A big city fashion experience awaits guests at Celebrating Couture 2012. The Globe Guilders and Neiman Marcus have lured the gifted fashion designer Monique Lhuillier’s fall collection to San Diego for a splendid runway show on August 7 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Lhuillier’s red carpet gowns are adored and worn with great pride by beauties like Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Swank, Drew Barrymore, and Lea Salonga, of Miss Saigon fame.
Fashionistas will be shown Lhuillier’s Fall 2012 collection, which will be pretty dramatic with a palette of red and black inspired by this Year of the Dragon. “Darker and more sultry” is the way the designer describes the collection. Prints have been influenced by lava and volcanic stories. The silhouette is lean and long, including sleeves so skinny they require zippers for getting in and out of.
Lhuillier studied at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, where she displayed an early interest in wedding gowns, but it was while she searched for her own wedding gown that she really became convinced she had something unique to offer. So, she launched her first bridal collection in 1996, to great reviews. The enthusiastic response provided the boost needed to establish her own couture design house.
In appreciation of Lhullier’s contributions to fashion, she was invited to be a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2003. In 2006, she received the Medal of Honor from Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Celebrating Couture 2012 chair is Christine Roberts, with Pat Whalen serving as honorary chair. (619/229-2090, www.globeguilders.org) DARLENE G. DAVIES
