LA Fashion Week: Celebrity by design
Solvej Schou

LOS ANGELES—Just as L.A. Fashion Week took a step forward, the celeb-as-designer trend seems to have sent it two steps back.
Though the presence of bigger and more legitimate designers has grown over the past few years, fashion regulars Sue Wong, Kevan Hall and Ed Hardy are not showing Fall 2008 collections at Culver City’s Smashbox photo studios next week. So as Fashion Week gets under way Sunday, the spotlight turns to the likes of “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad, Nicky Hilton and the Pussycat Dolls.
Yes, the Pussycat Dolls.
Hey, it’s just Hollywood, right? Wong, for one, calls the emerging trend “absolutely bogus.” But Smashbox co-founder Davis Factor says the week “is for everybody,” from established designers to show biz types. Even the burlesque-inspired singing girl group.
“Sure, every celebrity and his brother wants to be a fashion designer,” said Wong, who has been designing since 1968. “It’s not like anybody can pick it up and do it. It’s a science. You need to know fit and construction.”
Wong, a dependable draw for the past six years at Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week, said she plans to show there again next season. This season, however, she will stick to an ornate ‘20s and ‘30s inspired collection at her restored historic mansion The Cedars “to do something different,” she said. “I don’t believe in reality TV stars turning into designers or a music mogul or a flash-in-the-pan turning into a designer,” Wong said, acknowledging lines by Sean “Diddy” Combs and Jennifer Lopez. “It’s all about merchandizing and them trying to capitalize on their 15 minutes of fame. I don’t think those kind of houses can be taken seriously. What can be taken seriously is a real, bona fide talent.”
Factor, though, gushed that he has always wanted to bring entertainment and music to L.A. Fashion Week, and emphasized that “the fashion we steer to our event is all very serious.”
“A lot of what I see these celebrities doing, like Gwen Stefani with L.A.M.B., they’re also passionate about designing. ... I would like to see more celebrities showing in Los Angeles,” he said.
But is Conrad, in Wong’s words, a “real, bona fide talent”? Only her upcoming Fashion Week debut will tell.
The 22-year-old petite blonde, known for starring roles on hit MTV reality shows “Laguna Beach” and “The Hills,” has cast her style influence long and wide this year on the red carpet and with her own casual Lauren Conrad Collection, available online. Magazine covers have sailed her way — the kind of exposure not normally available to up-and-coming designers.
“I think my involvement in reality television has played a bittersweet role in my career,” Conrad said in an email to The Associated Press. “If I wasn’t on TV I wouldn’t have my line, but because I’m on TV people don’t take me seriously.” And there’s the rub.
“People in the entertainment industry try to capitalize on their 15 minutes in every way possible,” she continued. “The difference is I want a line that lasts longer than 15 minutes. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do and what I hope to continue with when I’m done with entertainment.” Conrad, who has trained at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, said the additional pressure thrust upon her Fashion Week debut made her nervous while working on the line. She described it as “California chic,” basing this season on a recent trip to Paris reflected in simple, clean pieces accessorized with berets, netting, leather gloves, bows and lace.