LA Fashion Week: Le Sang des Betes, Julia Clancey, Whitley Kros

If the runways of Paris and Milan are akin to a gourmet meal, LA fashion is more like comfort food—after all, luxury sweats and perfectly worn-in jeans are not exactly the pinnacle of sophistication. However, the first three days of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week here have seen an unexpected level of refinement, with influences spanning decades and continents.

Gen Art's New Garde honorees, fêted on Friday and now showcased in Silverlake's A + R boutique, were the first to set the time-traveling mood that emerged in the tents this weekend. Jesse Kamm featured a collection reminiscent of '70s Ralph Lauren and YSL, with pleated trousers, safari jumpsuits and hand-sketched ethnic prints, while JMary's demi-couture pieces combined disco's halter necklines and ultra-wide trousers with noir-ish plunging backs and sharp pleating. Meanwhile, Le Sang des Betes fast-forwarded to the future via a sci-fi lineup of cut-out vests and second-skin trousers, with swooping collars inspired by 18th-century gothic architecture.

Smashbox veteran Kelly Nishimoto opened Sunday's shows with romantic velvet, ruffles and woven ribbons, while, despite an un-glamorous detour in US customs, British designer Julia Clancey exuberantly merged Old Hollywood glamour—white furs, dark sunglasses and tiered, bow-cinched gowns—with black Deco beading. Whitley Kros designers Marissa Ribisi and Sophia Coloma channeled "Melanie Griffith in Working Girl traveling through Berlin and Paris, listening to Nirvana" by way of silk harem pants, checkerboard cocktail dresses, military jackets and spatter-painted jeans. It sounds bizarre but somehow made perfect sense, with the resounding approval of the front row ingenues as proof. Finally, Orthodox's Eric Niccoli launched his first women's collection, mixing soft, brush-stroke prints with harder leather and zip detailing—a combination that's sure to please the label's urban intellectual fan base.

—Erin Magner