HI All,

Mercedes Benz Fashion week held in the tents at Bryant Park, NYC has always been the venue where established as well as emerging designers previewed their upcoming collections to the divas of fashion world and press. When Fall / Winter’ 09 collections kicked off this week, it was definitely an altered world from past shows. Many designers like Vera Wang, Betsey Johnson and Alice Temperley took a more prudent and low key direction as they opted not to strut the runways of Bryant Park but hold more low key presentations in showrooms, design studios and on webcasts. This is definitely a “sign of the times” as the fashion industry deals with the malaise in the U.S.retail sector. With shoppers retrenching, everyone…even designers are finding a way to show their support by cutting costs and paring down.

Although the U.S. Commerce department reported late last week that January retail sales rose 1% from December after having fallen for the past six consecutive months it’s not a reason for elation; just a short lived blip! The biggest winners were non brick & mortar retailers such as Internet and mail order shopping which saw a 2.7% boost in January. The balance of the increase came from sales at gas stations and food & beverages.


The shopper is learning to embrace the economy and find pleasure in tracking down bargains rather than splurging…..the “It” bag is the “out” bag. Ostentatious consumption is gauche today even for the luxury customer. So here lies the challenge; how does the retailer get the customer to justify a purchase? The answer is small indulgences that won’t break the bank.

As Spring’09 receipts hit the selling floors and stores kick off their seasonal ad campaigns, it is obvious that versatility and multi purpose dressing pieces are the focal point.

Just this past Sunday in the NY Times, both Bloomingdale’s and Lord &Taylor called out the Boyfriend blazer: