Against the backdrop of war, Los Angeles‘ busy fashion season began Friday night with an impressive and emotional show of eveningwear from Lever Couture, designed by Ukrainian-born, L.A.-based designer Lessja Verlingieri.

The Academy of Motion Pictures annual gala, as a consequence of be held Saturday with a star-studded red carpet, was postponed due to violence in Israel and Gaza. But other events are slated to go on, including L.A. Fashion Week, starting Wednesday.

Sergio Hudson, Cult Gaia, Brunello Cucinelli, Ulla Johnson, Prada, Gucci and Balenciaga are among the many brands activating in L.A. with dinners, parties and runway shows scheduled through the top of the 12 months.

Verlingieri kicked things off on the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica with Milla Jovovich, Geena Davis, Johnny Wujek and Martin Katz amongst those that got here out to see the newest collection from the designer who has dressed Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Tems (for last 12 months’s Oscars in a view-blocking cloudlike gown that unexpectedly went viral).

“Lessja is an in depth friend of mine, she designed my dress for Cannes last 12 months, and I believe it’s vital for us Ukrainian girls to support one another and I needed to be here tonight to offer her a great rock to lean on,” said Jovovich, adding that the designer’s work “is sculptural but in addition respectful to a girl’s body. She’s a girl designing for girls.”

Backstage, Verlingieri, who last showed in Tokyo in 2022, was reflective. “I really like L.A. and I intend to make a mark here,” she said of her couture-like gowns. “The gathering is alleged to [imitate] emotion, reflect our state going from light to wild, strong silver to completely happy flowers, then white to black. Because we have now in our lives a number of sadness — especially with all the pieces happening now.”

A pillar of sunshine stood at the highest of her runway, and the show began with a voiceover of Charlie Chaplin’s famous speech from “The Great Dictator,” which makes a case for humanity in a time of evil, in his case, Nazi Germany.

On the runway, Verlingieri’s collection was its own type of resistance, and a testament to the wonder human hands can create. There have been light-as-air mesh goddess constructions, looks covered in snaking mesh tubes, others messes of ribbon fringe that settled into celebratory gowns swishing metallic streamers, which the models carried gracefully in a single hand as they walked. It was a mild and beautiful presentation.

Each of the looks deserve a red carpet, which is all of the more difficult because the SAG-AFTRA strike has put a damper on that a part of the style machine. “It’s hard but I cannot stop doing what I really like and what I feel, that’s why I keep going,” Verlingieri said.

Surely other designers are feeling similarly as L.A. Fashion Week gears up to start out under the vision of Noah Kozlowski, the brand new vp, head of designer relations, who joined in July from IMG where he held an analogous role for seven years.

L.A. Fashion Week has had a checkered past with competing producers, missions and locations. During cocktail hour on the Lever Couture show, guests waxed nostalgic for the heyday of the five-year partnership between IMG and Smashbox Studios, from 2003 to 2008, when Jeremy Scott, Jenni Kayne and Kevan Hall showed on the centralized venue in Culver City and celebrities got here out.

But hopes were high that this second edition of L.A. Fashion Week produced by N4XT Experiences and running through Sunday at NYA Studios in Hollywood, will capture a few of that magic.

“Wouldn’t that be great?” said B. Akerlund, who’s styling the Imitation of Christ show/performance on Wednesday night.

The lineup for the event — recognized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America for the primary time this season — may even include Sergio Hudson, Gypsy Sport, Simkhai, Claude Kameni, No Sesso, Theophilio, Luis De Javier, Neon Cowboys, BruceGlen, TomBogo, Saintwoods and Advisry. Sami Miro Vintage, AnOnlyChild and Demobaza are among the many returning brands.

Not all are showing latest collections, some are reprising shows they’ve presented in other markets and others are participating through panels, invite-only dinners or parties. The Los Angeles Times is the media partner.

“A number of the biggest brands on the earth, they will afford big productions after which tour them throughout the world to attach with consumers. We thought, why don’t we give the identical opportunity to smaller brands,” said Kozlowski, adding that there might be celebrities front row (N4XT Experiences cofounder Ciarra Pardo is well-connected and expected to herald VIPs, having spent 17 years working with Rihanna, in addition to her Savage and Fenty brands), in addition to stylists and a few media, including international press.

“We would like to offer designers more room to inform their stories so that they don’t wander away within the shuffle of all the pieces else occurring, competing with different budgets, and we would like to offer them more time to create. The actual fact we intentionally selected to stage [the] event after global fashion month is over gave more room for designers to be creative and create well-made garments.” (LAFW is being held annually in October.)

“While we’re creating these industry touch points, we’re also giving access for the general public to get entangled and discover these brands for themselves,” Kozlowski said.

N4XT has partnered with software giant SAP on an interactive pop-up shop and online shopping experiences, and there may even be a BeautyLab installation onsite in collaboration with Lancôme. The general public can go to the LAFW website and RSVP for select events.

The designers’ collections might be posted on the CFDA’s Runway360 platform, though executive director Steven Kolb won’t attend.

“Launching one other predominant fashion week hub in one other city, especially in a spot where a number of manufacturing takes place, could have a number of impact not just for L.A., but for fashion as an entire,” said Kozlowski, who didn’t get any hard nos from designers he approached about showing. “Everyone was curious about knowing the chances.”