A real rock star emerges in L. A.
Hale Bob’s summer collection inspired by the Coachella music festival wins immediate fans.
The big takeaway from the presentations and runway shows known collectively as Los Angeles fashion week remains pretty much as it has for the last few years: Though there are collections in the mix worthy of coverage — from new and emerging local designers to far- f lung brands showing here for the first time — too often the bright spots end up overshadowed by the perpetually chaotic and conflicting calendar, and poring over the assorted schedules feel as hit- or- miss as panning for gold. Here are a few of the shiny nuggets sluiced from this season’s shows.
The L. A.- based Hale Bob label managed to mine the upcoming music festival season and the fashion industry’s experimentation with the see now/ buy now in- season collections ( ones that hit the runway and retail at the same time) by sending a 36- piece Coachella- themed Summer 2016 collection down the runway at Style Fashion Week that was immediately available for purchase via the brand’s halebob. com website.
That meant plenty of dancingin-the- desert duds; f lowing, brightly patterned maxi dresses, tie- dyed silk chiffon tunics, billowing caftans, and riffs on ’ 70s- era, high- waisted, f lare- legged jeans. Asymmetrical faux suede skirts swayed with a festival of fringe; faux fur vests were layered over sheer lace dresses and wraps were draped over shoulders. And, like the lineup at any good music festival, inspiration came from all over. There were patterns inspired by Moroccan tiles, animal prints, and palm fronds and with the occasional paisley print thrown in for good measure.
“We started to sell runway pieces right away,” the brand’s creator, Daniel Bohbot, said a few days after the show, “and [ we] have al- ready sold out of a couple of things — including a maxi dress and a printed tunic.”
Bohbot said the consumer response had been so positive that, moving forward, he plans to present Hale Bob in four in- season runway collections a year.
Hale Bob wasn’t the only Los Angeles fashion week label to show an in- season collection. The Fashion Week Los Angeles lineup at downtown’s Union Station in- cluded a Cynthia Rowley 2016 resort, swimwear and fitness catwalk collection, including a range of color- blocked neoprene wetsuits with colorful contrast stitching, f loral print leggings, color blocked twopiece swimsuits and T- shirts screen- printed with sayings such as “Made in the Shade.” ( According to a Cynthia Rowley representative, parts of the collection had been presented previously, but the swimwear and f itness collec- tions debuted in L. A.)
The see now/ buy now inf luence also was in evidence at L. A. Fashion Week, where the notes for L. A.-based designer Jenine Nerecina’s Cosmogyral show noted that the runway looks from the fall and winter 2016 collection were available for purchase online. Titled Eff lorescence, the collection was aimed at “celebrat[ ing] the beauty of women of different shapes,” according to the show notes, includ- ing standard and curvy sizes “in an effort to promote body positivity.”
Standouts of the runway collection — the brand’s second — included a series of claret- colored dresses embellished with black f loral beadwork including the f inal look, a strapless stunner with deep decolletage, mermaid- tail hem and an ultra- long sheer train that gave the look a regal feel.