Los Angeles, CA — On August 11, 2016, Los Angeles-based fashion designer Avery Jackson will debut House of Gillian Marie Couturier, a line of elegant evening wear for women inspired by the star-studded 1950s Côte D’Azur. The Inaugural Collection Showing will be held at the theStream.tv Studios (6161 Santa Monica Blvd.) at 8 pm.
The designs are sophisticated and timeless, drawing inspiration from the French Riviera in the 1950’s, when Hollywood celebrities and fashionistas flocked to the sparkling, sun-soaked paradise for the Cannes Film Festival and beach holidays. “It was an age of elegance,” says designer Avery Jackson. “Picture Grace Kelly in white lace on the red carpet at Cannes, or Sophia Loren in black with gold trim in the Monte Carlo casino.”
Avery Jackson’s House of Gillian Marie collection is comprised of evening wear and separates for women, in a palette of dark mauve, nautical blue, purple night, flat black, and graphite grey. Materials are of the highest quality and include silk charmeuse, shantung and brocades.
Jackson, a former stage actor, who honed his craft designing costumes for his theater colleagues, sees the line as a nod to a more elegant time and a call to civility.
“Fashion is a reflection of society,” says Jackson. “During the turbulent Civil Rights era, my African American forbearers and others marched in the sweltering heat in crisp shirts, ties, and finely pressed suits and dresses—a visual manifestation of their self-respect. The evolution of casual wear, as I see it, has led to a loss of this respect, for ourselves and others. ‘The Gillian Marie Woman’— glamorous, confident, sensual, and elegant—embodies a return.”
The House of Gillian Marie Inaugural Collection Showing will be held in the heart of Hollywood at theStream.tv Studios (6161 Santa Monica Blvd.), located near legendary Paramount and Gower studios, with a cocktail reception at 6:30pm and the collection showing at 8pm.