The New Mart showroom building, along with the California Market Center and the Cooper Design Space in Los Angeles’ Fashion District, announced Jan. 19 that they would produce February market weeks Feb. 8–10 and Feb. 15–18. The New Mart announcement advised its tenants that participation in these in-person shows is voluntary.
The Designers and Agents trade show announced Jan. 19 that it would cancel its in-person show scheduled to take place in March in Los Angeles due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. D&A will produce a virtual trade show on the website
designersandagents.digital. D&A does intend to produce an in-person show in New York City Sept. 18–20.
DESIGN DEBUT Nick Verreos, Contributing Writer | Thursday, January 21, 2021
Photo Gallery
Photos by Whitney Sutherland
Producing a full-scale fashion show was not an easy task pre-pandemic, so imagine the challenges now. That is exactly the dilemma I encountered this past year as co-chair of the Fashion Design Department at the
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising when we had to make a decision about our famed
FIDM Debut show.
At FIDM, we have a unique program the Advanced Study in Fashion Design where approximately 10 handpicked graduates of the Associate of Arts program spend an additional nine months creating their first capsule collections, from sketch to final garment. The culmination of this premier program is the Debut show, where the students’ final collections are showcased on a grand runway stage.
As retailers sought to refresh inventory, they found lines such as the Lana Collection at CMC’s Sharon Koshet Sales (above), shirts including tie-dye styles at the New Mart’s Tramever Inc. Showroom (below)
As Los Angeles County continued to grapple with surging COVID-19 numbers, apparel businesses worked together to fortify their operations. During
L.A. Market Week, which was held Jan. 10–14 in downtown Los Angeles, showrooms welcomed buyers to view lines in person while they also afforded the option of online meetings via
Zoom. At the
Cooper Design Space and
The New Mart, business was not conducted as usual, but it was performed to the best of everyone’s ability under sanitary and secure conditions.