NEW YORK — The Intermezzo show was at a new location, but that didn’t deter buyers or vendors looking to pick up pieces for holiday and resort selling.
ENK International’s Intermezzo is usually at the Show Piers here, but because of construction at the passenger ship terminals, the locale was changed to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. Elyse Kroll, president of ENK, said the shows will be back at the piers once construction is finished in time for Coterie in September. The event ended its three-day run on Tuesday.
“I just loved having it at the Javits Center. For the buyers, it made our lives so much easier,” said Stacy Pecor, owner of Olive & Bette’s four boutiques here. “I hope we can go back again. Overall, I thought it was a good show. It was nice to get a preview on spring and resort is becoming such an important season.”
Pecor said she will buy a great deal from what she saw at Intermezzo.
“We are looking for items to sell for holiday, so I looked at a lot of lingerie vendors. Underglam looked great,” she said. “Shoshanna looked great. We do really well with her swimwear, so it was nice to see the sportswear looking so good. I also loved Tibi. It looks amazing. She has really gained her own look and feel; when I wear it, people stop me on the street. It’s just a terrific line and it looks better than ever.”
Pecor said she also liked Rachel Paley’s line, Alice & Trixie, Susanna Monaco and a new line called Tehya.
“I really loved the long dresses that are going to be out for spring and resort,” she said. “Being in New York, I was never sure about long dresses, since it’s hard to get in and out of cabs, things like that, but they just look so pretty, I know we will do well with them.”
Christen Wecksler, buyer for Girlshop, both the freestanding store here on Washington Street and the Web site, was also pleased with the Javits location.
“I didn’t think I would like the show at the Javits center, but I really did like it much better than the piers,” she said. “It was a lot easier to see everything in one room than it was to go from pier to pier. It made it easier to get around the show.”
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Wecksler said she found some new items from Robin, a line at Showroom Seven and Madison Marcus, which is represented by the Focus showroom.
“I have been a little upset about the direction that fashion is going in lately,” she said. “I am sick of the tunics and all the jersey, so it was nice to see that for holiday and resort there are some new things, like girly, flowy vintage-inspired kinds of things.”
Vendors said traffic was good and they were pleased with the orders they placed. Vera Wang was at the show for the first time with its Lavender label.
“We are getting a great reaction and have signed on a bunch of new accounts,” said Cary Jackson, ready-to-wear and Lavender label sales representative at Vera Wang. “We are starting to do well with some of the day dresses, which will continue more and more in the line.”
For holiday and resort, the collection included a best-selling navy and black silk spaghetti-strap dress, a slipper satin navy dress with a sequin drop waist and a taffeta black gown.
“The line has a lot of mixed details, which Vera has become known for,” Jackson said. “Mixing the luxe with casual, people love it.”
The Vera Wang Lavender label line wholesales from $160 to $420.
At the William Rast booth, Fred Naggar, brand director for the Los Angeles-based company, said retailers have been demanding quality jeans, so it raised price points along with quality. The William Rast line wholesales from $85 to $105.
For holiday, William Rast has done well with dark washes in skinny styles, Naggar said. For fall, the brand will be sold in Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom, among other specialty retailers.
“We will be in all 98 Nordstrom doors, which is a big jump from the seven doors we began in,” he said.
The company plans a big launch of a full lifestyle collection for spring 2007 selling that goes beyond jeans, Naggar said. The line will include woven and knit tops as well as outerwear.
Justin Timberlake, a partner in the line, is also very involved. “Justin demands quality, and nothing gets by without his approval,” Naggar said.
Alex Garfield and Jaime Nortman, founders of the GM Design Group, were at Intermezzo with their line Panticular, which is launching for fall. The collection, which is almost entirely made of a polyester-viscose-Lycra fabric, is based around simple, clean pants with a misses’ fit.
“These are simple, clean, understandable clothes, and the stores are loving what they see,” Garfield said.
The line also includes jackets and skirts in colors like gray, brown and black. To stay with the trends, the company is offering a pair of city shorts as well as a skinny-leg style. There’s also the side-zip ankle pants and hidden-elastic pants. The Panticular line wholesales from $68 to $160.