Downtown Designers Get A "Walk" Of Their Very Own

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There's no questioning the impact that Downtown LA's monthly Art Walk has had on the neighborhood's gallery owners and artists, and next month, the local fashion crowd is hoping to recreate some of the buzz for itself. Noted Downtown advocate Brady Westwater is currently developing the first ever Downtown Fashion Walk for Thursday, August 20, during which stores and studios will stay open late and "special events" will be held. Westwater tells us the walk will be focused on the region bordered by 4th, 7th, Broadway and Main streets—for those with poor geography, it's the neighborhood that includes shops like Skin.Graft and M'ouments (formerly the Comme des Garcons guerrilla store).

An official list of participants is still being compiled, but we hear it already includes a mix of well-known shops and what Westwater calls "quirky, odd things" like a store with an unusually large collection of baseball hats. "It was originally just going to be a map, but the last Art Walk was just phenomenal and we changed our minds," says Westwater, who has long had a hand in filling the area's empty storefronts with boutiques and galleries, all while helping to bring BOXEight Fashion Week to Downtown LA. Fashion Walk will debut on the same night as another event Westwater is curating, the Broadway Walk, which will showcase all manner of performing and visual arts up and down the street.
· Join the Broadway Walk! And Fashion Walk Too! [LA Cowboy]