated. Two hundred years after the mysterious Builders created a vast underground city “protected for generations to come,” food supplies are running short, and the generator that keeps the place humming is on its last legs.
The adult population, blissfully ignorant, go about their business, questioning nothing. “Ours is the only light in a dark world,” they believe, singing hymns to the Builders and discouraged from imagining what lies beyond their subterranean city.
