I was in New York City during New York Fashion Week last February. The Fall/Winter 2008 collections were being unveiled and a friend of mine who works in the fashion industry attended the Carolina Herrera show. When I met up with him, he couldn’t stop raving about the magnificent hats that adorned the models’ heads and the long, elegant feathers that swayed rhythmically as the models made their way down the catwalk.

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The bright, eye-popping colors shown for the spring season at L.A. Fashion Week stood in contrast to a somber question: Will this city have a fashion week again?

Last week’s announcement from Smashbox Studios that this Mercedes-Benz L.A. Fashion Week, ending Thursday, would be its last with event organizer IMG threw into question when and where an official fashion week in the City of Angels would happen.

The companies have partnered on the event for the last five years, giving local designers a chance to show in one place at Smashbox’s spacious photo studios in Culver City. This season featured 23 collections, including those from Christian Audigier’s popular street-wise line Ed Hardy; “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad; awards show gown master Kevan Hall; and stylish label Whitley Kros, co-designed by rocker Beck’s wife Marissa Ribisi.

I’m currently reading “Glamour: A History” by Stephen Gundle (Oxford University Press, July 2008). Don’t let the inclusion of the term ‘glamour’ in the title fool you - this is not some trite do-it-yourself type manuel on how to be glamorous that seems to abound across bookstores these days. This is a scholarly treatment of a much maligned and often misunderstood subject. Gundle traces the emergence of ‘glamour’ (both the word and the concept) from roughly the fall of Napoleon I to today while dispelling popular misconceptions along the way. He draws on a multitude of sources and examples including history, literature, cinema, politics and popular culture. In doing so, he furthers our understanding of that elusive and oh-so-coveted quality.

One reviewer described it as “(…) a substantial book about an insubstantial topic.” (Source) Not so fast. Yes, it is a substantial book but the topic is far from being an insubstantial one. One need only look for instance to England’s Gallic neighbor where a recent injection of glamour via the arrival of the new Madame Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace proved a quick and potent antidote to the French president’s dismal approval ratings amongst his countrymen. A mere six months following the quickie courtship and hasty nuptials, Sarkozy’s ambitious reform plans are back on track and his approval ratings in steady ascent. (Source) In fact, any observer of modern politics will tell you that if politics is theater, then the elusive quality that is glamor forms an essential part of that theater production. When deftly deployed, it is a powerful and potent force to further one’s ends. You can decry the fact that as a society, we allow ourselves to be too easily blinded by glamour but to dismiss it as insubstantial is just plain wrong. For a better understanding of what glamour entails (and what it does not), I highly recommend Professor Gundle’s analysis.