From a retailer’s perspective, Fashion Coterie has evolved in the past 20 years into a “must attend” — for its scale, convenience and targeted offering.
Ed Bucciarelli, chief executive officer and president of Henri Bendel, said, “Coterie is an important show for us because all of the major contemporary brands are represented. And now, with the introduction of the Mezzanine, younger designers also have a strong presence, which gives us an additional opportunity to discover emerging resources.”
Bucciarelli said the show is a “must attend” because it offers a “comprehensive selection of brands, but at the same time the presentation is well-edited, with a strong balance between established vendors and new lines.”
“This enables us to maximize our time and results,” he added.
Steve Blatt, owner of Searle, described Fashion Coterie as an industry fixture.
“We all go because we dare not go,” Blatt said. “Coterie would be the show that we all think of first before any other show that we attend.”
Fashion Coterie started as a much smaller operation than it is today. When the show had its 10th anniversary in 1996, founder Elyse Kroll reminisced in WWD about the show’s simple roots: Her own mother manned a registration table near the elevator. From there, the show has grown to an eminent position in the women’s fashion industry.
Kroll launched Coterie in 1986 at the Plaza Hotel. When the show grew too large for the space, it changed locations a few times before landing at the West Side piers, where it can accommodate the more than 1,000 vendors who now exhibit.
Kroll’s company, ENK International, produces a group of trade shows now, including one for accessories and one for children’s clothes, in addition to women’s shows on both coasts.
Coterie’s mission was always to present jury-selected collections for retail buyers in a comfortable and luxurious setting.
Nell Love, assistant buyer for Girlshop, attended Coterie for the first time this past year and was struck by the visual impact of the show’s chandeliers and white presentation. The strength of the show for her, she said, was the overall vibe and presentation, as well as the sense that what was presented was a mix of solid lines and new, exciting lines to complement those.
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“[At Coterie] you can get an idea of who’s gravitating toward what and see new, interesting lines, all in one space,” she said.
Carl Dias, a buyer at Traffic, said, “If you think about the size of New York and how much there is to cover, I can’t imagine how people did it before shows like this. I can’t imagine trying to cover New York any other way for the contemporary market.”
Dias said he’s discovered a number of designers at Coterie, including Anna Sui, Rebecca Taylor and Seven For All Mankind. Searle’s Blatt said his buyers have discovered Christopher Fisher and Wendy Mink at Coterie, among others.
Bucciarelli said he found Robert Rodriguez at the show a couple of years ago, “and his collection is currently one of the top sellers in our Trend area. Z. Brand and Pete T-shirts are two strong new resources that we picked up at Coterie and introduced at Bendel’s this season.”
Designers seen at Coterie range from powerhouse companies that have chosen to launch new lines at the show to many of the new “It” designers of the last 20 years.
Nanette Lepore, Eve*Lynn, Daryl K, Heatherette, Imitation of Christ, Ya-Ya, Joie, Le Tigre, Betsey Johnson, Anna Sui, Rouge a Levres, Le Phare de Baleine, Vivienne Tam, French Connection, Replay, Lucky Jeans, Diesel, Todd Oldham, Three Dots, Petit Beateau, Theory, Katayone Adeli, Tamotsu, Emma Black, Shoshanna, Alice Roi, Daryl K, Max Mara, Trina Turk, Chip & Pepper, Levi’s, Generra, Miss Sixty, Catherine Malandrino and Juicy Couture are among the many brands that have exhibited at Coterie.
“A lot of [designers] launch their careers there. I don’t how else they would be exposed to as many people,” Dias said.
Exposure has been what exhibitors and buyers tout year after year as the strength of Coterie. The scale of the show alone makes it unparalleled.
That scale was achieved by a gradual expansion of both show exhibitors and attendees to geographic areas outside Manhattan. By the show’s 10-year anniversary, there was an increase in West Coast vendors, and by its 20th, an increase in European and other international exhibitors.
Blatt said he and his buyers frequently find that they can see at Coterie the European designers they once had to travel to meet.
“When we go to Europe, we find more and more Europeans are coming over to Coterie. We can actually see them at Coterie rather than go to Europe to see them. It’s a backup for what we find,” Blatt said. Issa, for example, is a brand Searle discovered in London that has since started to show at Coterie.
It’s not only the international businesses that Coterie brings together. Dias, who is based in Los Angeles, pointed out that the show allows him to cover New York in a much more targeted way. And Blatt, whose stores are located in New York, said one of the benefits of Coterie for him is the chance to see designers from California who come to New York to show.