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Jeremy Scott Screeches In: At LA Fashion Week Spring 2008

It is never good when a model becomes road kill during a fashion show, especially one centered around motifs of tire treads, caution signs, manhole covers, and other street and construction-related themes, but that's what happened at the Jeremy Scott show on Wednesday night at Smashbox Studios. It was Day 4 of the Mercedes-Benz LA Fashion Week, and everyone was obviously a bit tired. Plus, Scott decked his female models out in five-inch black spike heels. Before one model took a spill, and marred the white runway with exactly the tire marks that had been artfully painted across her face, models were wobbling all over the place, fashion victims all.

Scott began with tan-hued looks covered in work-boot footprints, a silk caftan, then a frumpy housedress, a silk button down shirt dress, and another shapeless, below-the-knee granny dress, then followed with a male model embarrassingly clad in sheer black pants tied up in a big bow, with the same motif repeated on his on-display underwear. All the women wore large round hats that looked like manhole covers; the man had a hardhat to match his frou-frou pants.

Next up was a series of black-and-silver tire motifs, the pattern repeated on a short silk dress cinched with a wide leather belt; on a hoodies paired with sheer black shorts; on a one-piece, one-shoulder ruffled bathing suit; on a tiny romper; and on him, done in boxers with a matching vest and another hardhat.

Other motifs in the collection were giant handprints done in silver on black, in a variety of styles, including an evening gown; a bright yellow ruler look, with the inch marks printed in jet black, shown on super-skinny, super-tight jeans for both men and women; and the most fun of all, a riot of caution, stop, and other street signs combined into a pattern that adorned miniskirts, sweats, and even the designer himself, as he headed out to take his bow.

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