L.A. Fashion Week lives up to hype

LOS ANGELES, March 21 (UPI) -- Reality and fashion collided in Los Angeles as some of the haute designers presented their fashions in spectacular fashion -- including a circus motif.

Taking it in were actors and actresses -- from "Heroes" star Hayden Panettiere to porn star Jenna Jameson. Strutting on runways were socialite Paris Hilton, "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and actress Virginia Madsen, the Los Angeles Daily News said Wednesday.

L.A. Fashion Week began in the late 1990s with independently produced runway shows scattered throughout town and a collective event at the Downtown Standard. But when management company IMG took over production in 2003 that the event began to capture public interest.

The event for Ed Hardy, the popular T-shirt and jeans line, was a circus, literally, complete with a red runway, a model dressed as a magician and a ballerina dancing.

Joseph Domingo's show was something akin to a horror show, the Daily News said, because the designer taped sheer, flesh-color masks across the models' eyes.

Then there was the Goth-glam destination motif of Tara Subkoff's "Imitation of Christ" show, with human bones strewn across the runway.

L.A. Fashion Week ends Thursday.