GenArt — LA Fashion Week, March 2004
A Los Angeles fashion week record from March 2004 — the GenArt emerging-designer showcase at LA Fashion Week in March 2004, kept as the historical record.
Continuing its commitment to emerging talent, the GenArt team chose three designers for March 2004 and presented their work in an avant-garde stage set and the nearby Gallery Ten9Fifty. What followed was the most theatrical — and most honestly reviewed — show of the week: ladders, coral shoals, snow bubbles, and a full moon over war-torn Goth.
The review below was reported from the show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week LA, March 2004. GenArt's April 2003 showcase — Louis Verdad and Jared Gold — is also in this section, and its March 2005 New Garde installation opened that season.
Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not photographs from these shows.
Three Designers, Three Stage Sets
Society For Rational Dress sent models up and down a highwire of ladders as lights dimmed, to sitar scrapings and clanging cowbells — a presentation the review records the audience drifting from, rescued by a beverage stand at the next rest stop, generously provided by Absolut. Madley staged ice-princess dropouts lounging on coral shoals and retired fishnets, snow bubbles drifting over abstract knitwear trimmed in seahorses and pearls. Cosa Nostra closed with the set that worked: war-torn Goth elements under an ominous full moon, zombie models emerging in slow motion from frosty branches in ripped tees, aviator caps and shredded furs, to Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit.
Why the GenArt Pages Matter
GenArt was the week's talent pipeline, and these reviews are valuable precisely because they are not press releases: they record what an emerging-designer showcase actually looked like from a seat in the room — the concepts that landed and the ones that lost the crowd. Cosa Nostra, the March 2004 standout here, graduated to its own headlining show by October 2007, documented elsewhere in this section.
The Review
Continuing its commitment to emerging talent, the GenArt team chose three designers this season and presented their work in an avant garde stage set and nearby Gallery Ten9Fifty. As the lights dimmed for Society For Rational Dress, models emerged on a highwire of ladders, vacantly climbing up and down. The audience seemed confused and began idle chatter, much as they would on a long bus ride through unscenic or barren landscape. . . Idle scrapings of a sitar and clanging cowbells comprised the soundtrack. Good thing there was a beverage stand at the next reststop generously provided by Absolut.
The Madley show featured ice princess dropouts from macram school, lounging on a set of coral shoals and retired fishnets, decorated with glittering chiffon ribbons. Snow bubbles drifted down on this abstract knitwear collection trimmed in seahorses and pearls. A pubescent dress-up fantasy gone mad.
The Cosa Nostra stylists created a clever set of war-torn Goth elements, complete with an ominous full moon and frosty branches. Zombie models emerged in slow-mo from the trees in ripped tees, aviator caps and shredded furs. Included in the soundtrack was Billie Holiday's macabre classic, Strange Fruit, and what strange fruit it was indeed!
Photos
Common Questions
Which designers did GenArt present in March 2004?
Three emerging designers: Society For Rational Dress, Madley and Cosa Nostra, staged in an avant-garde set and Gallery Ten9Fifty.
What was the standout March 2004 GenArt presentation?
Cosa Nostra's war-torn Goth set — an ominous full moon, frosty branches and slow-motion zombie models in ripped tees, aviator caps and shredded furs, to Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit.
Where was the GenArt March 2004 show held?
At Smashbox Studios and the nearby Gallery Ten9Fifty in Culver City, during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week LA.