Emily Factor designs eco-fashion that's actually fashionable.

Eco-fashion has gotten a bad wrap. When most of us think of green clothing lines, we think of neutral color palettes--hues that evoke muddy swamp water and hippies with hairy underarms--shapes that are less shape and more sack.

Emily Factor, the youngest of a long lineage of Factors (yes, that Max Factor-Factor), has changed all that as illustrated in her S/S 12 collection, shown this past Saturday in Hollywood.

The colors are bold. The necklines are low. The silhouettes are interesting. The pants and maxi dresses are to die for. This is eco-fashion I'd proudly traipse across town to the recycling center in. Um, on my fuel-free bike of course.

Geoffrey Mac kicked off LA Fashion Week...

And did so without the wild and often latex outfits he's known for dressing celebrities, most notably Lady Gaga, in. The NY designer presented his slightly more muted, but still fun and avant garde collection to an LA crowd on Tuesday night at Skybar at the Mondrian. And with the flowing fabric, gowns made to be worn down red carpets, and fun cocktail frocks, there wasn't a more fitting city to show in.

I especially loved these seemingly conservative pieces that featured surprise hints of the unusual.

[Photos by Josh Reiss]

Design Dish: Unhee's Suzy Yun on Fashion and the Future

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Unhee designer Suzy Yun for Style Section L.A. In a city inundated with aspiring young fashion designers, Yun stands out as smart and self-aware and her 2010 Spring/Summer collection, fresh and inspired. This will mark the LA native and Echo Park designer's first foray back into fashion after a brief hiatus in production and so far I'm terribly fond of what we see. Yun shared her thoughts with me on L.A.'s sense of style (comfy), her fave spots for food and fashion, her admiration of FIDM student style, celebrity fans of Unhee (Selma Blair's been spotted in her jumper) and the merits of 'side boob' (she's a fan). I'm looking forward to seeing more side boob and other striking fashions from Yun in 2010 and beyond.

Read the full piece on Style Section LA.

Design Dish: welcoming LA Fashion Week with an open mind.

Well, that is what I tried to do. The open mind thing, that is. But with Smashbox and IMG's marriage dead and gone away and the shows now dispersed from Downtown to Hollywood to God Knows Where and nightclub parties showcasing God Knows What, things have gotten confusing. Each new venue or collective names itself 'the' new LA Fashion Week to pay attention to. But while the media and buyers are forced to traipse around LA from show to show, how can they pay attention to anything at all.
New York Fashion Week doesn't garner international attention and an Anna Wintour appearance by breaking off into Lower East Side Fashion Week, Harlem Fashion Week and Midtown Fashion Week. The shows are consolidated, made legend by their Bryant Park locale, and have front rows packed with those who matter [to the industry], not reality TV stars the publicists have buddied up with.

Then again, NY fashion designers aren't showing cotton sundresses and trying to call them art.

While I do shed a small tear for LA fashion, especially in this wild season, I will celebrate what's left of our designer community here. Last night I found myself pleasantly surprised at Skingraft's show at the MOCA Geffen. The designers featured aviator caps [which, note to self, leave gnarly hat head], militant styles, and Doc Martens [which are back...apparently].

Louver made a comeback with a nautical theme. And though the collection was limited to blue, gold, white, and [I'm not gonna lie] pretty simple styles, there was a flare in the sleeves, the embellishments, and the hot team of models who strutted down the runway.

For all the LA Fashion Week news that's fit to have online, visit darling Jen Uner's Fashion Week Calendar. If the shows are going to be all over the map, at least we've got Jen to track them for us.