outfitting: gen art's fresh faces in fashion

American Apparel White Tee:
- Free from the Ford Fusion Studio D Tour
- See Go Army!

Wide Black Elastic Belt:
- $0.79 @ Baras Thrift Store
- See Cute Outfit Wasted on Lame Party

Black Taffeta Ruffle Tiered Skirt:
- $7.00 @ Goodwill
- Originally, this skirt was an 80's dress complete with shiny silver fabric. After I washed it, the elasticity of the top part of the dress was lost and the silver of the fabric was rubbed off. It looked horrendous. I didn't want my $7 to go to waste, so I cut off the top and ta-da!, a wonderfully beautiful tiered skirt! The tiered look is very senorita-romantic, but this version is more rocker chick.

Vintage Anne Klein for Calderon Black Patent Leather Clutch:
- $0.25 @ Holy Family Bazaar
- See Yo-ho! Yo-ho! A Pirate's Life For Me, Party to the Xtreme and Donna Graduates

DKNY Black Tights:
- $5.99 @ TJ Maxx
- Black tights are must this season!

Nine West Espadrille Black Peep Toe Wedges:
- $29.99 @ Marshalls
- See Donna Graduates and Team Aniston

Xhilaration Red Plaid Button:
- $2.50 @ Target
- This button is a simple way of adding a bit of plaid to an outfit. Plaid is all the rage this winter, but an overload of plaid is not good for the eyes.

AE Who Loves Ya? Button:
- Part of a packet of buttons @ American Eagle Outfitters
- This is my favorite button of the pack because it's the only one that doesn't have AE logos on it.

Lily Allen Blue and Black Checkered Button:
- Free from "MTV Conference Room Concert Series"
- Lily Allen performed only three songs while she was at the MTV Santa Monica offices. Other artists before her have played at least five songs and were way more engaged with the audience. Lily Allen's sound is all Brit-bubblegum-pop. I rocked her button to Gen Art Fashion event and coincidentally her song "Smile" was played during the runway show.

I was looking forward to attending Gen Art's "Fresh Faces in Fashion" all week and when Friday finally arrived I was not disappointed. The event is to celebrate LA's emerging fashion design talents. For most designers, this would be their first runway show and many designers from the show's past have upgraded to the runways of Smashbox Studios (i.e. Louis Verdad).

The event was held inside the massive Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica airport with an extra long runway, various makeshift cocktail bars and four installations exhibiting the works of four accessories/shoe designers. My favorite display was Hollie Ten's "Le petite écolière." The school room setting felt very girlie, innocent and vintage-inspired. I loved her Chanel No. 5 miniature perfume bottle necklace!

Since there were a total of 8 designers showing on the catwalk, the show was longer than any other fashion show I've attended. The menswear collections all seemed too bold for an average guy. Some of my favorites include the blue plaid dress and the men's vest and pant ensemble by Fremont, all the button details in the garments of Augustine and the periwinkle fabric in a few of Katy Rodriguez's pieces. Even though I wasn't super impressed with the showing, I thought it was rather interesting to see how diverse the collections were from each other despite all the designers being from Los Angeles.

Famous people we saw:
- Reggie! Reggie! (Emil was most excited about this sighting!)
- Macy Gray
- One half of Sister, Sister (I forgot which twin)
- The girl who played Fancy on The Jamie Foxx Show
- Project Runway's Nick Verreos
- A very drunk Surreal Life cast member: Traci Bingham
- Lost's Emile de Ravin

In the gift bag:
- Blackberry Pearl bag (three Blackberry Pearls were given out, but unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky winners)
- Johnnie Walker t-shirt
- Ecru NY traveling hair care set
- Acura compact
- In:LA mints
- Pommery POP Champagne light-up pen
- Tree Hut Shea Body Butter
- Bawls Guaranexx Drink
- September/October Los Angeles Confidential Magazine
- Audio CD of "Wild Animus"
- Virgin Couture CD sampler
- Sample of Sexy Beast Dog cologne
- "The Rage in Placid Lake" DVD