Conrad’s collection

On Friday, November 14, a little California sunshine trickled into Boston.‚  Lauren Conrad, or “LC” to all you Hills fans, made a short appearance at The Estate, one of Boston’s famous nightclubs. She was not there to sip champagne and look fabulous; no, she was there to promote the Lauren Conrad Collection. But, I wish she had just come to party.

The night’s crowd was best described by local Melissa Cellurale as being, “99 percent women, and then there’s Steve,” her accommodating boyfriend. Indeed, women controlled the club, many looking like Conrad and many others there to actually see what her designs look like in person.

Even though her line is being sold in the West Coast at LA stores like Intuition, Miss LC has not been exposed to the coffee drinkers and black clothing lovers of the East Coast the same way. To solve that she launched a tour through this side of the States with the help of TheQuad.com, a website for that keeps college students up-to-date with events in their area.‚  The tour has made stops in Austin, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

The tours have been successful in getting Conrad to see her fans and see that, contrary to the belief of Spencer Pratt, she is well esteemed. Unfortunately for her dresses, that is not the same story. Yes they are clean cut, yes they are perfect for cocktail parties and yes they may make your fantasies about living the California life more vivid- but they are not worth the price tag of $150 and up.

Many of the designs disguise the fact that a simple red dress is just that with the use of fabrics like silk and lace. The designer is clearly concerned with quality and textures but if she could put that effort into the designing itself things may be different. To see a one side-sleeved tube dress with thin black belt embellishment compete in the same price range with, lets say, MARC BY MARC JACOBS Fiona Dress makes it very easy to see who will win the battle. The answer, dearest Hills fans, should be the Marc Jacobs frock.

Although the night was fun, with gifts from Aldo and Mark by Avon for whom Conrad is spokeswoman, the fashion show was not spectacular. Perhaps it was shadowed by the fact the show gave way to a regular club night. Perhaps it was the fact that seeing more than 100 LC-wannabes in the crowd made one wonder what they were really there for. Or maybe, perhaps it was because Conrad’s training at the‚ Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising‚ still has to continue for her to compete with the other gifted young designers. At least, she’s trying.

Fortunately, our friends at Aldo know most of us are watching the budget so they have offered a 15 percent discount off your next online purchase! Use the promotional code LC315OFF until December 1st when checking out.