Happy Holidays! Market week draws to a close. . .

New York Accessories Market week has come to a close. This week fashion editors and store buyers converged on New York City to attend all the shows to find the items that will define our “holiday 2008” retail experience. I though it would be fun to share the process, what happens during this week and the next steps involved. Designers and fashion houses work in the future; today the 2008 holiday season has come to a close for me. It is just starting now for the fashion editors. They spent this week running all over town, from show to show to showroom, reviewing all the “holiday” merchandise on display. They will note their favorites, and the designs and colors they are interested in. Once they get back to their offices they will “call in” samples from the designers whose work they want to feature. Once the samples are in their hands, they will plan their layouts for articles featuring the holiday merchandise. Then, it’s time for the art directors and photographers to get involved; to plan photo shoots that will feature the looks they think will be hot for the holidays.

Time is short; most magazines need a couple of months lead time for their holiday issues. Because the shoots will happen pretty soon, if you look carefully, the autumn leaves and snow on the ground for these holiday stories and ads are fake!! What we see in the fall and winter issues of our favorite fashion magazines is generally shot out of season. Thankfully, for earrings, jewelry and accessories, close-ups can be shot so as not to require too many wintry props.

Fashion journalists and editors will also work with the designers when the features are being planned. They will call me and ask for the specific items they viewed at market. The editors are knowledgeable and skilled at putting all of the pieces together from different shows and different designer showrooms to create the look that gets us running to the stores or websites to check out what will be the “look” for the holidays. The best editors are unbelievably skilled at this stuff, they can see the finished pages in their head before the photo is taken or a sketch is drawn.
It's amazing how it all comes together.

I shot the above picture of a merchandise pull based on a request from an editor of a major magazine -the fashion will be influenced by the runway shows from Gucci. I keep a library of finished pieces in our showroom. The items are carefully filed by style, sizes and colors. Most items going out for editorial review and maybe to a photo shoot will be modified to meet the editor’s specifications. Then, I will send the samples over and the styling and shooting begins.

It won’t be till 4 months later and many hours of hard work
that the photos will appear in a magazine. It is this exciting process that keeps me going, from one season to the next. Now, in the middle of summer, we’ve just finished with next winters fashion! Next steps: the spring line for 2009. I’m off to figure out the colors, choose the crystals and start sketching the looks that will be made into prototypes for next spring’s jewelry. I’ll keep you posted and I welcome comments and feedback.