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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided over a press conference at the California Market Center to speak about LA Fashion Week. He spoke about the industry from the business end and mentioned the jobs, the investments, and the amount of money bought into downtown LA every year. The mayor then went on to speak at length about Rock Fashion Week which is not based in LA. This seemed to be a disconnect while Leanna Lewis form Downtown LA Fashion Week, Mikey Koffman from LA Fashion Weekend, and several other LA based designers looked on.

Randolph Duke announced the winners of the Fashion Angels Awards, The Los Angeles Emerging Designer Competition presented by the The City of LA, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and Downtown LA Fashion Week where they will be showing their collections on the runway. The winners pictured above each with a model wearing their designs are Jacquetta O’dell and Krysta Henry, Phong Hong, and Fernanda Carneiro with Leanna Lewis in the middle. Some of the esteemed judges pictured above are Yotam Solomon, Nick Verreos, Louis Verdad, Vanessa Gonzalez, Randolph Duke, and Raymond Baltazar.

Designer Max Azria, Ilse Metchek, executive director of the California Fashion Association (CFA), and Cynthia Ruiz, fashion ambassador for the Mayor’s office, also spoke.

Following the press conference Mayor Villaraigosa, along with his staff, representatives from the CMC, and a few photographers, were invited on a tour of some of the showrooms. At the YMI temporary space he met with David Vered, President of YMI Jeanswear, and discussed the “City of Angels” collection. We then went up to the In Play Showroom, where the Mayor remarked that the clothes were so cute, they made him want to have a child. The third stop was the Liza Stewart showroom where collections from Maria Bianca Nero, and Sworn Virgins were viewed. The Mayor mentioned how great his girlfriend would look in a white dress by Maria Bianca Nero. The last stop was the BCBG Max Azria Group showroom. At each stop the Mayor discussed the importance of clothing designed and manufactured in Los Angeles and careful attention was given to those brands.