Los Angeles Fashion Week, under new ownership since the beginning of the year, is hoping to make this season, Oct. 6 to 9, a turning point for the event.

This time around, only about half of the designers will be staging typical runway shows while the others are choosing to present their collections via immersive experiences and parties during the four-day event starting Thursday.

“All these different brands are showing in their own way,” said Ciarra Pardo, the cofounder of N4XT Experiences and president of LA Fashion Week. At the beginning of the year, the new company acquired L.A. Fashion Week for an undisclosed sum from the fashion show’s founder, Arthur Chipman, who has stayed on as a producer.

One of those different ways of showing fashion will take place at the Fleur du Mal presentation. The New York lingerie and ready-to-wear brand is partnering with the House of Yes, a New York company that is part nightclub and part circus theater, to create different activations. “You can be standing there having a cocktail, listening to music and all of a sudden there are two actors wearing Fleur du Mal,” Pardo said. “They are creating a wild, beautiful and amazing boudoir experience.”

Pardo’s vision is to rely more on off-runway events, up-and-coming designers and tech to revamp the semiannual shows.  

With that in mind, L.A. Fashion Week will no longer be held at the Petersen Automotive Museum, its home since 2018.

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