L.A. fashion week is more splintered than ever this season, but I have to say I kind of like it. Tuesday night I went to Maxim, a Russian restaurant on Fairfax Avenue that I never even knew existed. In between bites of blinis and sips of vodka, I saw the Single collection, designed by Galina Sobolev.

Single, founded in 1994, is one of those stealth L.A. powerhouse brands, specializing in the kind of silk-print, kimono-sleeve dresses that are the meat and potatoes of most retail operations. They sell in huge volume to nearly every department store in the U.S. (Saks, Neiman Marcus), as well as netaporter.com, Harvey Nichols and Galleries Lafayette.

Sobolev is a native of Odessa, Russia, where she learned dressmaking from her grandmother. She moved to New York in the late 1970s, where she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology. She was a fixture in the 1980s downtown club scene, modeling on the runways by day alongside Iman and Pat Cleveland. She moved to L.A. in the early '90s and met her soon-to-be husband Michael here, an MBA grad. The two opened the business together, and are on track to do $20 million in sales this year. Pretty impressive.

The Single women sitting at tables watching the clothes go by looked cute in their print dresses, especially the new, beachy coral print for spring. But Sobolev was inspired by her homeland for fall, which meant lots of bohemian-looking paisley silk peasant dresses and blouses. She also ticked off several of the season’s big trends — leather pants, the one-shouldered silhouette and lace, inset into a crepe fitted dress — for a good price, $194 to $435 to be exact.

-- Booth Moore

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Photo: A look from Galina Sobolev's fall Single collection. Credit: Felix Salzman