Yana K. is new for fall

After attending Eduardo Lucero's runway show at the beginning of Los Angeles's fashion week, I thought I was a seasoned pro at attending stylish events like these. Boy, was I wrong!

On Saturday, March 24, I arrived fashionably late (I've learned these events never begin on time) at the California Market Center (CMC) in downtown Los Angeles, ready to tackle my second experience attending one of these fashion-centered events.

Arriving at Russian-born Yana Khromova's fashion show, I immediately noticed how different it was from Lucero's show. The CMC boasted a more contemporary design compared to the classical look of the Los Angeles Theater. The new marketplace for fashion, home and gifts, the CMC is composed of three 13-story wings with more than a thousand showrooms, making it the perfect venue for Yana K. to debut her fall 2007 collection.

Unlike Lucero's designs, Yana K.'s "Back to Basics" collection displayed a more fun and bold style, pairing simple cashmere sweaters with wildly patterned tights and high stiletto heels that one model lost while strutting down the catwalk. Besides the flashy tights that most of the models adorned, each of them wore head wraps that coordinated with their outfits, sometimes even matching the fabric of the shirt or dress they were wearing.

Only 22 years old, Yana K. would make any young undergrad feel unaccomplished. Just a year older than me, this young designer has conquered the fashion scene, especially that of Los Angeles, as she has been one of the favorite designers of the young Hollywood scene. Yana aims more toward the 20-something female demographic, and the guests at her show proved just that as some even showed off their own Yana K. designs from her Spring 2007 collection.

Sitting in front of my friend and I was a young girl that most everyone would probably recognize from the Missy Elliot videos, including "Gossip Folks" and "Work It." Yes, that cute little girl, Alyson Stoner, who can bust a move or two, seemed so grown up that I barely knew it was her. Then again, she was all dolled up in a Yana K. dress that pretty much made her look like Little Bo Peep. Perhaps she should stick to acting and dancing and leave modeling to the professionals.

My favorite Yana K. accessories were the different purses that some models paired with their trendy outfits. Varying in colors and textures, Yana K.'s purses range from a small, fitting accessory for a formal dinner to larger purses in which a girl can possibly fit her whole life-one that definitely suits my own style. Though the focus of her fall 2007 show was definitely the clothes, I couldn't help but give more of my attention to the purses that adorned the models' arms, almost to the point of wanting to impulsively purchase one…or a few.

Yana K definitely designs clothes that are more fitting for the everyday "out on the town" look, rather than the formal gowns that would typically be seen down red carpets or at a debutante ball. Instead, her collection embodies clothes that are wearable for work, much like the shawls and sweater dresses that composed most of her fall 2007 collection, to outfits that can be worn when hitting the LA club scene, such as a sequined white dress with black zigzag lines.

Although most of Yana K.'s fall designs were very trendy and cute, two words I used quite often during the show as each model unveiled another design were "no, no," as there were some outfits that fell quite short of being considered fashionable, in my eyes, for any event. Case in point is a short, gold, brown and crème dress that was composed of ruffles from the top of the dress to the bottom hem. The model may have very well worn a curtain down the catwalk instead of this thing called a "dress." Ironically enough, someone would probably shell out several hundreds of dollars for this catastrophic and hideous design.

While there were a few designs that I thought fell short of my standards, overall Yana K.'s designs are ones to look out for. She certainly has a niche for making everyday styles look more glamorous and making grandma's old sweater appear back in style again. This 22-year-old designer is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with in the fashion show world.