Its flamboyantly controversial recent Marina Abramovic gala aside, L.A. MOCA seems to be on a role when it comes to wedding the smart set with the beautiful people. Former Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane’s photography exhibition, “California Song,” which displays his experience in the state exploring its urban youth culture and artistic communities, opened on November 12 at MOCA's Pacific Design Center. That show follows another fashion and art crossover exhibition, last spring’s “Rodarte: States of Matter,” which showcased the designs of sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy.

While the intersection of fashion and art is nothing new, 2011 has proven to be a prolific year for the subject, with numerous exhibitions around the world showcasing the work of designers like Hussein Chalayan, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Alexander McQueen, garnering millions of dollars in profits for museums. But for MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch, who began incorporating fashion into the museum’s lineup when he began his job in 2010, it’s about more than just the clothes. “It’s a particular kind of fashion exhibition I’m interested in,” Deitch told ARTINFO. “It’s where fashion and art merge.”

The fusion of fashion and art has intrigued Deitch since he founded his New York gallery (which he closed in 2010 due to the conflict of interest when he took the MOCA position) in 1996. He opened Deitch Projects with a show of Bernadette Corporation, an art collective that integrated fashion into a lot of its work, even producing a ready-to-wear line. Several of Deitch Projects’s other exhibitions also touched upon the intersection where art and fashion meet, featuring self-portraits from Vogue magazine, fashion photographer Steven Klein’s work, and the work of fashion designer Jeremy Scott. “It’s not to show a fashion exhibition,” said Deitch. “It’s to show how art has expanded into fashion and fashion expands into art, and to also show some of the history with that.”

Early on, Deitch noted the magnetic energy between the two fields, citing the relationship of designer Elsa Schiaparelli and artist Salvador Dalí. “A number of the best artists now are doing things with fashion,” said the MOCA director. “This is something a lot of the best artist are interested in — Terence Koh has worked with fashion designers. Tauba Auerbach has worked with Comme des Garçons. This is of interest to a lot of the best young painters, sculptors, and performance artists. I follow where artists are leading me.”

Deitch selected Rodarte for a MOCA show because of their artistic approach to fashion.“I consider them artists,” said Deitch. “I think they consider themselves artists. Their references are art references. Their friends are artists. Their work is culture, but it’s fashion, and it’s sold in the fashion system.”

Deitch was attracted to Slimane’s work because of his literary approach and the way he captured a generation. Slimane does not have the typical fashion designer background, having studied political science at the prestigious CPGE Sciences-Po and art history at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. He had been taking photographs long before he made a name for himself in fashion. “He fuses his own personal aesthetic with what he draws out of the world today,” said Deitch.

The MOCA director was also intrigued by a common link he and Slimane share: they both relocated to the Golden State — Deitch from New York, and Slimane from Paris. “I’m also very interested, because I’m also new to California, in how he’s been inspired by California's musicians, artists, writers. What these figures have in a common is a dark romance,” said Deitch.

And MOCA’s next foray into fashion and art? An exhibition of mid-century designer Rudi Gernreich’s work, who Deitch considers a pioneer in merging fashion with art. “He had a very strong rapport with the Los Angeles artists at the time,” said Deitch. “He’s in one of Ed Ruscha’s movies.”

“Hedi Slimane: California Song,” is on display at MOCA Pacific Design Center through January 22, 2012.