Je Pars Habiter A Los Angeles. The simple phrase, which translates to “I want to move to Los Angeles,” has become a signature print for Jasmin Shokrian’s collection. It symbolizes the mass migration of creative energy to the city that Shokrian’s so brilliantly identified.

“The T-shirt and the slogan resuscitated the collection,” the designer said of the design that inadvertently created an entry point to her high-end line for more contemporary distribution. “I’m so small, and being here was always a challenge.”

But Shokrian was onto something. The city may have been somewhat removed from fashion, but more and more, talent was looking—and moving—west, citing the light, the energy and the endless inspiration as the reason.

“I made a collection about how everything is moving to LA and I made it in irony of how everyone was moving here all of a sudden. But for us, it was always here,” said Shokrian, who grew up just minutes from her current studio. “We never thought it was cool. It was never a distinct sort of fashion ideal that was respected because it was just Ugg boots and jersey dresses. No one looked at LA for fashion.”

That was then.

Shokrian rode the wave of the turning tide, and capitalized on her access and understanding of the city as a native. “Every time I go to Paris now, every time I speak to someone, they say ‘oh, you live in Los Angeles, I want to live there,’” she said. “One afternoon, I thought I’m going to make a bunch of T-shirts and jeans as an ironic statement and take styles that are in my collection and I’m going to make them in jersey and denim because those are the factories we have here.”

New customers are drawn to the irony and stay once they discover Shokrian’s full line. The designer started selling them to museum stores, including the retail space she had at MOCA, where she was able to curate and portray the lifestyle around the collection.

Sixteen years into her fashion career, Shokrian is still finding new reference points in the city as the creative energy begins to regenerate yet again. Art remains a focal point, and she finds inspiration from the burgeoning art scene and resurrected museum and gallery scene.

“I was able to participate in [art] in a different way here,” she said. “In New York, there’s a different construct that would have been much more difficult for me to permeate: You’re in fashion or you’re in art. Here, as a multi-disciplinary artist, I really have the ability to engage in a different way. That has really kept me going and inspired.”