CULVER CITY, Calif. — Fashion waits for no one — unless they're celebrities like Jack Nicholson.

Wearing his signature shades and a grin, the 68-year-old actor arrived an hour late for daughter Jennifer's packed show at Culver City's Smashbox Studios. When he took his seat in the front row, the show began.

"I love having my dad at my shows," Jennifer Nicholson said earlier backstage. "He's my dad."

Models wearing 5-inch platform shoes stalked the runway past the designer's sons, Sean, 10, and Duke, 7, who were also seated in the front row for Wednesday night's show.

Lara Flynn Boyle, an ex-girlfriend of Jack Nicholson, clapped and cheered as a series of slinky chiffon sailor dresses were previewed, and she yelled that an embroidered sweater jacket with fur trim was "beautiful!"

The audience, which also included Paula Abdul, Lisa Rinna and Rebecca De Mornay, reflected Fashion Week's increasing popularity among celebrities, who attended high-octane shows such as Agent Provocateur, Kevan Hall, Louis Verdad and Rock & Republic.

Jennifer Nicholson, who grew up on O'ahu and is a 1981 Punahou School graduate, showed a spectrum of black, blue, purple and gray, pairing girlish clothes with a naughty rock 'n' roll sensibility.

"Alice in Wonderland" dresses in satin and purple lace featured puffed sleeves and bows. A fitted black mohair sweater sizzled with thigh-skimming polka-dot silk shorts and knee-high tights.

Colorful patches of rabbits, roses and mushrooms decorated one long denim skirt, while two princess coats were shown in glittering gold and soft blue leather.

A model dressed in a black A-line schoolgirl coat carried a teddy bear under her arm.

Inspiration came from "a lot of my childhood, thinking about reading fairy tales, that magical feeling that you never kind of grow out of," the designer said. "You grow up but you never grow out of 'happily ever after,' which is the name of the show."

Another passion, music, also reigned. Songs by the Rolling Stones and electro-pop groups blared across the tent. Jennifer Nicholson wore a necklace of silver skulls, a Goth-tinged lace blouse and blood-red lipstick.

A striped metallic blue minidress with billowing sleeves was reminiscent of Marianne Faithfull, an influence Nicholson cited along with David Bowie and Mick Jagger.

"You know, the classic awesome rock stars," she said. "They're hot, they're sexy, they make amazing music. They strut around, they really wear something. They may wear it for five days in a row."

As models filed down the runway for their final stretch and guests began to scurry out, a tongue-in-cheek song by local pop group Mynx thundered with the chorus, "I'm so L.A.! I'm so L.A.! I'm so L.A.!"