Naqada by Octavio Carlin — LA Fashion Week, April 2003
A Los Angeles fashion week record from April 2003 — the Naqada presentation by Octavio Carlin at LA Fashion Week in April 2003, kept as the historical record.
In a suite at The Standard, nineteen sexy dresses and slinky separates were shown to the groovy beats of a live bongo trio, accompanied by tequila shots from the designer's native Mexico. The April 2003 Naqada presentation worked a single theme — Italian Baroque print silk — with the focus and confidence of a much larger show.
The review below was reported from the presentation by Debra Stevenson of The Skyline Studios, the West Coast Bureau for Apparel Search. Naqada's suite show, dated Tuesday, April 1, 2003 on the week's calendar, is the April 2003 season's intimate counterpoint to its tent shows.
Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not photographs from this show.
One Print, Nineteen Ways
A parade of form-fitted sheaths worked the Baroque print against contrasting pastel accents: flirty fishtails, plunging halter necklines, cutaway capris and wide tap pants with peek-a-boo side slits. The review calls it a youthful interpretation of after-5 dressing — tanned bellies, taught hips, bright peacock eye shadow — and names the designer's signature in a phrase: a sultry sense of estilo tropical.
The Suite as Showroom
Naqada's format was the other half of fashion week's economy. Away from the tents, a hotel suite, live music and a designer's own hospitality turned a presentation into a selling room: buyers and press close enough to touch the silk, the designer in the room, the collection's whole story told in nineteen pieces. Several April 2003 shows used the pattern; this review is its fullest surviving account.
The Standard's suites hosted several of the week's presentations that season, but Naqada's is the one the coverage describes in full — the music, the hospitality and the clothes in a single frame. For buyers, the format had a practical virtue: nineteen pieces can be examined, priced and ordered in one sitting, which is more than a tent show of sixty looks usually allows.
The Review
In a suite at The Standard, nineteen sexy dresses and slinky separates were shown to the groovy beats of a live bongo trio, accompanied by tequila shots from the designers native Mexico. This parade of form-fitted sheaths worked on a single theme of Italian Baroque print silk, paired with contrasting pastel accents. A youthful interpretation of After 5 dressing showcased tanned bellies and taught hips with flirty fishtails, plunging halter necklines, cutaway capris, and wide tap pants with peek-a-boo side slits. Fresh-faced models grooved to the beats in bright peacock eye shadow and conveyed the designer's sultry sense of estilo tropical.
Photos
Common Questions
Where was Naqada shown in April 2003?
In a suite at The Standard hotel in downtown Los Angeles, on Tuesday, April 1, 2003, during LA Fashion Week.
What did Octavio Carlin show for Naqada?
Nineteen dresses and separates in Italian Baroque print silk with pastel accents: form-fitted sheaths, fishtails, plunging halter necklines, cutaway capris and wide tap pants.
How was the Naqada presentation staged?
As an intimate suite show with a live bongo trio and tequila from the designer's native Mexico, with fresh-faced models in bright peacock eye shadow.