LA Designers Favor Black for Fall

West Coast designers presented their fall collections this week in Los Angeles. Although Los Angeles isn’t the fashion capital that New York is, there’s a very active and thriving group of designers and clothing manufacturers based in and around Los Angeles.

Runway shows at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios had a decidedly dark focus, which California Apparel News attributed to the “macabre mood of this year’s Oscar-nominated films,” although it’s more common than not for a dark palette to dominate fall and winter fashion.

Red, black, gray, and white were preferred colors for several designers. Bow & Arrow’s Alan Del Rosario punctuated his collection with hot pink, rather than red, while Lauren Conrad included a few very dark colors, green and aubergine, in a collection that featured black and white. See some of the collections featured at Smashbox:

• Alexis Lamontagna
• Bow & Arrow by Alan Del Rosario
• Imasu by Kelly Nishimoto
• Lauren Conrad Collection
• Nicholai

Pictured: Model in black dress from Lauren Conrad Collection for fall 2008.
Photo Credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images