LA Fashion Weak: LA Fashion Awards Cancelled

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Los Angeles mag's Chic Leak blog reports more LA Fashion Week disintegration. The LA Fashion Awards, in its fourth year, which recognized stand-outs in "retailing, marketing, denim, inspiration, and communication," has been cancelled after a sponsor pulled out. Writes LA mag editor Laurie Pike:

"Jen Uner (left), producer of the L.A. Fashion Awards, told me Friday she was 'heartbroken' that her plans to improve the show won’t be realized... Though the L.A. Fashion Awards came be known as fashion week’s wrap party, with every major player, including Mayor Villaraigosa, in attendance, the show itself never matched the energy of the boozy pre-party. Uner, cognizant of that unevenness, planned this year to make the awards ceremony shorter and the party longer."

The event, held Downtown at the Orpheum Theatre, honored everyone from Monique Lhuillier and Trina Turk to American Apparel's Dov Charney and J Brand jeans. Is this another nail in the coffin of LA Fashion Week? Like others that have covered LA Fash Week over the years, Pike feels change is necessary and this may just open the door to improvement: "The cancellation adds to the uncertainty about Fashion Week in the city right now. And maybe that’s not bad news. With corporate sponsorship drying up, fashion events might become more intimate and, I hope, more focused on the clothing than on the shiny car at the curb and the Hilton in the front row."
· L.A. Fashion Awards Bites the Dust [Chic Leak]
· LA Fashion Weak: Geren Ford to Show Spring '09 in NYC [Racked]
· Rumor Has It: LA Fashion Week On Its Last Legs [Racked]