Lauren Conrad: First foray into fashion

Lauren Conrad, who is famous for her stints on reality television shows, is first in "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" and later "The Hills". She has always had a secret dream, to be a clothing designer. Lauren Conrad was taking classes at LA's Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) and the result was her first fashion show at the Mercedes-Benz LA Fall Fashion Week on Tuesday night.

To decorate the front row of the show, Lauren Conrad had got plenty of her reality-show friends, held in the stiflingly hot Stage One at Smashbox Studios in Culver City. Kristin Cavallari, Audrina Patridge, Whitney Port, Lauren Bosworth, Stephen Colletti, Brody Jenner, and Frankie Delgado were on hand in the standing-room-only space, as were Lisa Rinna and Smashbox owner Davis Factor.

They saw a plain, dark purple, mostly black, grey and white collection of dresses and tunics over leggings, most made of jersey or cottons. Highlights included the Juliette strapless bubble dress done in black lace adorned with a bow belt – showing an obvious influence of Fifties Audrey Hepburn style; and the Ariele ruffle long dress, with a plunging halter and bodice flounce. Also pretty were the pieces done in the "Le Jardin" print, huge black flowers against a white background. The best of that group was the strapless, sweetheart-neckline "Elizabeth" dress. Other looks ranged from skintight sheaths to multi-tiered minidresses that looked more like maternity wear than skinny fashionista's next must-haves. Lauren Conrad chose a variety of necklines for her fashions, from plunging to the waist fronts to boatnecks, scoops, straight-line strapless, and one-shoulder asymmetrical looks, some more flattering to the models than others, but certainly an attempt to offer something for everyone.

But overall, any hope that Lauren Conrad is the world's next great designer was dashed by her first foray into the world of clothes. There was absolutely nothing new or innovative in her collection.