Most of you have probably already started, or are about to start buying your Fall wardrobe. And as always with a new season in fashion comes a whole new set of trends! Of course, as a buyer, I always have to keep my eyes open for new trends popping up along with being aware of which ones are carrying over from last season. So here’s my complete Fall 2008 trend guide:

New(ish) Trends:

• Crochet necklines:

Very elegant and cute. Purchased the Bryce & Bouji Basket Weave top (pictured above), which is the piece I’ll probably add to my wardrobe.


• Lace:

For so many years I was in love with lace, but now? Not so much. It just strikes me as dated and sort of stuffy now. Kova & T is doing lace leggings this season and I think they’re just awful. But a little black lace dress can definitely work.


• Tiered layers/strips:

This is the trend I pointed out a couple of weeks ago. I’m liking it a lot but I have a feeling it won’t catch on particularly strong.


• Equestrian:

Looks great on other people, but skinny/stretchy pants do not suit my figure!


• Plaid:

This one is fun, and practical. I’d love to add a ruffled button down plaid top to my wardrobe. Rihanna pulled this off perfectly:



• Sheer:

I’m seeing sheer blouses and sheer sleeves popping up at some of the upscale brands and boutiques. I’m on the fence with this one, and probably won’t be wearing it myself. I passed on buying any sheer merchandise just because it doesn’t always photograph well.

Continuing Trends

• Leggings (including Latex).

Just accept it, they’re not going anywhere! I don’t mind it either because I think leggings are really versatile and comfy, but I prefer wearing them with boots, so technically no one knows for sure if they’re leggings. And these latex leggings are really growing on me. There are ways to make them not look tacky; they just give a regular outfit an edge. However, the only place I go is to the supermarket, so I’ll probably have to pass.


• Opaque & semi sheer tights:

To me it looks like the focus this year will be on black opaque tights rather than semi sheer ones, like it was last year. And colored stockings will probably be even bigger. Today, I purchased black and purple opaque tights and a pair of striped gray ones. The purple will probably go back because I’m afraid of looking like the Joker in them. But hello deep semi sheer purple and/or Bordeaux.


• Ruffles:

My absolute fave! I just bought a black vest from BeBe with mini ruffles and I’m in love with it. I want to get some sort of a plain jersey ruffled top before fall as well. I think at least one ruffled blouse is a must have for everyone’s wardrobe.

• Fringe:

I hated when Fendi did all that fringe stuff last year, and I REALLY hate those fringe boots some of the famous “fashionistas” are wearing. I think ostrich feathers are better option, personally.


• Long cardigans/knit vests:

Just keep the ones from last year; don’t invest in any new ones.


• Wraps:

Everyone needs to have at least one of these in their wardrobe for fall! How often do we see a trend that is practical and looks great at the same time? My wardrobe already consists of a gray cashmere wrap and a dark green cocoon but I’ll probably add two jersey wraps soon.


• Leather:

Leather jackets are carrying over from last year (I’m not as keen on hem, but I’m glad my Forever 21 one hasn’t fallen apart) and skinny leather pants will be hot as well. Oh, leather pencil skirts are super cute as well! It’s all about wearing them correctly so that it doesn’t look trashy.


• Look-at-me Necklaces

: Or as Nina Garcia calls them, “statement jewelry”. I like my name better. I have at least one of these left over from a year or two ago, and I’ve had my eye on this huge, chunky necklace at Express for a while now. These are perfect to dress up a basic turtleneck.


• Belts:

It’s been, what, three or maybe even four years since the whole wide belts at the natural waist trend came along? It’s still going strong, and rightfully so.


• Thick Heels & Flats:

Flats are still going to be hot. And the “it” heel seems to be getting significantly chunkier.

Silhouettes, Textures & Colors
There’s not that much play on shape this season; it’s either very straight, or a very full hem.

• Skinny jeans




• High waisted bottoms:

I still don’t like high waisted pants on anyone, but high waisted skirts, pencil or a-line, are absolutely love. Lauren Conrad always looks cute in the ones she wears everywhere, paired with just a basic tank.


• Asymmetry




• Bubble:

I’m really surprised this hasn’t died already.


• Wide leg pants




• Full skirts




• Patent & Croc:

Or both, like the Onna Ehlrich make up bags I should be getting any day now. They look sort of like the clutch pictured below, but with patent crock + suede.



• Metallic:

I really wish this would go away.


• Cobalt blue:

I’ve always loved this color, it’s so striking. I’m so tempted to keep one of the Love Quotes scarves I bought in this color, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a big seller. Such a Catch 22.


• Jewel toned purple:

Most of the merchandise I bought for fall is either this color or black, no joke.

I don’t find any of these trends particularly offensive, so no complaints here from me. My top three favorite trends are ruffles, black stockings and the high waisted skirt. Anyone of any body shape can pull off those three trends; heck, you can even wear them all together and they’ll look fab!

So, you guys know I want your input! Did I get this right, or did I miss something major? What do you love and what do you hate? What have you bought, and what do you plan on buying? Don’t forget to post it in the comments section!

This is sort of a landmark for me because it’s the first time a piece from the store has gotten celebrity press! Very exciting, especially since I just bought this piece on Saturday. I knew paying way too much attention to celebs would pay off! Kim Kardashian wore the Voom by Joy Han Chic Dress to the premiere of the Cheetah Girls movie on Wednesday night. I really love the way this dress looks on her.

want it? Buy the dress here!

Kim Kardashian went on a Voom shopping spree where she picked up two of our hottest pieces, the Denim Pinstripe Babydoll and the Chic Dress, which is a brand new holiday piece (it’s slated to ship in about a month, but if anyone is interested in it now, I can probably bump up the ship date). Kim looks amazing in these dresses, and she bought both pieces so don’t be surprised if you see photos of her wearing either dress out on the town!

It’s finally here! A first look at the OohLaLuxe.com Fall/Holiday merchandise. Most of the pieces I purchased are featured in this video, and all but a few are in the correct colors as well. I’m seriously SO happy with this merchandise; I like it even more than the pieces I got for spring. Check it out and feel free to let me know what you think:

I’m back from a full day of buying yesterday! My dad drove us down to the showrooms and my mom and I went through and did the actual buying. It was so much fun getting to do this again, selecting the clothes is my favorite part of the process. And I got shut down on the pictures again guys, sorry! Anyways, here’s a complete recap of everything that went down:

12:00
We arrive in downtown LA and I’m SO happy because we’ll actually have time to eat before the appointments.

12:20
After parking the car, I realize that’s far from the case.

12:30 - The New Mart
We head across the street to the New Mart for our first appointment at Kathy Walker Sales. Every building in downtown LA is seriously ancient. The elevators are so old and slow and it takes hours just for them to get to our floor.

Another thing I notice….no one goes to Fall II/Holiday/Resort market week. Seriously, the other times I’ve been there (for Fall and Spring) there’s a mob of buyers waiting for the elevator at the New Mart. This time, only about a handful of people were down there.

So we got to the showroom about five or ten minutes later. It’s a pretty nice space and they carry 7 or 8 lines here (including Gypsy 05 and Linea Pelle). Each sales rep in the showroom reps all of the lines broken up by location, which seems pretty unique because I usually see a rep per brand. Anyways, after all that rushing the sales rep tells us she’s running behind and can’t take us at the moment. Now I start to get kind of worried because I spaced my appointments out by an hour plus we had plans for the evening, but I find out that there really isn’t such a thing called a “scheduele” in this industry. Oh. Okay. Good to know.

But I still like to be on time.

12:45 - Designers & Agents (Trade Show)

Since there’s time to kill, we hop on those slow-as-mollasses elevators and head on to the third floor to check out D&A. And for the second year in a row, I’m disappointed with the merchandise being shown here. I thought it was only me, but I found out that this show has a good reputation of having a pretty bad selection. Ouch! Honestly, it’s true. You’ll find a few gems (Alice & Olivia, Iro and a couple other big brands show there), some decent denim lines, and lots of great accessories, but that’s about it.

1:00 - Kathy Walker Sales
We’re back at the showroom, and the rep can take us now. She’s a really cool girl, and gives us a ton of valuable insight about the business and the lines as well. She was very honest about which pieces would sell well and which to stay away from. While I was there I took a look at two new lines for fall; one clothing and one accessories. Oh, and the rep even had to pull a few strings for me to be able to get both collections, because both of the lines were planning on cutting off distribution to online sales. And it’s understandable, since we are brand new, but interestingly the fact that we carry Voom helped.

1:45- Sway Showroom

Yup, we’re running about fifteen minutes late for the second appointment of the way. Thankfully the folks over at Sway Showroom on the 9th floor of the New Mart didn’t mind. Once again, the sales reps are super nice an friendly. Everyone says that people in the industry, and sales reps especially, are snobby but I’ve been lucky to only work with the nice ones!

She showed us the new up and coming indie line that will be on OohLaLuxe.com this fall. Okay, people…this line is GORGEOUS. I already had an idea of what pieces I wanted but so many of the pieces were just so beautiful in person. The line is young and hip, but it has a touch of elegance to it, and usually you don’t see both. I went out on a limb with a couple of the choices I made from the line, but hopefully it pays off. It’s pretty funny too because they didn’t even show me one of my absolute favorite pieces from the linesheets because none of the other buyers cared for it. I still don’t get that; I placed an order for the pieces anyways and I’m hoping it goes to production.

And before I headed out the reps show me a handbag line that I’ve never heard of. Cute, I’m thinking, but I was really weary of taking on another line that doesn’t have much press and isn’t well known. Turns out that this line has been gettin a TON of press…I’m talking Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives etc., pretty much the who’s who of stylish celebs and TV shows. How did I miss this brand? And I wanted to add some bags/clutches for the holidays. They also had a very flexible minimum, so of course I took advantage of the opportunity. I ordered four clutches and five make up bags from them. They’re super cute with this great mixture of patent croc and suede. I honestly can not wait to get them!

2:30 - Voom @ Brighte

Honestly I can’t remember what time it was, but we probably weren’t on time after having to rush back across the street and register TWICE; once for the CMC (why they need this, I don’t know) and also to get into the Brighte ENK trade show, which always takes forever. They gave us free bags though so I can’t complain too much.

I meet up with the rep for Voom who actually remembers me, which is pretty amazing since it’s been almost a year since I’ve been there. My budget is so much tighter this time around than it was last year so I had to pass up a couple of cute Voom pieces, but I’m very happy with what I got. Picked up couple of cute little black dresses and some others.

We looked around the tradeshow as well, which is smaller than D&A but they have a better selection, in my opinion.

To sum it all up, the trip was successful. I did go over budget, again, but it was a good over budget and not an “I have no self control” over budget. I picked up four new lines, which will be revealed sometime tomorrow, so be sure to check back for the Fall preview!

Market week is coming up this weekend, and on Saturday I’ll be heading down to LA to buy from the Holiday collections. Today I made my all my appointments with the showrooms, starting around noon through the afternoon. This time around I’ll be visiting two showrooms as well as the Brighte ENK trade show to buy from four different lines. And if I have time I might stop by D&A as well.

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been planning my budget for advertisement as well as merchandise and just going back and forth over all of the lines and pieces available deciding what to buy. I’m feeling pretty good about the stuff I’ll be ordering! There will definitely be a better variety of merchandise all around next season; more tops and outwear, accessories, and of course, gorgeous holiday cocktail dresses. Three of the lines will be brand new to the store as well.

Still, I’m pretty bummed out about missing the deadline for one of my favorite lines. The sales rep said there would be “little to no immediates available” for fall. Boo. I’m still holding out hope that I’ll be able to get something from the collection, especially since I’m holding back on buying from their Resort collection, because only one or the other will fit in the budget. If I don’t get it, that’s fine because I’m still going to have an amazing line up come this Fall. And if I do? Well all those other boutiques better watch out! (hah!)

Check back here next Monday for the run down. I’m going to try and take more photos of the whole experience, and if I get permission I’ll post a preview of the merchandise. And of course, I’ll reveal the new lines!

Oh, and I’m so glad I spotted this trend before going to buy. I’m calling it mini layers, and I love it! It’s like a mix between dip dyes and ruffles, two of my favorite trends at the moment. Examples:

The first two are from Madison Marcus and the second is Vanessa Hudgens from the TCA’s last night. And I’ve seen more but I can’t remember where. Very cute!

ETA: The people at TFS are calling this Tiered Layers, and some designers are calling it Colorblock Oragami.

Who: OohLaLuxe.com Private Sale

What: 50% off Jae Basilio, Voom, Va Va, Plastic Island and Egoist

Where: http://oohlaluxe.com/summer-sale.html 

When: Thursday, August 7th - Sunday, August 10th ONLY.

Visit the Big Summer Sale!

I just did some SERIOUS mark downs on some of the most summery items at OohLaLuxe.com! Take 25% - 40% off Voom by Joy Han, Vava, Jae Basilio, Plastic Island and Egoist. And here’s the best part; use the GO20 code and save 20% off on top of that.

Here’s a quick look at the items on sale:

Egoist Shorts - $140.00 $84
Plastic Island Vest - $132.00 $79.20

Plastic Island black jacquard skirt - $102.00 $71.40
Plastic Island tucked mini - $108.00 $75.60

Voom luxe baby doll - $196.00 $137.20
Jae Basilio kangaroo tank - $88.00 $57.20

Vava Taylor mini -  now $88.50
Plastic Island shoulder pleat top - $72.00 $54

Be sure to check out the rest!

Whenever I’m conversing with sales reps trying to get linesheets or information about new lines to carry, I always try my hardest not to sound like I’m not completely new to this. I’ve been to fashion school, I know a little bit about this business, and of course, I want it to show, so it’s important for me to use use the right names for things. One question that I frequently get asked through this site is “what do I ask the sales rep for?”. Hopefully this will make it easier to not only know what to ask for but how to ask for it:

Line Sheet - Usually when you contact a designer/sales rep and you’re interested in carrying their line, you’ll ask for a line sheet. I guess you could say it’s sort of like a catalog. It will usually be in a PDF format and it will have all of the styles listed, with colors, and wholesale prices, sometimes the size range, fabric content and retail prices as well. Some linesheets use actual photos and some don’t which brings us to…

Flat Sketches - It sounds like you know the fashion industry a bit better if you say “flat sketch” than “drawings”; and even after hearing this word 1000 times per day while I was at FIDM I still have to remind myself not to say drawings. These are done using Adobe Illustrator and they’re really annoying for me as a buyer because they don’t accurately show you how a garment will look. Which brings us to….

Look book - A look book is usually a small booklet and it has most of the line presented on a model, usually fully styled, similar to a magazine editorial. All of the ones I’ve seen are only photos, no information, no pricing, etc. This is a good thing to ask for if a designer only gives you a line sheet with flt sketches, but sometimes they aren’t available until closer to the date. Usually a rep will have a PDF of the look book, or they can send it to your snail mail. And it’s always nice to pick one up at the showroom even after you’re done with your buying; I have a small collection of them!

Immediates - These are pieces you can order on the spot and have sent to you right away. I’m not sure if they’re regularly stocked on the floor of a showroom, because I’ve only seen them is at trade shows, but usually you can ask a rep if there are immediates available or if a showroom is very much on the ball, they might put you on a mailing list and let you know what is available (which is something all reps should do w/ immediates as well as line sheets, in my opinion).

Minimums - This is something you ALWAYS want to ask about in advance! Especially if you’re starting out and on a tight budget. Some labels might require that you buy $1500-$5000+ per season or delivery. If that’s your entire budget for one delivery, you probably will want to hold off on that brand until you’re more established. And even if a rep says there are no minimums, there usually are some sort of stipulations that they won’t tell you about unless you specifically ask about it. For example, four styles per delivery, four bodies per style. Or maybe just the latter.

Body - Kind of self explanatory but a body = 1 garment.

A breakdown of what a line sheet looks like, basically, and how to read it.  These are imperative if you’re not buying in person, but even if you plan to do so it’s good to at least know if there’s something you’ll be interested in.

Ugh, I swear sometimes trying to communicate with sales reps is like trying to pull teeth! I’m almost convinced they don’t want to sell their lines at times. All of the reps that I’ve purchased from so far are great, but I’m trying to talk with two at the moment to pick up a couple of new lines and they have the hardest time following up. They say they’re in the process of sending something, and it never shows up. They ask me for my information so they can have the correct rep get in contact with me; nope, never hear a thing. I’m seriously considering buying from an east coast rep because playing email tag is just getting ridiculous.

And speaking of getting into contact with sales reps, that brings me to the real purpose of this post. I recently came across a website for fashion industry professionals that allows you to sign up and find the contact information for just about any line. Great, I thought since I was having a hard time find the info for one line in particular. Turns out once I signed up they want to charge me FIFTY DOLLARS for the contact information of three sales reps! Not only is it bad enough that they’re charging at all for information that you can find for free with a little bit of digging, but to overcharge to that degree is just gross. I really, really hate to think that there are up and coming buyers out there who are falling for this and giving them their money!

I’m not going to link to the site, but the site is called Find Fashion Rep. And Find Fashion Rep is a scam.

^^This site is NOT a scam!
Now a great site that is NOT a scam is ThreadMe.com. It’s sort of like Myspace or Linkedin, but connecting boutique owners with lines and showrooms. It’s pretty cool! And I’ve mentioned PLENTY of other places to find the contact information for showrooms (for FREE). The LA Fashion Directory is a great place to start,and there are more places to look in this post. I’ll try and find out more about showrooms on the East Coast. Just don’t pay for ANYTHING!