Los Angeles label Alternative Apparel staged its first-ever runway show on Monday night at its new downtown Fashion District headquarters and showroom space on Spring Street, and the choice of a vintage circus motif to present its fall/winter 2010 "The Show Must Go On" collection couldn't have been a more appropriate theme for the chaotic big top atmosphere of Los Angeles Fashion Week.

Four blocks south of the maiden voyage of last-minute fashion week Concept  -- which boasted a colorful audience of its own (attendees at one show included a ghostly bleach blonde sporting a garish toy version of a Native American war bonnet, a camouflage-clad faux flower child and what may have been the world's oldest living Mohawk hairstyle framed by the glare of male pattern baldness) -- the familiar faces of fashion weeks past including Smashbox Studio's Davis Factor, Cameron Silver, Michael Baruch, and the ever--present and snapping Cobra Snake, mingled with Hollywood starlets like Lilly Collins and Nikki Reed.

This morning we received word that Reveal Los Angeles, the new hybrid runway show/fashion expo scheduled to launch March 20 during the California Market Center's fall market week, has been postponed until October. "It's due to the economic situation," said Sara Stein,the event's local PR representative, who said organizer IDG World Expo would have more information after the new year.
That news came right on the heels of Thursday night's conversation with Davis Factor, who informed us that the event he hopes will succeed Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios (recall that Smashbox and partner IMG announced they were parting ways after the last shows, which took place in Culver City from Oct. 12-16) is not likely to be a reality until later in 2009 either. "We’re trying to make something happen,” Factor told us. “But probably not in March -- it’s more likely that we’ll have an announcement in March about what we’re planning for October."
Which means that, with the exception of Gen Art (which is kind of its own animal), BOXeight, the scrappy upstart that launched just a year ago is the only game in town. (Although a website placeholder for Downtown L.A. Fashion Week boasts a March 2009 date, an organization by that name was planning an October 2008 event that never materialized, and an e-mail seeking additional information has yet to be returned.)
BOXeight's Pete Gurnz confirmed that it's all systems go. "We’re actually looking at a bigger warehouse,” he told us this morning. "It will be either four or five days and we plan on showcasing about 20 designers."
For those of you keeping score at home, that's only three short of last season's lineup at Smashbox Studios.
--adam.tschorn@latimes.com

Photo: An Eduardo Lucero outfit on the runway at the former St. Vibiana's Cathedral for BOXeight's inaugural event in October 2007. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, accompanied by his daughter Natalia, were among those trekking out to Culver City for Kevan Hall's show yesterday afternoon, the first show on the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios calendar, the first trip to the tents for both. Villaraigosa's presence was notable not for his support of the city's garment industry -- he's been spotted at BOXeight shows in the past and is slated to speak at "Downtown at Dusk," on Friday evening, a fashion event at the California Market Center on Friday, which marks the kickoff of L.A. Market Week -- but because in March, when we buttonholed Hizzoner at a fashion industry mixer on the back lawn of the official mayor residence (co-sponsored by the Image section), Villaraigosa said that though he was determined to have a Los Angeles Fashion Week in Los Angeles proper, he hadn't darkened the doorstep of the event, held at Dean and Davis Factor's Smashbox Studios on Warner Avenue in Culver City for one simple reason -- it was in Culver City.

That seems to have changed now that Smashbox co-owner and Fashion Week organizer Davis Factor announced in an exclusive interview last week that he was looking for a venue in the Hollywood area for next season -- the first the Factors will be helming solo since they partnered with IMG five years ago.

"They've decided to bring Fashion Week to Los Angeles," said Cynthia Ruiz, president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works who accompanied the mayor. "That's why we're here." Asked for a comment, Villaraigosa slowly bobbed his head and smiled.

"That's why," he said, before the crowd in the VIP lounge headed for the seats.

-- adam.tschorn@latimes.com

From left: Davis Factor, co-owner of Smashbox Studios, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Adam Paige, Department Manager Brand of Public Relations for Mercedes-Benz, in the VIP lounge at Smashbox Studios on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Adam Tschorn.