When I entered room #43 at the Chateau Marmont at 10AM Saturday morning, I felt a bit as though I had trespassed into a young woman’s room… she had packed too many clothes for her short trip to Los Angeles, and she simply had them sorted on racks in the living room area. Perhaps the night before she had some friends over, sipping St. Germain cocktails and sampling bite-sized desserts-her friends, of course, also then helped her decide her outfit for the next day, while they modeled a few pieces themselves.

Supermodel and super-diva Naomi Campbell has never been known to be someone who … does anything discreetly, and for a while, her temper preceded her model status. But all of that was just dismissed as tabloid history as Campbell and IMG Fashion prepare for their latest Fashion For Relief’s “Mai Mumbai”. “Mai Mumbai” will take place during Lakme Fashion Week, India’s bi-annual fashion week, which is gaining traction on a global scale. About India, Campbell says, “I am honoured to be working with IMG Fashion on Fashion For Relief’s ‘Mai Mumbai’. I love India and have always felt very welcome when visiting the country. When the terrorist attacks happened last year my heart went out to the people of Mumbai.” Founded just 4 years ago by Campbell herself, Fashion For Relief had previously organized a runway show in New York, raising more than $1 million dollars for Hurricane Katrina relief.

A commemorative coffee table book, a documentary and Legion d’Honneur may not have been enough to keep master couturier and designer Valentino Garavani in retirement. In ways I suppose we all knew he would be bored (or unfulfilled) basking in the sun all day, working on his orange complexion.

As we know, mass retailer/knock-off giant Forever 21 has already succeeded in its North American takeover, most notably by occupying the 100,000 space in Times Square once belonging to a Virgin Megastore. Now, the LA-based clothing company is headed for Asia.

Editors and buyers may have skimped out on the New York, London and Milan shows due to the costs of traveling, but all the front-row regulars were present in the City of Light for Paris Fashion Week.

Watchful eyes were on Valentino’s Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, delivering their sophomore collection, and Balmain’s Christophe Decarnin, who had to somehow top his much-raved-about Spring 2009 collection. Perhaps expectations were too heavy on the three, as Chiuri and Piccioli’s collection drew yawns from the front-row, and Decarnin’s collection was simply an extension (a dull one at that) of his Spring line.

If you’ve been keeping up with the Fall 2009 fashion shows, you should have caught sight of how much leather and fur have dominated the runway. And as any ardent fashionista or fashion fan would know, PETA is usually front-row, red paint in hand, ready to jump on the next fur-infested concoction sent down the catwalk.

The LA Fashion Week sponsored by Mercedes-Benz has been canceled for a while now, but a lack of funds and celebrity roster is not preventing fashionweekla.com from proudly stating that “LA Fashion Week” is March 13-20. It’s nice to see that local designers may have an outlet to showcase their fall collections, if they choose to participate in a runway show, but it’s unfortunate that the “week” is rather unorganized.

Being a fashion designer in itself is already not environmentally friendly. Designers create; the process involves materials that must come from somewhere, and production requires energy. It is difficult to achieve this balance, but a special panel held last Monday at the Hammer Museum zeroed in on the future of luxury fashion and sustainability.
Vogue’s features director Sally Singer mediated the discussion among four notable designers in the Los Angeles area: Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte, Adriano Goldschmied, Tom Binns and Christina Kim of Dosa. All four designers specialized in some form …