Fashion

Please check out my Day 1 & Day 2 blogs.

Day 3

I woke to an unusual sound outside the hotel window.  It was raining.  No, not raining, pouring.  It was the first time I had been in Las Vegas when it had been raining anywhere near this hard.  It didn’t take long to realize that Vegas is not built for the wet.

The concrete walkways around and between the hotels are not level.  Water was pooling everywhere and making things dangerously slippery.  A forest of yellow caution signs had sprouted with the rain.  The entire city leaks.  There were buckets in some of the casinos collecting water dripping from the ceiling, all the escalators had been shut down (and that meant using slick stairs), and even the monorail cars leaked; as I found out when I looked up to see water escaping from a light fixture above my head.

To give you an idea of how much is was raining, here is a clip I took from the Harrah’s Casino monorail station – Harrah’s Casino Carpark River.  People were hanging over the railings amazed as this torrent rushed out of the carpark.  It would washed away anyone in it’s path.  No cars were hurt in the making of this video.

With umbrellas in the car, Tracy and I ended up soaked as we ran to the car to head off to the Women’s Wear in Nevada (WWIN) show at the Rio.

I didn’t even think that the rain would keep the buyers away from the trade shows.  Not unless they were looking for an excuse.

WWIN

WWIN caters to womenswear buyers looking for traditional, missy, petite, plus size and tall options for the 35+ demographic.  There are hundreds of accessory lines covering shoes to hats, purses, jewelry, belts and scarves.  I sourced an excellent accessories supplier for Z Fabrique that was doing the same contemporary woven bracelets that I saw at Project for a 10th of the price.

WWIN is huge and takes up most of the convention room space at the Rio.  I’m not sure how long it has been around but the last time I was there was 10+ years ago, and it had been going for a long time before that.  In fact, it hadn’t changed a bit.

Some familiar names like Mod-O-Doc and Fresh Produce were there.  Our main interest in going was to meet a highly regarded sales agent with a potential client in mind, and for future trade show referral purposes.

There was an incredible amount of product on show, and a steady flow of buyers.  If you have a collection to sell or you are a buyer in this segment of the market, I’d highly recommend you check out the show.

Tracy’s time was up.  She had to head back to LA to finalize the end of month shipment for Boxie.  Tracy dropped me off at the Venetian so I could dive into the shows at the Sands Convention Center.

The Sands houses MRket, Moda, AccessoriesTheShow, CurveNV, Capsule (which I forgot only ran Monday and Tuesday), and OffPrice (which I wasn’t interested in).  MRket, Moda and Accessories share a massive convention floor.  The rest have there own rooms.

After a delicious free lunch, I started in on Moda.

Moda

Moda is a contemporary and better women’s ready-to-wear show.  There was nothing here that stood out.  The showrooms that I spoke to were happy with the buyer traffic, and were writing orders.  Why do Moda instead of WWDMAGIC?  I don’t know.  The collections here are nowhere near as edgy as as Project or as hip as ENK.

AccessoriesTheShow

Some of the jewelry at Accessories was interesting but a lot was cheap looking bling.

There was a good selection of scarves available at affordable price points.

I didn’t think much of the hats on offer.  As with other accessories, right now you can pretty much go for it with whatever hat you want.  But nothing here caught my eye.

Before I could get to MRket, I got called over to Project then MAGIC to meet people and take care of clients which took care of the rest of the day.

It was the last day of Project.  I was keen to hear how the day had gone given the rain.  Apparently, it had kept some buyers away.  But most collections were happy with the activity.  Buyers had left paper, and a couple of showrooms reported solid international business.

Foot traffic at WWDMAGIC had also been affected by the rain.

Day 4, MRket and CurveNV.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

I wanted to come away from the Spring13 round of Las Vegas fashion trade shows filled with the unshakeable optimism that the retail and wholesale industries had turned the magical corner and all would be well. I didn’t.

This time last year I thought we might start running downhill into a bumper Holiday season.  It didn’t happen.  The industry associations and think tanks told us sales were up.  But margins were down.  Which you would expect with retailers running sales from early in the season.

After last February’s Vegas week, the same happy-happy-joy-joy sentiments were being floated.  We’ve all seen how the past 4 months have gone.

That being said, we are in the run-up to a general election which always throws the uncertainty spanner into the economic works.  The economy continues to chug, and will continue to do so if you listen to certain people regardless of the extended silly season that accompanies the national plebiscite.  Which means consumers out of work, which means disposable income isn’t so disposable, which means discretionary items like fashion become even more discretionary.

Then again, Vegas was busy on the street and at the tables.  As busy as I have seen it at this time of year.  And as we all know, it isn’t anywhere near as cheap as it was.  Well, it is still tawdry cheap.  There were lots of those dreaded foreigners roaming around looking distinctly Euro.  My favs were the group of 30-something French folks all jumped up on “The Vegas, Baby” Vegas.  One of the guys had grown and dyed his hair and sideburns to a perfect Elvis – it was awesome.  I bumped into a very pleasant chap from Gladstone in Queensland, Australia who was keeping the beer companies flush.  It didn’t feel quite so cashed up at the shows.

Still the trade shows must go on!  And they did.  All 18 of them – if you count the different categories with MAGIC.  Don’t believe me?

At the Mandalay Bay: Slate, Street, Mens/Wear, Project, PoolTradeShow.

At the Las Vegas Convention Center: WWDMAGIC, Platform, Sourcing, ISAM.

At the Venetian: Moda, MRket, AccessoriesTheShow, CurveNV, Capsule, OffPrice, PGA Expo.

At the Wynn: ENK Vegas

At the Rio: WWIN

And went to all of them except the PGA show and Capsule (which I forgot only runs for 2 days).  And here’s what I saw.

Check out my previous blog for a rundown on ENK Vegas at the Wynn, and the first morning at Project.

PROJECT

Project is where you’ll find the most influential and commercially successful contemporary brands in the marketplace. Anyone who is anyone in the industry will spend a good amount of time here – as I did.

With the trade shows being staggered this time. Project had a busy Monday but a slower Tuesday (the first day of WWDMAGIC).

I walked Project with my good friend and the fab fashionista, Tracy Engelien.  Tracy is a former independent sales agent who now has her own label of cool, colorful and effortlessly stylish basics, Boxie.  Tracy has an excellent eye for trend and direction.  T helps me buy for Z Fabrique‘s 2 stores in Long Beach and San Pedro.

We started in the Workroom section of Project.  Workroom is the most fashion forward section of all the shows. The clothing, accessories and shoe brands are carefully selected, juried, and are always well worth a close look.

I really liked the men’s collections in Workroom.  The Canadian collection, Le Monde Gris impressed with their deconstructed and distressed styles in a trans seasonal palette.

Odyn Vovk (“One Wolf” in Ukrainian) is the inspiration of Austin Sherbanenko.  Odyn Vovk is also on the trans seasonal neutral color palette trend with a sophisticated and edgy look.  Modemonline.com describes Sherbanenko’s creative process as, “The collection is designed without the structured direction that a hard lined story would offer. He has a much more spontaneous approach, that when ideas pop into his head, he follows the ones worth following.”

The colorful prints and fresh updated preppy look of Carlos Campos popped. The men’s and women’s styles have excellent hanger appeal. I’m a sucker for panels and color blocking. Carlos Campos has international distribution including in Zara Bryson in Subiaco, Western Australia – for my hometown readers.

In My Air really caught my eye.  The clean classic bodies in pop colors are given edge and dimension with dip dye treatments, texture and shredding. I liked the drop waist dresses, the textured leather skirt and use of mesh in layering pieces.  The color palette is right on for Spring.

Australia was well represented as usual in Workroom with Elliatt, Lisa Maree, bless’ed are the meek, Flannel, Lilya, Samantha Wills, TIG – This is Genevieve, Wildfox and Ksubi flying the flag.

The hot swimwear collection Lisa Maree has been freshen up the US Spring13 offering from the collection that I saw at Mercedes Fashion Week in Sydney in May. The designer, Lisa Boersma has added more bodies, more treatments such as tassels and the dip dyed crochet looks fantastic.

Other Aussie collections of note were Ladakh with it’s contemporary range of separates in prints and plum, copper, mint and a peachy orange in the palette; LA’s Place Showroom with it’s stable of Down Under brands including Style Stalker, Cameo, Finders Keepers, Insight and Somedays Lovin’; and One Teaspoon.

I always like to check in on what Lauren Moshi is up to.   As Linda Giorganni, the owner of it’s all about the girls showroom, who represents Lauren Moshi, said, “it’s all about the graphics with Lauren”.  Every graphic is hand drawn by Lauren.  I really liked the color palette, especially the awesome bubblegum pink.

So what did I see as trending in Project?

• belted floral dresses, knee length and above
• collarless blouses
• slash neck and wide neck tees
• denim, denim, denim just goes on and on and on – bright colored denim, distressed denim, printed denim
• lots of deconstruction and treatments – shredding, washes, dip dying, meshing
• The 80’s! – black & white checks, stripes, patterns and prints, neons, bleached denim, high tops
• lots of primary color but softer than in recent seasons mixed with more neutral sophisticated shades in nude, champagne and earth tones of burnt orange, brown, grey and olive. I particularly liked the mint that many designers are highlighting.
• For men, the color palettes are similar. The updated preppy look with smaller jackets seemed popular. At the same time, the hipster distressed look continues.
• As for shoes, the “anything goes” look has carried over.
• When it comes to jewelry, just go for it. Big watches, bracelets up the wrist, necklaces and rings. Adornment is in. But bling is not really the thing – mix shiny with leather and synthetics.

POOLTRADESHOW

Tracy and I took a quick spin around Pool.  Pool was fun as usual.  Lots of emerging contemporary designers showing the full range of clothing, shoes, bags, hats, jewelry, accessories of all kinds.  There is also a cash and carry section.

The eco friendly watches of Sprout were doing good business.  These style sport watches are made with materials that are easy on the Earth but last as long as their more polluting competitors.

Of similar ethos, Thigh High Jeans recycle jeans into fashionable styles off-the-rack or made to order and use the funds to support local, national and global good causes.

The whole section is bright and colorful.  They have drink, food and candy giveaways each day.

Pool is well worth a look.  You’ll find labels that will eventually transition on to the main floor at Project.  The Australian sunglasses line, None The Wiser eyewear is a good example.

WWDMAGIC

We jumped a free limo from the Mandalay Bay to the enormous fashion cornucopia that is WWDMAGIC at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The shoe show, Platform and the sourcing show unsurprisingly named Sourcing at MAGIC are located in the South Hall.  They are huge and mesmerizing, and due to time constraints I dodged them this time.

We went straight to the North Hall that houses new designers in their own section, contemporary and more missy lines, and an activewear, yoga, lifestyle section.

We visited a client of mine; the brand new organic fabric yoga and lifestyle collection, Satva.  Satva which is based in New Jersey and produced in India under certified fair trade standards debuted at MAGIC.  The co-founder, Puja Barar, is a yogi herself who has designed this stylish collection at an affordable price point to promote a pure lifestyle for the conscious consumer.  The Spring 13 collection is eye catching with it’s use of soft fabrics, excellent drape, cool prints, and fashion silhouettes.  Puja has added a range of print tees for toddlers.

The North Hall is a tricky space.  It looks good but I always come away thinking that the buyer traffic is thin.  I know some people who have had good shows in there but just as many who haven’t.

Satva had a good show with excellent feedback, orders written, and first rate prospects to follow up.

The main floor of MAGIC is the Central Hall.  Here is where you’ll find the quality contemporary collections located in the Premium and Young Contemporary sections.  The swimwear showcase, ISAM is also here.

I am never quite sure just how buyer-busy the show is. There are so many people in the space, from sales reps to booth staff to vendors to industry folks to media, and, yes, to buyers, that is it hard to work out who’s who.

The feedback from the showrooms was good.  Experienced women’s contemporary Los Angeles rep, Bernadette Mopera was there with all her lines and was having a great first day, “buyers were writing business”.

Other MAGIC stalwarts like PJ Salvage, BB Dakota, Anama, Free People and Betsey Johnson were all busy. 

I did some buying in the accessories section for Z Fabrique, and found an excellent resource for Indian and Nepalese jewelry, textiles and sacred items.

From the Convention Center, time running out, we tried to push on to the WWIN show at the Rio. Taxis were full so we hopped one of the free buses provided by MAGIC to the hotel nearest to the Rio with the bright idea of a short taxi ride from there.  The bus driver took us on a bizarre trip down wrong way alleys, getting us stuck on a turn in a lobby driveway which needed a 25-point turn to get us going the right way, then backwards and into oncoming cars on the lobby driveway until finally pulling up at the wrong hotel (the Cosmopolitan).  We fled the bus incredulous as everyone else and settled in at the bar at the gastropub in the Cosmopolitan to soothe sore feet and jangled nerves.

Later that evening we went to the incredible CurveNV Swim Fashion Show at the Crazy Horse at the MGM Grand.  Fashions by the sponsoring designers are worn by the professional dancers from the Crazy Horse performing fully choreographed routines.  It is always an awesome event.  If you ever get a chance to go, don’t miss it.

My Day 3 & 4 wrap will be out by the end of this week.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

It was an almost balmy 98F today in Las Vegas for the beginning of an extended fashion trade show week. It was 110F here last week.

Spring ’13 collections are breaking this week. Spring and Summer are the most important for most designers. The usual excitement is the in air.

Project, PoolTradeShow and Workroom at the Mandalay Bay were busy this morning and early afternoon. The amount of buyer foot traffic was very encouraging. I spoke to a couple of the agents and showrooms that I know well. They said the foot traffic hadn’t really translated into orders. Apparently, this is the usual order of things. There is a lot to take in on the first morning. The three combined sections are massive. The agents were expecting the paper to flow in the afternoon and tomorrow.

The SYDNY Showroom was doing good business with their Australian collections – Samantha Wills, Aje, bless’ed are the week and Flannel.

The German accessories line, George Gina & Lucy had a booth full of buyers.

Australian swimwear collection, Lisa Maree, had lots going on.

I spent the last part of the day at ENK Vegas at the Wynn. It’s one of my favorite shows of the week.

ENK always put on classy, professional and well-appointed trade shows. Some veterans of Intermezzos and Coteries in New York that I know think that this is their best show. ENK do that bit extra – from the setting and layout, to the food at the buffet, right down to the delicious margaritas they served at the end of the day.

Contemporary and better contemporary men’s and women’s sportswear collections, denim, dresses, accessories and footwear brands are spread over two adjacent function rooms. There were more men’s than women’s collections. There was an excellent vibe there today. Lots of buyers writing orders and leaving paper.

The Charlotte Tarantola booth was so busy that I hardly had a chance to speak with an old friend, Dana Pederson, the National Sales Manager. Dana had enough time to tell me that they have had “an awesome day”. She also told me to grab one of the yummy margaritas that were being served. I took her advice.

Michael Cohen of Michael Cohen Showroom was very happy with the day. Michael is one of the giants of the LA contemporary world. I personally have always appreciated the time he has taken to talk business and give advice to me over the past 12 years. Michael was at ENK with the luxury men’s and women’s basics collection, Cotton Citizen. They had worked Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Japanese buyers.

Chanita Harris with Will Leather Goods was having a busy day. I’ve always liked their high quality men’s and women’s leather accessories.

I really liked the color palettes that I saw at ENK. Fluxus is a good example. Lots of soft color – yellows, oranges, reds and an beautiful light mint green.

More tomorrow.

I’m off now to the ENK party at the Wynn sponsored by Belvedere Vodka. I promise to be good.

Paul Brindley

paulbrindleyconsults.com

I agree with this article in the Apparel News that the foot traffic at this week’s LA Market Week was very slow. It was more like a regular work week than a market week.

Light Traffic at Los Angeles Fashion Market – Fashion and Apparel Trade Show Coverage | California Apparel News.

I showed the owners of the Australian graphic tee collection, Das Monk, around the showroom buildings on Wednesday. We had no trouble speaking with the reps which is usually not the case during market week.

The August market week is always the slowest of the year. A lot of showrooms would prefer to see it canceled. However, that would leave a gap from June to October of no market weeks in LA, and the powers that be do not want to go dark for that long.

With Spring 13 collections breaking in Las Vegas next week, the focus has shifted to next year. There will be plenty of opportunity to buy immediates for the rest of ’12 if needed.

I’ll be blogging from Vegas all next week as I cruise around all the shows. Stay tuned.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

This is the way of the future for the fashion world. The fashion industry was low to the technology party but is now being swamped by the pace and momentum of technological change. The phenomenon is affecting every sector of the industry.

The business of fashion has been largely unchanged for the past 50 years. Well, change is here .. let’s see how the industry copes. It’s either cope or no hope!

Boutique Fashion Brokers Brings Trade Shows Online – Fashion Columns | California Apparel News.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

Technology in fashion … the future is here.

Like any other art, the long-term trends in fashion are often driven by advancements in technology.  New materials and techniques merge with the old and new needs drive innovation while fashion slowly evolves. It seems that the technological advancements in apparel are gaining pace all the time. Every week I read articles and blog posts about the latest and greatest in fashion tech.  I think it is awesome.

Fashion 2.0 | Connecting With Consumers Through Wearable Devices | BoF – The Business of Fashion.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

Here is the review of this week’s Fall II/Holiday LA Market Week from Apparel News.

Reports Mixed at Holiday Market in Los Angeles – Fashion and Apparel Trade Show Coverage | California Apparel News.

As the article says, I found there was mixed feedback from showrooms on buyer activity. June market is one of the slower market weeks of the year along with August.

The Cooper Building was by far the busiest of the buildings foot traffic-wise. The Cooper is now THE place to be if you are a contemporary collection. It has wrested away the mantle of premium showroom location held for so long by the New Mart.

The Designers & Agents show on the 3rd floor of the New Mart was about half full of booths. Foot traffic was OK. There were lots of accessories booths this time.

The men’s and women’s contemporary floors in Cal Mart were slow when I was there. The Focus apparel show and Transit shoe show in the 13th floor event space had some foot traffic.

We now enter a doldrum period for buying contemporary fashion. Things will start moving again as we approach the launch of the Spring/Summer ’13 collections at the Las Vegas round of shows in August. I can’t wait!

Paul Brindley

paulbrindleyconsults.com

I’m back in Los Angeles from Sydney after three very busy weeks attending Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia (MBFWA), doing follow up meetings with designers, manufacturers, industry people, and sales and PR agents, while catching up with important friends and contacts in the Australian fashion world.

My plan this year was to blog everyday of the show rather than put out a long post-show review. I did get a Day 1 recap done. But despite best intentions, I was just way too busy. So settle in for a bit of a read.

Between attending runway shows, meeting with designers and manufacturers, and their sales and PR agents in the suites of the nearby Shangr-La Hotel, and participating in the business matching program coordinated by the New South Wales State Government, Department of Trade & Investment (NSW T&I) in conjunction with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) and the Council of Textile & Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA), and finding time to network and make connections in the VIP hospitality area, I rarely stopped to eat let alone blog. Even my tweets and FB posts dried up.

I was also supposed to meet a delegation of Hong Kong designers promoted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council but just didn’t have the time.

It was an exhilarating and enlightening week. I don’t agree with those who thought the majority of the collections were pedestrian. Sure, it would be great if all the designers involved were in the position to send out forward or avant garde collections to excite and provoke. We are in times when people need wearable clothes at reachable price points. I’m not sure what some of the critics don’t understand about the designation, Ready To Wear.

I thought the layout and organization of the show was better than last year:

• The addition of the enormous tent in the parking lot of the main venue (The Tent), the Overseas Passenger Terminal (OPT) at Circular Quay took the pressure of the upstairs space where one of the runway venues (The Box) is located. The larger shows were done in The Tent which allowed The Box to be used for innovative installation type showcases such as Gail Sorronda, Flowers For A Vagabond and Akira.
• The Tent also greatly reduced the foot traffic and bottle-necking of show attendees and delegates on the upstairs main floor which allowed for a large media center and a bigger cafe with a significantly expanded seating and meeting area.
• There were less promotional booths in the upstairs area which again created more space. Last year, collections were showcasing out of booths configured across the floor.
• This year the Showroom Suites were located in the Shangri-La Hotel, just a short walk up The Rocks from the OPT. Last year, they were a 20 minute uphill walk away at the Westin Hotel in the CBD.
• Access to the VIP bar was monitored much more carefully. Last year, there were times when half of Sydney was trying to get a drink. It made it very difficult to get productive networking done. This year was much more comfortable.

I think the only aspect of the organization that was not as smooth as last year for me was the online “portal” system for gaining access and seating preferences for the runway shows. Last year, the international delegates were “parachuted” directly into great seating for requested runway shows by IMG staff. As a result, I got first and second row seats for just about every show I wanted to attend. This year the approval and seating of all attendees was done by the designers and their PR and/or sales agents. The lack of preferential treatment meant I didn’t get into some of the most sought-after shows, and my seating allocations were well back from last year. Fortunately, I am luck enough to know the person I call “The Guru of Fashion”, the brilliant bon vivant Nicholas Huxley of The Fashion Design Studio at the Sydney Institute TAFE. Nicholas made a call, and doors opened. Thank you again, Nicholas. More about “The Guru” later.

Day 2

The brilliant Toni Maticevski opened Day 2 of MBFWA in The Tent. This was one I couldn’t get into. I saw Maticevski at Carriageworks last year, and rated it one of the standout shows of the week.

My first runway was the always evocative Flowers For A Vagabond. Last week, Ragtrader magazine described the Spring/Summer collection thusly, “Flowers for a Vagabond has dubbed its spring/summer 2012/13 collection ‘Desirable Darkness’. The collection graduates from dark to bright with a signature tattoo style print presenting continuity throughout. Richly textured, it features contrasting silk chiffon with leather panels and piping and layering metallic tassels with tailored pieces.” Couldn’t put it better myself. I met with Toby Mclean, the designer and his PR firm, Click Communications after MBFWA. Hopefully, FFAV will be available in US stores in the near future.

The gorgeous flowing styles of Talulah were next. Talulah is now represented my Melt Management with showrooms in New York and Los Angeles.

Toi Et Moi Sydney opened their show with the owner, Gill Lawrence’s young daughter beautifully singing in French accompanied by her father on guitar. Gill also owns the collection, Mad Love.

I missed the Jayson Brunsdon show on Tuesday evening believing I had seen the collection at the Fashion Palette show the week before MBFWA. But when I met with Jayson and his sales manager after the show I found out that they had shown Fall/Winter at Fashion Palette for some reason. I am looking forward to seeing his SS 12/13 lookbook. Here is a shot of Jayson’s creations at Fashion Palette.

Instead of Jayson’s show, I made my way to the hip Victoria Room in Darlinghurst for the launch of the brilliant young couture designer Nomiki Glynatsis‘ Spring/Summer collection of couture jewelry and gowns entitled “Essence of An Enchantress”. Moet champagne, delicious hors d’oeuvre live piano accompaniment, interesting people, and gorgeous jewelry and gowns made for a fun, glamorous evening.

Day 3

The first half of Day 3 was crammed with meetings. Oroton was my first runway show of the day. The iconic Australian brand launched it’s first full ready to wear collection at MBFWA. The collection has a crisp, fresh, preppy look with separates in scarf prints, short dresses and jacket edging in Oroton’s classic shimmering metal mesh (the handbags, purses and wallets were synonymous with Australia in the ’70’s & ’80’s), and lots of color – blues, purple, orange, yellow, nudes and neutrals.

My next runway was one of the peoples’ favorites of the week, Watson X Watson. The sister team of Liberty and Somer Watson have created a sexy, uncomplicated, wearable collection that is creating buzz in Australia and internationally.

FabSugar put it best, ” … As their collection hit the runway you could almost hear the collective gasps from the crowd at what was a revelation of epic fashion proportions — these were clothes every woman craves to own, and wear, on a daily basis. For the working woman, soft tailoring and fuss-free silhouettes were on offer in crisp white and nude, while evening wear was presented with sequins, lace and plunging necklines in everything from dresses to jumpsuits. Weekend wear took a sporty turn thanks to utility-style jackets and relaxed florals, and the palest of pinks lent a feminine edge to slim-fit pants, relaxed tees and slouchy knits. Whether you like your silhouettes kept tight and sexy, or prefer something slightly more oversized and exaggerated, Watson X Watson delivers the goods, and then some.” The crowd went nuts after the show.

I am sure we’ll be seeing Watson X Watson retailing in the US very soon. A US distributor or showroom would be wise to snap up the collection ASAP.

As well as their women’s collection, Kooey Australia debuted their first full men’s collection along with Kooey by Sherri-Lee, a diffusion line designed by current Miss Universe Australia, Scherri-Lee Biggs. The color and prints of the women’s collection were highlighted by the Aboriginal-inspired dot prints in gorgeous blues that had you dreaming of a hot summer’s beach day.

Day 3 ended with The Men’s Show showing looks from designers Zsadar, Nathan Paul Swimwear, Injury, From Britten, Kalb & Etiw and Mils.

My favorites were Zsadar, Nathan Paul Swimwear and Kalb & Etiw.

Zsadar’s black on black and greyscale palette, asymmetric hems, drop crotch pants and button down shirts was fashion forward and wearable. Talented young Perth designer Shane Newton’s collection has huge potential, especially in the European market. I look forward to following his progress.

The Nathan Paul Swimwear got the crowd going with the models freelancing with poses and crotch grabbing at the end of the runway. Designer Nathan Lodge is thinking out of the box with his styles for men and women. The Dia de Los Muertos (Day of The Dead) prints will be a hit in Australia. His swim brief for men is one of the best I have seen. Polos, unisex shorts and a sweet jacket for women round out the sexy swim styles. Nathan has gone the extra mile by using Australia’s now famous androgynous model, Andrej Pejic. Andrej debuted on the international catwalk scene in theJean Paul Gaultier’s Spring 2011 Men’s Show.

Keep an eye out for my Day 4 & 5 review over the coming days. If you see anything in this blog that you want to know more about, please contact me at: info@paulbrindleyconsults.com.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

Here is an article in The Australian on the continuing growth of menswear in Australia. I think the same can be said for the US.

Loosening ties | The Australian.

The fact stated early the article says it all – “In December, US management consultancy Bain & Co revealed that the luxury menswear sector, which makes up 40 per cent of the global market, was growing nearly twice as fast as womenswear.”

While it talks about luxury menswear, I believe there is a groundswell of change in how men are dressing themselves in Australia and the US. Basically, men are caring more about how they look. Has the lead come from the influence of metrosexuality? From the style crossover trend in fashion at present? From the more structured look in womenswear leaving men juxtaposed as slobs? Remember that men dressed better in the 80’s pulled along by the structured, more dressed and innovative womens’ styles of the times. Since then, your average guy has struggled to get past the Nirvana garage-look.

The article maintains, “We are seeing this area as a key growth area of our menswear business. We believe this new confidence has come from greater exposure to global trends through things like the growth of online retail, lifestyle sites and reality television. They are now far more aware of what is going on and are in tune with trends overseas, embracing them and a new way of dressing. We saw this start with accessories, but now we are seeing this expand into our ready-to-wear business, with men favouring bolder fabrications and slimmer suits.”

Whatever the reason, I’m glad we are here.

Paul Brindley

paul brindley consults

Here is an excellent article from Apparel News about the benefits of manufacturing in Central America (similar can be said of South America, e.g. Colombia).

China is getting relatively more expensive all the time. C. America is in roughly the same timezone, it is much closer in time and space, the quality is good and if you choose the right country, your goods won’t have to climb the tariff wall.

Something to definitely think about.

Central America Trying to Capture China’s Business – Fashion Manufacturing News | California Apparel News | LA Fashion.

Paul Brindley

paulbrindleyconsults.com