Joe's Jeans — LA Fashion Week, March 2004
A Los Angeles fashion week record from March 2004 — the Joe's Jeans show at LA Fashion Week in March 2004, kept as the historical record.
Joe's Jeans showed at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week LA in March 2004, in the first official week produced jointly by 7th on Sixth and Smashbox Studios. The show is documented here in its runway photograph, carried in the Photos section — a single frame of the premium denim label on the week's main stage.
Premium denim was Los Angeles fashion's signature export in 2004, and the March season's coverage is full of it: Frankie B.'s low-rise empire growing into charmeuse and tweed, the first True Religion showing at the Mondrian Suites satellite, and Joe's Jeans — among the labels that had turned five-pocket jeans into a luxury category — on the official calendar.
Illustrative image created for this guide — an artistic impression, not photographs from this show.
Denim on the Official Calendar
A jeans label headlining a fashion week tent was a Los Angeles statement. New York's calendar ran on eveningwear and tailored sportswear; LA's ran, proudly, on denim — washed, fitted and priced like couture. Joe's Jeans belonged to the generation of Los Angeles brands that built that category in the early 2000s, selling fit and finish through premium boutiques, and its place on the March 2004 Smashbox calendar is the official record of denim's status in the city's fashion economy.
The Photographic Record
Some March 2004 shows survive in full written reviews; this one survives in its photograph. The frame is kept complete, as the season's record: the styling, the fit and the presentation of a denim collection on the main runway, in the week the official Los Angeles calendar consolidated at Smashbox Studios. The March 2004 overview page, linked from here, carries the season's full story and its nine show reports.
The Show
Joe's Jeans showed at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week LA in March 2004 at Smashbox Studios. The runway photograph carried with this page documents the show.
Photos
Common Questions
When did Joe's Jeans show in Los Angeles?
At Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week LA in March 2004, at Smashbox Studios in Culver City.
How is the Joe's Jeans show documented?
In its runway photograph, carried in the Photos section of this page.
Why was denim important at LA Fashion Week?
Premium denim was Los Angeles fashion's signature category in 2004 — labels such as Joe's Jeans and Frankie B. had turned fitted five-pocket jeans into a luxury product, and they held places on the official calendar.