Mercedes Benz Fashion Week LA Sponsorship — March 2005

For immediate release, March 10, 2005: the Los Angeles Art Association and Apparel Search announced their debut collaboration during the upcoming Mercedes Benz Fashion Week LA — a co-sponsored presentation for avant-garde apparel firm San Paredes, designed by Paul Magalad. Event contact: Debra Stevenson, 213-624-1070, debra@theskylinestudios.com.

The Event

The Paul Magalad / San Paredes show was set for March 17, 2005, from 7:30pm to 10pm, at Gallery 825, 825 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069. The installation show was to integrate live models, abstract art and a guest DJ — a gallery party rather than a conventional runway presentation, staged inside the Los Angeles Art Association's own exhibition space.

Australian-born Paul Magalad creates the iconoclastic San Paredes collection, counting Hilary Swank, Marissa Tomei and Shirley Manson among his adventurous supporters. He outfitted Mrs. Hubert Davis on the red carpet (2005 Oscar nomination, Hardwood) and Lindsey Lohan in Freaky Friday. His guerrilla-style show during October's Fashion Week had taken place in a Chinatown parking lot and was featured on PBS: The Huell Hauser Show — a designer entirely comfortable outside the standard fashion-week format.

The Two Co-Sponsors

The Los Angeles Art Association hosts two exhibition spaces, on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles and at its Annex at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica. In its 80th year, it provides emerging, undiscovered artists and the public with unique exhibitions and programs, and a forum for exchange and education through lectures, workshops and networking opportunities.

Apparel Search, a leading online resource for the fashion industry, provides free data and links to all major fashion publications. Founded in New York, the organization covers and reports on fashion events nationwide. It had long been the company's goal to increase support for West Coast fashion, and this co-sponsorship with the Los Angeles Art Association signaled the first of many future collaborations.

The Producer, and the Night Itself

The show was produced by The Skyline Studios, a full-service design firm in the Fashion District, founded two years earlier by Carlos Alberto Gutierrez and Debra Stevenson, offering interdisciplinary support to the interiors, graphics and fashion communities. “We design for many brands showing during Fashion Week,” Stevenson said, “but hosting this event is a more visceral way of showcasing local talent.”

Full capacity attendance was expected at the gallery party, which coincided with the Marc Jacobs store opening and the Coco Kliks event at Bliss, both on the same night and only two blocks away; buyers and members of the press were encouraged to take advantage of the proximity and attend all three festive soirées. The announcement was issued over the name of Debra Stevenson, The Skyline Studios, West Coast Bureau, Apparel Search, 308 E. Ninth Street, Suite 311, Los Angeles, CA 90015 — telephone 213.624.1070, fax 213.624.1107, web portfolio www.theskylinestudios.com.