Concept Day Three: The Looks Are Mostly Neutral, But We Aren't

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• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Bryan Hearns
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Jen Awad
• Mila
• Mila
• Mila
• Mila
• Mila

The third and final night of Concept was a rollercoaster of emotions for us—while some of the runway looks made us want to stand up and applaud, some of them had us seriously cringing and averting our eyes.

Bryan Hearns kicked off the night with a predominantly neutral collection using lots of interesting and textured fabrics, which we liked. The tailoring on some of the tops and skirts was great, loose but flatteringly cut at the same time. The crochet and lace looks were delicate and feminine. However, there were some awkward-looking crop tops that didn't impress us, random metallic fabrics, plus a leather dress that looked like a sorority girl's after-shower towel wrap.

The second show featured a Concept veteran, Jen Awad, whose collection started off as meh and slowly descended into OH GIRL NO. Up close, the fabrics looked incredibly cheap, the tailoring slapdash and amateur, and the cuts awkward and unflattering. The neutral looks were somewhat okay, the swimwear was great, but the multi-color dresses with their weird circle theme going on were just unfortunate trainwrecks. And the glitter bustles were absolutely heinous tacked onto the backs of some of the dresses.

Project Runway alum Mila presented the final collection of the night, featuring loosely draped looks and lots of sheer fabrics. We have to admit, at the start of the show we thought the geometric crop leggings were terrible, but by the end of the show we wanted a pair of the dark ones. We loved the fabric treatments, the prints and the neutral color palette, although we thought the random leather panels didn't mix well with the softer fabrics (we get that it was supposed to be a contrast, we just don't think it worked). And the blue leather biker shorts were a bit scary. But overall the looks were feminine and flowing and much different from what we saw from Mila on the show.

On the one hand, we saw some looks at Concept that make us understand why people make fun of LA Fashion Week. But on the other, we saw a lot of clean designs and unique inspirations that reminded us of the promise and the real fashion that our city holds.
· Bryan Hearns [Official Site]
· Jen Awad [Official Site]
· Mila [Official Site]