A Jaw-dropping Fashion Week El Paseo FIDM Debut 2010
A bright, young star soars on the Fashion Week El Paseo runway.
BY ERIN WEINGER

I already have orders from some of the models, said budding knitwear designer and recent FIDM grad Julia Nish. The California native's collection of knits was the standout showing of Fashion Week El Paseo's FIDM Debut 2010, which featured collections by nine of the school's third-year design students.

And Nish, whose jaw-dropping designs resembled what would surely be the love child of a Rodarte/missoni romp, took home a prize among her peers as Most Creative.

This one took me three days to make, Nish said, holding up a black and green chunky, zigzag textured sweater. The designer works almost exclusively in alpaca, sourcing mini-mills up and down the west coast where the material is spun. She then dyes the yarn by hand.

Alpaca is just so superior to wool, she said. Did you know that it's seven-times warmer?

On the runway, Nish's 1970s-style sweater dresses some long and belted, others short and tight mingled with fuzzy capulets, butterfly sleeve sweater tops that would look at home in front of a Park City fireplace and authentic-looking ponchos that could have descended from the mountains of Peru.

Coincidentally, one of Nish's dreams is to travel to South America and meet the furry beasts whose coats comprise her handiwork.

But I want everything to be made in the U.S. That's really important to me.

Currently, Nish is working on a T-shirt line with Long Beach-based Matte Black and, though FIDM technically owns her current knit collection for the next year, hopes to get her sweaters into the hands of shoppers as soon as possible. That should be no problem, seeing as how she has an interested investor only a week after graduating from FIDM's knitwear program.

I just want to make them as fast as I can, she said. I hate when it's time to stop.

View photos at A Jaw-dropping Fashion Week El Paseo FIDM Debut 2010

Learn more about FIDM.

Fashion Week El Paseo Day 2 Designer Inspiration Like the desert's own personal Project Runway challenge, night number two of Fashion Week El Paseo took a decidedly do-it-yourself twist. Only instead of aspiring fashion designers competing for the affections of supermodel Heidi Klum, this group was comprised of 23 of the desert's leading interior designers tempting their fate in front of a panel including ex-catwalkers Beverly Johnson and Cheryl Tiegs.
Fashion Event Article Posted April 1, 2010

El Paseo Retailers Fashion Week Runway Looking Hot It takes a lot of chutzpah to pull off a runway show featuring 16 retail stores ranging from children's wear to jewelry and everything in between. But that's exactly what Palm Springs Life Fashion Director Susan Stein did last night at Runway Bar El Paseo, the official kickoff to Fashion Week El Paseo.
Fashion Event Article Posted April 1, 2010

Ethnic Flair Marks
Islands
Runway Show at Fashion Week El Paseo Truth be told, of anything listed on Fashion Week El Paseo's weeklong lineup, we were most excited for the Islands of the World runway presentation, which took place last night under the big white fashion tent in Palm Desert. Why? Because everywhere you look, from popular fashion blogs such as Jak and Jil to the pages of Elle to the streets of Los Angeles, ethnic tribal dressing is in full effect.
Fashion Event Article Posted April 1, 2010

Hip Beachwear Men's Night Wins the Crowd Oh, this guy is hot, said an attendee of last night's Jamie Paul Holahan show at Fashion Week El Paseo. She was of course referring to the models, particularly the dudes, who stole the show away from the clothes.
Fashion Event Article Posted April 1, 2010

Colleen Quen Puts El Paseo on the Fashion World's Map  Being at Colleen Quen's runway show Saturday night the marquee event of Fashion Week El Paseo make one feel like they were some place other than in the desert. The designer's masterful, exotic eveningwear transported the audience to a catwalk in New York, or even Paris, where the materials are lush, the tailoring impeccable, and the designs eye-popping in an artful, organic way.
Fashion Event Article Posted April 1, 2010

Learn more about international fashion week events.