Monday, May 19, 2008

Summer Consensus


Another successful trunk show under our belt here at Stacia. Saturday's event at The Ria Ray Gallery off Montana Ave. in Santa Monica was a much needed zen-stop for all the die-hard shoppers on Montana. Unknowingly, we held the event on the same day as Montana Avenue's annual sidewalk sale so we were blessed with a lot of walk-ins. For a designer, it's such a treat and essentially great market research to see all walks of life, body types, and age groups try on my knitwear and all look great! The overall consensus was certainly the knit Summer dresses and the versatile beach tunic. Everybody wanted the Summery twisted tank dress (Eden and Marigold were hot colors) and the demure sweetheart dress (Mimosa and Waterlily the most popular.) Tall gals, petites, well-endowed women, and slim girls all looked fabulous in the dresses. And everyone who bought a dress, literally walked out the gallery door with their purchase on their back. It was a hot, balmy day and the super-soft light-weight knit dresses were the perfect solution for a sweltering day when you don't want anything touching your skin. Throw on some underwear, some flip flops and go! And the great thing about our dresses is you can go from a balmy day with flip flops strolling along the sidewalk sale on Montana Ave. to throwing on a cardi, some mules and heading out for a night on the town all in the same outfit. The crochet beach tunic in Eden and Marigold was also popular at the trunk show. And thanks to my host and model, Ria Ray, layering this beach tunic over our knit dresses was also a great discovery. One of our customers bought the twisted tank dress in Marigold along with the Marigold beach tunic and she plans on wearing it to work this week. Mix and matching the tops and the dresses is also fun and sort of bohemian - try the Eden beach tunic over the Hibiscus twisted tank dress.

Overall it was a great event. Sipping chilled sparkling red wine, meeting new customers, seeing all kinds try on the knits and all looking fabulous, and feeling great satisfaction seeing my designs on real women. Designers are usually tucked away in a design studio designing blindly and anticipating what their customers will want. So a trunk show event like this, especially since I no longer have my Brooklyn storefront, is a great opportunity to interact with my customers, to see what works and what their needs are so I have more ammunition when designing the next collection. So thank you to my friend Ria Ray for hosting and providing the beautiful backdrop for my Summer collection, and thank you to all who stopped by the event. We hope to do a Sample Sale event at the gallery again this Summer, so stay tuned...

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