Clothing designer Lifted Research Group is set to lead off the first of five runway shows for Style Week Orange County at the Irvine Spectrum Center next month.
The three days of fashion feature men’s and women’s clothes and are designed to spur sales at the Spectrum Center’s boutiques and department stores. Mall operator Irvine Company puts on the event, now in its second year.
About 10,000 people are expected to attend, the same as last year, said Stacie Ellis, director of marketing for the Spectrum Center
Irvine-based Lifted Research Group, better known as LRG, makes clothes inspired by skateboarding and music. It plans to debut its 2010 spring collection.
This is LRG’s first major show, according to Ellis.
She and the show’s three other producers contacted many local brands for the show and chose only a handful.
Each company has to have enough designs to show 60 to 80 looks for one 20-minute show, Ellis said.
About 20 models from L.A. Models of Los Angeles were hired to wear the clothes down a runway.
Style Week employs about 30 people to help dress and direct the models and do makeup. Toni & Guy;, a London-based hairstylist at the mall, does all the hair.
Irvine-based Ezekiel Clothing Inc. is set to stage a runway show for debut designers from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, followed up by an event with Active Ride Shop. One designer’s look will be chosen for Ezekiel’s 2010 spring collection.
Michele Genevieve, founder of Hollywood Million Denim who was born and raised in OC, is scheduled to show her collection, followed up by young OC designer Oday Shakar, who’ll show his collection of evening wear.
Mall stores Nordstrom and Metropark also plan to put on a show. Metropark USA Inc., a Los Angeles-based chain that carries a variety of brands, plans to feature MEK Denim, an L.A. brand.
This year, the mall is charging $10 for tickets, which will benefit HomeAid Orange County, the homebuilding industry’s nonprofit arm. OC charities contract with HomeAid to build shelters and housing for the homeless and others in need.
HomeAid also puts on the annual Project Playhouse fundraiser, which auctions off playhouses built by local builders. Traditionally, the playhouses have been displayed at Fashion Island.
This year the playhouses moved to the Spectrum Center.
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Corp. is hiring about 75 to 100 people for its store set to open at the Shops at Mission Viejo in the fall.
Microsoft chose Mission Viejo and Scottsdale to open its first two stores because of the upscale markets they’re home to and because of the malls themselves, according to Kim Stocks, a Microsoft spokeswoman.
In February, Microsoft said it would open stores to rival Sony Electronics Inc.’s Sony Style stores and Apple Inc.’s Apple stores. Microsoft will sell software, computers, the Zune,a rival to Apple’s dominant iPod,and other products. Microsoft also will repair computers, like Apple does at its Genius Bar.
Revived Dealers
Auto dealers have a spring in their step and a gleam in their eyes after more than a year of being down in the dumps.
They’re atwitter about the cash for clunkers program. No wonder. Rick Evans, owner of Huntington Beach Chrysler Jeep, said his dealership sold 72 cars in the program’s first 10 days.
“Our worry now is will we have enough cars to keep up,” he said.
Some dealers were caught off guard and didn’t order enough autos, he said. It’s usually a three-month lead time to order vehicles from the maker, he said.
Cash for clunkers is the informal name for the federal stimulus program called Car Allowance Rebate System, which gives an auto buyer up to a $4,500 rebate for trading in an older model auto for a new one with better gas mileage.
The program started out with $1 billion that quickly ran out. So Congress approved another $2 billion, expected to be available to dealers through Labor Day weekend.
At Huntington Beach Chrysler Jeep, the Jeep Patriot sold out quickly, Evans said.
His dealership sold 30 in 10 days. It was the top seller. The No. 2 seller was the PT Cruiser. Twenty-five of those sold.
PT Cruiser, which was doomed by Chrysler, now is back after Italy’s Fiat SPA took a 20% stake in the Detroit automaker and took over management earlier this year.
“They’re going to keep it going,” Evans said.
Evans has hired extra help,his wife,to handle reimbursement claims on the clunkers.
He recently submitted about 30 claims. If his paperwork is in order, he expects to get reimbursed within 10 days, he said.
Cash for clunkers also has stirred up the market for regular auto sales, Evans said. If buyers come in and their vehicles don’t qualify, dealers can offer them other deals. Better than when customers weren’t coming in at all.
“It’s stimulated a lot of consumer interest in car shopping,” said John Sackrison, executive director of the Orange County Automobile Dealers Association in Costa Mesa.
Dealers are excited because they’re doing what they do best,promoting.
“Dealers are quite skilled at promoting incentive programs,” he said.
