Isn’t it just so much fun to be Paris Hilton?

Or her sister Nicky Hilton, the fashion designer…

These two really pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, eh?

Aah to be a Hilton sister at LA Fashion week!

OK, so by now we know - dresses are the word on runways across the world this fall, in anticipation of next spring. So it’s no wonder that by the time the world tour of what-to-wear got to LA, there was going to be some excitement thrown into the mix.

Although LA - kind of like its sister to the north, San Francisco - doesn’t garner a ton of fashion press and hoopla, you kind of get the feeling designers strive to make up for that - and put themselves on the map - during Los Angeles Fashion Week.

One of the city’s most consistent designers, Kevan Hall, filled seats with his tribal themed ready-to-wear clothes. Celebs backed the front row and watched as the African theme was carried through gowns, dresses, jackets designed in deep rusts, golds and blues. Hall counts Vanessa Willams among his biggest fans (he dressed her for the Emmy’s) as well as Nia Long, who said, “He just gets ’sexy,’ he gets ‘modern.’ [His clothes] fit like a glove and fit right in all of the right places.”

There’s no denying Hall’s other-wordly look and feel this season. He credits the Dinka and Masai tribes in Africa for some of his inspiration. “I looked back at the beautiful people and the incredible country in terms of the embroideries and the beading that exists there.”

Celeb fave Randolph Duke (he dressed Hilary Swank and Marcia Gay Harden for the Oscars) returned to the runway after a seven-year absence, hitting a little closer to home. He said he was inspired by the consciousness of going green - and turned to the natural beauty of California for the looks seen in his choices.

Some examples:
*ivory silk cargo jacket paired with a gold micro mini - made in the shapes of a palm frond.
*Motifs of ferns, palmettos, cacti, and lotus blossoms
*a beaded ivory silk chiffon gown, in a tone called “sunlight”)
*a granite-toned dress overlaid with black tulle, in a look Duke says he created to evoke rock formations.

There to take in “wearable California” was “Dirty Sexy Money” star Natalie Zea, and “Nip/Tuck” beauty Kelly Carlson. No doubt more fans will be made, now that Duke has managed to evoke the earth without going “hippie” or “granola” on the runway.

Heatherette packed few surprises, but kept up the crazy with their mixed prints - plaid, floral, leopard, apparently anything goes. The label utilized rulles, netting, lame, baby doll dresses - their classic club kid chic.

Kim Kardashian was there to see what’s new, as well as Corey Kennedy, Robin Antin, Aubrey O’Day, Ross Matthews, Jennifer Gimenez, Jenna Jameson, Kat DeLuna, Daniela Sea, and Lydia Hearst.

-Alexis James