LOS ANGELES

L.A. New Gaurd featured the Fall 07 of three innovative new LA designers shown on models in large-scale installations, created by renowned set designer Keith Greco

The New Garde is the fashion event that introduced the collections of Cosa Nostra's Jeffrey Sebelia (winner of Project Runway) and provides a first glimpse of LA's most talented new designers.

"PEEKS AT FASHION WEEK: L.A. Fashion Week is technically a members-only affair...and if your not an insider, good luck getting in. But fledlging fashionistas take heart: A few events are open even if you have never mentioned the word 'fabulous.' The most established event is Friday's 'New Garde: A Celebration of of Innovative L.A. Fashion,' put on by the Gen Art organization. 'It's a showcase of avant-garde designs in dynamic installations,' says Jennifer Egan, director of Gen Art L.A. That translates into the fall lines of three emerging designers shown simultaneously in themed areas of the Ivar Studio in Hollywood." - THE LOS ANGELES TIME (March 15, 2006)
 

Featured Designers:

Alms
French-born Isabelle Carter has been living and working as a stylist and designer in Los Angeles for over thirteen years. Carter employs a Parisian sensibility, combining clean lines and sophisticated details to infuse Alms' silk and cotton pieces with a directional, yet wearable appeal. Alms as a concept is to see different traditions and beliefs systems from ethnologies past and present as simple gesture, shape and form.

Hazel Brown
A successful painter for over ten years, Hazel Brown designer Ali Blankely found her move into fashion to be a very organic transition. Her designs are imbued with her philosophy: “I seek to emphasize beauty in ordinary existence - raw or refined, beauty is what I search for.” Together with her team, which consists of seamstresses and craftsmen, she creates womenswear with a raw-edged glamour, respecting a tradition of exquisite construction and hand-dyed dresses, coats and separates in their creative space. Hazel Brown was first introduced at Gen Art's Los Angeles Fresh Faces in Fashion 2005, and is currently sold at Weathervane in Santa Monica.

Mintee
After receiving degrees in tailoring, fashion design and art from renowned Central St. Martins and The London College of Fashion, Mintee Kalra worked as design assistant for famed British designer Alexander McQueen before starting Mintee with Satya Kalra in June 2005. Their mission is to increase awareness of a holistic lifestyle while creating feminine and luxurious clothing and jewelry. Mintee has established a brand that enhances beauty within the context of our personal and cultural perspective. A portion of Mintee's profit goes directly to projects that support empowering disadvantaged producers, furthering their economic independence by supporting grassroots women's organizations. Mintee is sold at Diavolina and Scout LA.


Read about last year's show in Yahoo! and British Vogue!


See photos from the 2006 LA New Garde show, guests included Red Hot Chili Peppers' frontman Anthony Kiedis & actresses Emily Procter (CBS's "CSI Miami"), Lacey Chambert ("Mean Girls")& Cobey Smoulders (CBS's "How I Met Your Mother"), ,

New York

Gen Art is proud to invite you to the debut of the New Garde fashion presentation in New York! This event will feature three top rising fashion designers showcased in a theatrical non-traditional runway presentation. Each designer will show 20 looks from their Fall 07 collections on live models in uniquely designed installations. The venue will house three different installations throughout its 34,000 sq foot space.

One can arrive anytime between 6:00 - 8:00pm and see the live model showcases. There is no start time and the installations and models will be constantly running and live during this period, so it doesn't matter if you get there at 6:15pm or 7:30pm, they will be going. Then there will be a post reception with live performances.

The type of presentation has been a huge success over the last three years in Los Angeles, showcasing Project Runway's most recent winner Jeffrey Sebelia's collection Cosa Nostra in 2004.


Participating Designers -

CHRISHABANA:
Chris Habana designs women's jewelry and clothing. He considers his pieces to be three-dimensional collages with a “hidden iconography” and “a subversive truth.” As a child in Manila, Philippines, Chris developed a strong interest in art and would often design armor for characters in Dungeons and Dragons and other video games he played. At the age of 12, Chris and his family moved to the United States where his interest in color and aesthetic continued. He began re-purposing t-shirts and designing wedding and prom gowns for friends.

FORM:
FORM is a New York based design collective dedicated to designing original women's wear infused with a modern sense of luxury. Jerry Tam, founder and creative force behind the label, is originally from Butte, Montana. Longing to put his artistic talents to use, Jerry left his computer management company and moved to New York to pursue a career in fashion. He became certified in couture at Fashion Institute of Technology while simultaneously earning an Associates Degree in Fashion from Parsons School of Design. Jerry then joined Imitation of Christ, later moving on to work with Perry Ellis and Zac Posen. Eventually, Jerry decided to pursue the dream of starting his own line and held his first solo show during the Spring / Summer 2006 season in New York, which received rave reviews from the fashion press and created a buzz amidst fashion followers.

GEREN FORD:
Geren Ford is a Los Angeles based line of womenswear that was launched in 2002. The child of artist parents, she studied at Parsons in New York and Otis in Los Angeles. She is also a stylist and costume designer for brands like American Eagle, Nordstrom, HP and many more. She takes inspiration from a fast paced and mobile lifestyle from the time she was young to current day adventures in places like Buenos Aires, Milan, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul and many other destinations visited for both work and play. The design philosophy behind the line is one of a lifestyle; it is designed with inspiration from those cinematic moments in life that we don't experience often enough. Each item is meant to be those perfect things that you pack every time you go somewhere; clothes that make you feel a certain way.


See photos from the 2006 LA New Garde show which drew the likes of Red Hot Chili Pepper's frontman Anthony Kiedis and actresses Emily Procter (CBS's "CSI Miami"), Lacey Chambert ("Mean Girls"), Cobey Smoulders (CBS's "How I Met Your Mother"), Bai Ling, Kelly Hu ("X Men II") and Zee James ("Everybody Hates Chris")!