Mike Vensel and Elliot 
Evan Debut Collections 

By Alex Stedman
BeansTalk Biz Contributor

One of the dresses of Vensel's 2013 Fall-Winter collection, Oblivion. 

Two Fall-Winter 2013 hotly anticipated collections were released at Siren Studios in West Hollywood Saturday, March 9, 2013, as a part of LA Concept Fashion Week.

Mike Vensel helped start LA Concept Fashion Week years ago and used the outlet he created to release his Fall-Winter 2013 collection, Oblivion. The runway show featured models in his iconic, classic, feminine designs. They strutted down the runway in formal monochrome dresses that featured pops of color throughout the show.

 Models wearing some of Evan's designs in his Never Forever, Uniform A collection at Siren Studios.

“I just try to design from the viewpoint of, ‘If I was a woman, what would I want to wear?’” Vensel says. “What is the ultimate dress? Or what is the ultimate minimal statement? Or the ultimate piece or the ultimate t-shirt, even? So I try to always think with these silhouettes, but always try to be kind of body conscious.”

The veteran designer is known for his feminine cuts and this collection featured what followers of his fashion are used to, but with touches of new flare, including one piece where an entire model’s face was covered.

LA Concept Fashion Week at Siren Studios in West Hollywood, where Mike Vensel and Elliot Evan, among others, debuted their 2013 Winter-Fall collections.

Vensel said LA Concept started as just him and a couple of friends believing shows could be done better, so they reached out to designers and sponsors and the event has grown over the years. Concept used to be held at Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills, but in recent years moved to Siren Studios.

“We want to kind of create something that’s consistent and known by people, and people are familiar with it, and it’s intimate and comfortable, and affordable for the designers,” he says.

 During the day, noted designers Jen Awad and Nikki Rich had runway shows to debut their newest collections. Vensel had the last show of the day.

Models showing off dresses in Vensel's Oblivion collection

LA Concept featured past designers, like Vensel, but also featured a newer designer named Elliot Evan, who Vensel endorsed as an “amazing up and coming designer.” The 26-year-old debuted his Fall-Winter Collection Never Forever, Uniform A at the same time as Vensel in a presentation that was part of a rooftop party at Siren Studios, complete with an open bar, a view of downtown Hollywood and tons of well-dressed young people.

Evan is known for his designs in menswear. The presentation featured male models in his signature sleek, sharp cuts. They stood for onlookers around motorcycles and crushes beer cans for props, and fog even eventually filled the room later in the evening.

“I’m just interested in who I am and I’m trying to see myself in an alternate universe,” Evan says of his menswear designs. “I’m trying to perfect it. That’s one of the biggest things, is like, me in the perfect world. And I’m just going to keep making that until it’s perfect.

The show also featured some women’s designs as well, though. Evan said he likes the softness of a woman and that woman’s designs can often be more androgynous.

Vensel said Evan has shown with him three times in the past six months. Evan also recently debuted at New York Fashion Week as well.

“Luckily, people liked what I made and seemed to be really positive,” Evan said of New York Fashion Week. “I had amazing models, amazing makeup, all those pieces of the puzzle came together and made a great show.”

(Photos by Alex Stedman)