Last Monday I got to attend the first-ever Lucky FABB West conference at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica. I’m not a huge fan of L.A., but I love Santa Monica. Notable moments from the day include:
Zac Posen. Zac Posen was absolutely delightful and open about his career choices. And he had his first runway show through GenArt! Some gems from his conversation “Creativity always prevails”. “Sometimes perfectionism is your own worst enemy. You just have to birth it and let it go.” And on the topic of his controversial decision to show his collection in Paris, “showing in Paris was a risk, but I believe in taking risks in life, and it helped me grow as a designer.”
Jessica Alba. A wonderful lady, and down to earth. She noted that as an actress she was expected to come out with a perfume or a clothing line, not found a company that produces non-toxic baby products. Part of her motivation, in addition to being a new mom, was that 80,000 toxic chemicals are in the marketplace, yet only 9 are banned! Bravo to her choosing her own path, and making products safer at the same time.
What Hollywood Can Teach Fashion (panel). Jeannie Mai, left, had an incredibly inspiring story. Knowing she wanted to be on TV she came to L.A. to get representation, and sat in the lobby of William Morris for hours, waiting for an agent to have a free 5 minutes. There she met Wanda Sykes who ended up convincing an agent to see her. That’s the short version of the story, but her tenacity and determination was truly inspiring. It makes me wish I enjoyed her more on TV. A couple of her gems: “if you’ve got a dream and a vision, be relentless and you can make it happen.” “The voice inside of you that’s telling you to follow your dreams or do something crazy… listen to it!”
Janie Bryant & Kiernan Shipka. Something that Janie Bryant, costume designer for Mad Men, said really struck me: “[costume design] is about portraying the characters in an honest way, to tell their story.” I wonder, if each person used clothes to portray themselves honestly, what that would look like. Or does that even make sense for real people to do? Anyway, I also got to chat with her afterwards!!! We talked about the resurgence of attention to costumes and costume design in pop culture. She also told me about she was recently on a red carpet for a Turner Classic Movies event, and while everyone else was fawning over the newest crop of starlets, she was so tickled to classic movie mavens, like Hitchcock heroine Tippi Hedren. And this happened.
Elizabeth Banks. Elizabeth Banks is hilarious. And incredibly smart. I was alternately wowed by her jokes and her nuggets of wisdom.
Andrea Lieberman. Designer turned stylist, back to designer of A.L.C. As a stylist her philosophy was “the right dress on the right girl, at the right time.” Remember J. Lo in that dress? Andrea Lieberman was behind that. In our breakout session we got to have a Q&A where she discussed her inspirations – “what to put in my suitcase”, her design philosophy – “an L.A. lifestyle with an NYC sensibility”, and her favorite part of the design process – “being in fittings when something evolves is like putting a puzzle together.”
Randi Zuckerberg. I knew Randi during my days at Facebook, it was such a delight to be around her again. Her energy, friendliness and enthusiasm is refreshing and energizing at the same time. She’s working on a new media venture and I’m excited to see what more she accomplishes!
What's your opinion?