I was a bit slow out of the gate on Tuesday morning for Day 2 for the Vegas fashion trade show extravaganza after being kidnapped by Tracy and Angelika on Monday night, and being forced to dance into the night at the PoolTradeShow Opening Party. With true Aussie spirit, it didn’t take long for me to get into high gear, and burst out into the 112 degree heat.
I decided to spend Day 2 schlepping between hotels in the burning August sun checking out some shows that I hadn’t been to before.
ENKVEGAS
ENKVegas was at the resplendent Wynn Hotel. Their website describes the show as “a tightly merchandised event featuring premium & advanced product for men and women …” I would agree. Better contemporary men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections were spread over two adjacent function rooms.
After the massive spaces of the Mandalay Bay Hotel based MAGIC shows, the “intimate, efficient, easy to navigate”confines of the ENK show made for a great feel.
ENK always put on professional and well-appointed fashion shows. As a veteran of many Intermezzos and Coteries in New York, it was good to see that the quality was still there. There were more men’s than women’s collections. And there seemed to be more buyer action at the men’s booths. However, that could have just been a snapshot.
And, In true ENK style, the lunch was delicious.
After the long march through the Wynn, I headed next door to the Venetian Hotel through the Vegas broiler. The Venetian hosts MODA Las Vegas, CurveNV and MRKETLV.
MODA Las Vegas
MODA is a largely Missy show at the Sands Convention Center at the Venetian. There are over 300 collections represented. It is another forest of booths like WWD MAGIC at the Las Vegas Convention Center (more about that in my Day 3 wrap).
I visited a couple of very experienced and respected LA based reps that I know, and the feedback was good. Karen Anderson of KLA Showroom was very happy with the show. It was the first time Karen had done MODA, and she said she would be back.
Tami Smith of T. Smith & Co. is a MODA veteran. Tami said she had a great show. She does MODA because she thinks buyers have more time to browse lines than at the other shows. She also represents more contemporary collections, which she think stand out amongst the majority of more Missy lines.
CURVENV
CURVExpo runs designer lingerie and swimwear shows in New York and Las Vegas. CurveNV includes swimwear, lingerie, underwear, sleepwear and activewear. Women’s and men’s brands are represented.
With the increasing interest that I have been getting from Australian swimwear collections wanting to launch in the US, I wanted to compare CurveNV with the ISAM swimwear show that is part of WWD MAGIC – we’ll get to that in my Day 3 wrap.
I bumped straight the successful Australian swimwear brand, Seafolly. Many other big names were there – DKNY, Michael Kors, Betsey Johnson, Juicy Couture – to name a few.
The show felt a little cramped for space, and I didn’t see a lot of buyer action when I was there.
MRKETLV
MRKETLV is exclusively a men’s show that promotes to classic and contemporary buyers. It is a big show – way bigger than MAGIC Men’s at the Mandalay Bay. A lot of the big names were there. Maybe it was the size of the show and/or the time I was there but it didn’t seem busy.
They did, however, put on a very nice hot lunch. Even though I had eaten at ENK, I couldn’t resist the juicy steak medallions!
My long Day 2 ended back at WWD MAGIC at the LV Convention Center where I hooked up with my kidnappers of Monday night, Tracy and Angelika, before heading off for dinner and a much quieter night.
I’ll pick up at MAGIC in my Day 3 review. See you then …
Paul Brindley
www.paulbrindleyconsults.com
great
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