First stop was the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising as they were holding their annual display of the costumes from this past year's movies nominated for Oscar Awards. Unfortunately we were not able to take pictures inside but we were impressed with several of the exhibits. Of particular interest was the exhibit this year from the movie Young Victoria. I've not yet seen the film but, being an American Civil War Reenactor, the costumes are of particular interest to me. The designer was allowed to see and handle several of Queen Victoria's original dresses held in trust in England as she designed her own inspirations. The exhibit did not disappoint! They had 6 dresses from the film and all of them were wonderfully done. There was only one dress wherein we were doubtful of the fabric choice and we both adamantly admired (as in want to create for ourselves) the Riding Habit. Also on display they had costumes from Sherlock Holmes, Where the Wild Things Are, Watchmen, as well as several others. Unfortunately this weekend is the last for this particular exhibit this year so I'll have to keep an eye out for next year's exhibit.
After that we headed to Mood Fabrics. ARP had heard about this store while watching an episode of Project Runway and was interested in seeing their fabric selection. I must say the price was not the only difference. While some of the fabrics were more pricey than what we are used to (consider it LA inflation) their selection was not to be beat. We spent a little over an hour just browsing and I'm sure there are fabrics we did not see. I have no doubt that the next time I'm looking for an elusive fabric for a project I'll have no problems finding it here. they have quite the exhaustive notions center as well so we enjoyed browsing a variety of buttons and other sundries. Neither of us made any fabric purchases but we both kept the place in mind for future searches.
Next stop was F&S Fabrics which was more on scale for what we are used to seeing in the Chicago area. Still they had quite a selection but not nearly as impressive as the first store. Prices were a little more reasonable though and with the helpful staff it was easy to see why they had been there so long.
At this point we were well down-town and it was getting into rush hour traffic time so we opted to finish our day out at a store we were both comfortable with - JoAnn Fabrics. Once again, no purchases but we spent some time wandering and just enjoying the options for a more reasonable price.
All in all it was a very good day! I'm sure we didn't really see the actual "Fashion District" because I had heard that it wasn't in the best areas of down-town and I can't complain about the location of the two stores we stopped at as they seemed to be more upscale. I think I'll definitely have to get in on one of the other trips heading to the "Fashion District" to see what all the fuss is about sometime in the future. But for now I'm content that I know more than one location to get fabric and stuff in the LA area.
1 comment:
Great write ups, D. Can't wait to visit them all!
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