Project Ethos was one of those events I've honestly avoided in the past, I felt like it was everything I was against LA Fashion Week being, celebrity driven, in a club, red carpet, party atmosphere…not the most conducive arena to be showcasing fashion in. But I honestly have to say I had a lot of fun. The production value is high, the performance element led to a really good time (well that and the barrel of laughs I was having courtesy of Mr Bradshaw and Wendy Bendoni) The fashion was hit and miss – velour tracksuits simply do not belong on the runway, but there were some standouts…and some fun!

Pictures, coverage and reviews are after the jump!

Fredericks of Hollywood

CardiWrap by Kymaro

Cardiwrap is one of those – this doesn't belong on a runway categories, however, A+ for effort – there's nothing wrong with these multi-functional cardigans and they were styled impeccably.  

Melissa Velia

Melissa Velia, an LA based designer (and blogger and Two Point Oh! LA member!) opened her show with a ballerina en pointe – I was so enamoured I completely neglected to take a picture until she was about to exit!

Melissa showed some great, wearable and accessible fashion. I adored the maxi jersey dresses, and if I weren't so lumpy I'd be snatching one up!

Reneta J

Reneta J is another LA area gem – I first met her at the Focus Tradeshow where I fell in love with one of her dresses (I wore it to the show – pics to come alongside an interview soon!) her Fall collection featured a great mix of girly and and sexpot in a fantastic palette of pale hues with shots of red. My favourite pieces were the pale pink blazer and the pale pink dress complete with little red bows.

Reneta J's craftmanship is exquisite and it's fun watching her grow as a designer. Reneta won the "vitaminwater zero Flavor Fashionista award' with the ombre maxi dress she is pictured with above.

Age of Aquarius

Velour tracksuit culprit…nuff said.

Ermalinda Manos

I loved Ermalinda Manos' designs. Particularly this maxi dress featuring a completely sheer back, dropped daringly down to the curve of the lower back – whilst the designs were really great, close ups of the work definitely lacked in craftmanship, which was disappointing. But she's a new designer – and the designs themselves were great – so hopefully we'll see an improvement!

Dominique Ansari

Whilst Dominique Ansari's jersey dresses aren't something you need to see on the runway – they are hugely desirable, extremely marketable and easy to wear.

They'd be absolutely perfect for a So Cal summer or even for vacation – easy to throw on or even go from beach to bar. Out of all the designers showing Ansari's dresses are the ones I would most likely wear to death – with massive commercial value. I expect her to do very well.

Seth Aaron

Now I was never Seth Aaron fan back in his Project Runway days, he always felt like the "costumey", cheap and classless (clothes not personality) version of his competitor Mila Hermanovski (now a great friend – but there was no personal bias at the time…ha!) and again this collection had me drawing the same conclusions.

Whilst there were some standout pieces – I want the red dress, the red pants were great (but likely unwearable by anyone but a model) most of it felt too gimmicky and showy – and not in grandiose way – in a cheap way. But apparently he was pleased with himself (see last picture….)

Kelsi Smith.