On the closing night of LA Style Fashion Week, guests were greeted by a vibrant atmosphere, including enthusiastic sponsors, couture vendors, and an intriguing presentation-format showing of the featured designers’ work. Models lined a platform at the rear of the venue where viewers could admire the garments selected for preview while they awaited the start of the show.

Canadian designer Roxanne Nikki opened the show – if slowly – with her high-fashion, yet functional line. The mood was methodical, if not outright sluggish. The models’ controlled poise matched the ambiance of the show with hair teased high and up off their face, and they walked to slow and steady music, one model at a time.

Nikki’s work focused on texture. Though her runway was at times livened up with furs, baroque-inspired luxury fabrics, and the occasional sheer piece, Nikki relied on the always-classic leather to support her line, a choice indicative of the overall ambience of her show; solid and steady but not particularly groundbreaking or fast-paced.

Up next was the more upbeat show by Bryan Hearns, which opened with slightly more flair than the previous show, both in the models' styling and walks, and in the music choices. Hearns’ line featured unique combinations of separates with an emphasis on flirty A-line mini-skirts and structured vests and jackets.

Hearns, too, dabbled in the mixing of creative textures and editing, mixing everything from metals and dreamy chiffon-like skirts, leather corsets and fringed bottoms, and high-shine materials with sheer paneling.

The star of the night and crowd favorite, however, was beloved Filipino designer Michael Cinco, who drew gasps from the audience from the showing of his very first statement piece, which set the tone for a line obviously built from passion and intense craftsmanship.

Cinco’s work was a breathtaking procession of futuristic bodysuits and form-fitting couture gowns. His dresses were an enchanting combination of intricate embroidering and sequinning on sheer or lace canvases.

The models had their hair slicked back, which allowed viewers to focus on the beauty of the garments. This ability was necessary considering that the show was full of surprises, including a pair of bodysuits whose snoods (hoods) were magically released and transformed into slitted floor-length skirts halfway down the runway.

The collection was produced in all black with but two touches of red, one being a heavenly embroidered and feathered gown, and the other being the finale piece. It was a sequined and hooded gown that began red at the top and became black on a downward gradient. When the model turned at the end of the runway, she exposed a flamenco-worthy ruffled train, bringing the audience to their feet cheering.

Technically, the third element of red was a single rose impulsively thrown onto the runway by an audience member for Cinco during the finale walk, a heartfelt touch of red that the designer could not have planned better himself.

Though Roxanne Nikki and Bryan Hearns were for the most part delightful to watch, it was the work of Michael Cinco that truly made the closing of LA Style Fashion Week a success.

Reach Staff Reporter Renee Swanberg here. Follow her on Twitter here.

 

Roxanne Nikki

Bryan Hearns

Michael Cinco