An Underdog Fashion City, Los Angeles Is More Stylish Than You Think

For decades, New York City has sustained itself as America’s fashion nucleus. From the schools (Parsons, FIT) to the PR powerhouses (Karla Otto, KCD) and the European brand outposts (Balenciaga, Saint

Laurent, Burberry, to name a few), the city houses a complex network of editors, designers, brands, and the PR managers that build them up. But like most things, fashion isn’t stagnant. The arrival of COVID, a racial reckoning, and bankruptcies of long-standing labels are just a few of the recent events that have completely transformed the status quo. New ways to reach consumers and shifting tastes have also upended the steeped traditions of the current ecosystem. Twenty-twenty taught us that creativity can flourish anywhere, even beyond the four walls of a splashy Madison Avenue building or a warehouse loft in Brooklyn.   

For many, Los Angeles has been the alternative. With unfettered access to the blue waves of the Pacific Ocean and a laid-back way of doing things, the appeal of L.A. is not hard to understand. But despite its proximity to the armored glamour of Hollywood, the perception of L.A. as a second-rate fashion city has been difficult to shake. In the eyes of the movers and shakers, it’s the younger, less self-assured sibling struggling to catch up with the older kids of New York, Paris, Milan, and London. 

A bit of promise peaked in 2017, the year Rachel Comey, Tommy Hilfiger, Dior, and Vetements decided to host major presentations and activations on the West Coast. And when Tom Ford ditched New York in favor of the celebrity red carpet connections of L.A. in 2020, the city seemed poised to enter the proverbial fashion ring as a real contender. But by the next season, the traction ground to a halt. It wasn’t just L.A. trying to find its footing; it was the entire fashion industry. A yearlong absence of in-person runway shows posed the question of whether we need them at all: the ostentatious (and often wasteful) sets and bloated front rows, all in pursuit of a quick viral moment, are just a few of the complaints critics lodge about the traditional format.