Designer basking in show pressure, beach memories.

DESIGNER Corey Lynn Calter was facing the logistical challenge of her career: trying to dress 26 models in 50 outfits within 15 minutes.

It may have been the best quarter-hour she ever spent.

"It's important for people to see your vision," Calter said. "They can look at a collection on a rack, but then they don't see the whole picture. When you pull it all together in a runway show, you get to express what it all means to you."

For many Los Angeles designers like Calter, who has produced two runway shows in the 10 years since graduating from New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, such events have been rare.

They are becoming less so, however, with the decision by New York's 7th on Sixth Inc., a division of international event promoter IMG World, to be part of L.A.'s Fashion Week, a series of shows, benefits and parties running from Oct. 27 to Nov. 6,

Both 7th on Sixth and Culver City-based Smashbox will host about 35 shows each at this year's Fashion Week, a far cry from the 170 produced in New York this season, but a boon nonetheless to the more than 60 L.A. designers who are showing this season.

And because the firms are charging designers a relatively modest $1,000 to $5,000 to show their wares, and also providing a variety of corporate sponsorships that defray the cost of everything from make-up to models, even a few New York-based designers are coming to L.A.

"For me it's a success that people came and it didn't cost us a ton of money to do," said Calter, who would only say that the show cost a fraction of what it would in New York. "The amount we spent we definitely made back in sales and press contacts."

Presence and pressure

Davis Factor, 43-year-old co-owner of Smashbox, where Calter's show was held on Oct. 27, described the designer as "more than up-and-coming, but not yet Ralph Lauren."

That kind of talk, and the presence of reporters and photographers from Vogue, InStyle and The New York Times, ratcheted up the pressure on the 34-year-old Calter the hour before the show.

To set the stage for her Spring collection, modeled after childhood memories of vacations to Coney Island and the Jersey shore, she played sounds of seagulls and crashing waves as guests filed into a tent at Smashbox Studios in Culver City. There was a faint smell of Coppertone and a booth near the entrance that handed out pink and blue cotton candy.

"It was about looking back and fondly remembering those family vacations that as a kid you hated," she said. "The whole thing is a reflection of my times on Coney Island and remembering all the Italian girls on the boardwalk wearing ruffled sundresses and gold chains."

As show time neared, the models shifted away from the mirrors, some catching a cigarette break under a prominently posted "No Smoking" sign, others lounging at a snack table of fruit plates, crackers and dips while sipping bottles of Evian.

Forty-five minutes before the first model was to walk down the catwalk, Calter stood near a staging area for the photographers, as models walked past her one-by-one, pausing for a final inspection.

At 9 p.m., a half-hour late, the lights dimmed and models started strutting out onto the catwalk to thumping music. For all the months of preparation--designing, sewing and casting--and after frantically running around Smashbox's studio for nearly five hours, the show was over in minutes.

"It's kind of like fireworks that way," Calter said later. "Months of preparation for a 20-minute show."

Fern Mallice, who heads 7th on Sixth's Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A. at the downtown Standard Hotel and nearby University Club, said she's surprised it has taken so long for L.A.'s Fashion Week to be taken seriously throughout the industry.

"I don't think people realize how big the fashion and apparel industry is in L.A.," she said. "It's the only U.S. city other than New York that has a design community and an apparel community that is large enough to support something like this. We couldn't do this in Dallas or Chicago."

Mallice said 7th on Sixth has made strong inroads for next season. She said New York designer Nicole Miller, who for the first time debuted her "Miller Girl" line in L.A. this year, has committed to coming back.

And Mallice said the buyers for New York's Henri Bendel had placed orders with 10 different designers.

"When we started in New York 20 years ago, we started with some big names, but we also started with more than 20 unheard of designers who are now household names," she said. "The same success is going to happen with the events in L.A. because of all the talent here."

Still, some in the fashion industry say L.A. has a long way to go before it can be considered on the same level as New York, Milan and Paris.

Or New Zealand, for that matter.

Anne Slowey, fashion news director for Elle magazine, opted to send reporters to Auckland instead of L.A. this week. "We didn't send someone because New Zealand had a fashion show for the first time," she said. "Besides, a lot of the designers in L.A. come to New York on a regular basis."

L.A.'s Fashion Week also rounds out a solid month of runway shows in Europe and New York. After all the traveling, many fashion editors and reporters are worn out. "It's not all fun and fashion," Slowey said. "We have deadlines too."

The magazine's absence illustrates that despite all the local attention being received, Los Angeles Fashion Week remains a relative lightweight.

"In terms of editorial, it's quite low right now," said Toby Tucker, fashion editor of InStyle magazine, who is in town covering the runway shows. "I think it will become more and more important, but realistically it will never be as big as New York or as important as Paris," she said. "I would compare it to London's fashion week."

Fashion burnout 

Though a number of prominent designers live in Los Angeles, there is always uncertainty whether L.A. designers will continue to come up with creative styles, according to Peter Arnold, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

"If you look at the schedule, it's mostly up-and-coming L.A. designers and few stars," he said. "Most of the shows are designers who are early in their careers."

That attitude has been part of the problem for local designers, most of whom can't afford the high cost of the New York, Paris and Milan shows. As a result, they have been largely ignored by the fashion media, as well as by large buyers from department stores in the U.S. and Europe.

To compensate, Calter--like many designers--has sold her clothes out of booths at fashion trade shows where buyers browse through racks and place orders. Even then, orders tend to be small and don't drive name recognition, which is what sells clothes.

"And if your clothes don't have a high sell-through rate, buyers remember that," Caller said. "And they will be less likely to order from you in the future or they'll place smaller orders.'"

The new attention to L.A.'s Fashion Week has proven just as competitive for the show producers as it has for the designers seeking a slot in the schedule.

Arnold said Smashbox and 7th on Sixth scheduled overlapping shows or scheduled events just 30 minutes apart, making it difficult for people to see all the offerings. "There have been some politics between groups that want to host the show," he said.

Still, scheduling conflicts don't bother Calter, who said she likes that a single producer doesn't dominate the market.

"I like that it's not one big monopoly, but unfortunately it won't probably stay that way," she said. "It's nice this way because it's more about individual designers than an overall event."