Building the Boutique

Our Black Orchid Thunder Skinny Jeans are featured in this months issue of InTouch magazine!

And Reese Witherspoon is the newest celebrity to jump on the Black Orchid Jeans train. I swear there’s a new celeb every week. She’s wearing the jeans in the same great Thunder wash.

Shop our Black Orchid section at OohLaLuxe.com for these styles and more.

This trip to market was much better than my last trip, for reasons I can’t even completely explain. Probably because the last one ended on a not-so-great note with me being unable to find a certain vendor (which was all my fault it turns out!). I think being well fed beforehand helped — we hit up the downtown California Pizza Kitchen before visiting the showrooms and I had the yummiest mahi mahi tacos. Mmmm! And you know it’s got to be good if I’m blogging about it despite food being completely unrelated to this blog.

The Cooper Building

Havaianas
Man, I thought the New Mart was the place to be? Almost all of the lines I wanted to peak at were located in the Cooper Building this time around. The first being Havaianas — you know, those really cute flip flops with all the cute patterns. I fell in love with these a couple of years ago when a boutique started sending me swag for blogging about them. My motivation for carrying the line is mainly my shop in the salon; it’s something everyone can afford, and something everyone NEEDS in Bakersfield weather!

Now, these are pieces I probably could’ve ordered off the linesheet at home, but I wanted to see them in person because most of the colorways are teeny, tiny thumbnails. I’m talking about 1″ in size, maybe smaller. So you can imagine my dissapointment when the reps only had three of the patterned style samples — those are the ones I wanted to see the most. I was also surprised to learn that you get charged an extra $10 if you don’t order 18 pieces. It’s not THAT bad but I really wish the reps would tell us things like this ahead of time.

I ended up writing 14 pieces total, in four styles, including these cute brown and gold ones with a bird pattern (these are carry overs from last year so you might have seen them), amazing beige/brown animal print ones, hot pink peacock print and metallic “mint” with a metal flower. The last ones are VERY pretty; such a gorgeous shade of green. I couldn’t help but snag a couple for myself as well.
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So this weekend I finally entered the world of “budget clothing”. For a now while I’ve been wondering where some shops get less expensive pieces. When you’re working with contemporary designers, it’s hard to find collections that retail under $100; I can count all of those labels on one hand, I can’t name one I actually like and would carry. So after a lot of research (ie. googling) I came across a couple of brands, which eventually lead me to the online showrooms. Turns out these showrooms are pretty much where I expected them to be — deep in the heart of the garment district. In fact I remember stumbling upon a few of them on accident while shopping with friends down there one time.

And, as usual, I’ve uncovered a whole new set of frustrations. Where do I begin…

So, I’m mainly looking for more affordable pieces for my shop at the salon. These lines are great because a lot of the tops retail for around $35 and the dresses a little bit more for that and the jeans actually LESS than that. Is the quality the same as pieces I carry now? Of course not, but some of it is a lot better than one would expect. But you have to look….and look, and look….and then look a lot more to find them. I mean, there’s a lot of horribly ugly crap in this market, and I really wonder who’s designing for these labels sometimes to be honest. But every once in a while you stumble upon a gem.

The real issue here is with minimums — not delivery minimums (they’re usually about $100), but size minimums, because budget lines come prepackaged with a set number of items in each size. Im used to buying four pieces and being able to choose which sizes I want, but with these lines you’re (on average) required to purchase six pieces (sometimes 5) and you don’t even get to choose the sizes. And for a small store, six pieces seems a bit daunting. If you’re talking jeans or shoes, be prepared to stock a lot more.

Even more frusterating, though, are the sizes. Just earlier today I was looking at a VERY promising line with peices retailing around $80 and $90 each. Only thing is they require you to buy 2 small, 2 medium and 1 large. Yeah, maybe in LA sizes 2 and 4 are more popular than 6 and 8, but in my town? Not so much. I asked the sales rep about this and she told me that I can “always add more larges on to the order”. Well thanks, but that’s not exactly what I was getting at.

To make matters even worse, most of these showrooms are closed on Saturdays….even during market week. I know they don’t work ahead of the season, but this I don’t get at all. I guess they think all buyers live in LA or can just abandon work in the middle of the week.

So far, I’ve found a couple of great jewelry vendors and placed an order for a few pieces. I’m pretty excited about them; cute stuff, and it’s all going to retail under $25. Should be a great addition to the salon, since we have absolutely NO jewelry there. Crazy, huh?

The Gypsy 05 Ombre Mini Dresses were a BIG hit last summer, and we’ve got them back in stock this year in hot pink and blue. Check it out at here.

I’m looking for up and coming fashion designers and clothing labels for a new project. If you’re interested, please email me with a short bit of info about your line and either your lookbook, linesheets or a link to your online website/portfolio. I’ll get back to you with more information. Be prepared to give a short interview (about 5-10 questions).

Contact me at kimberly AT gmail DOT com with “emerging designer” as the subject.

Ooh La Luxe! is officially (and finally) on Facebook! Anyone who fans us AND tells us what color Love Quotes Scarf is their favorite gets entered to win an LQ scarf of their own. So hurry on over to our Facebook page (link below) and fan us, chat with us and get entered to win!

Complete contest rules are under the cut.

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Our newest line, Black Orchid Denim, has been getting amazing press as of late! Hilary Duff is the latest to jump on the Black Orchid train (she actually wears a LOT of brands I carry, especially Love Quotes and Linea Pelle). She’s wearing the Black Orchid denim leggings in Thunder wash, and I think her entire outfit is on point.

Right now at OohLaLuxe.com, we have the Black Orchid Black Jewel Skinny Jeans in Thunder Wash. Same great wash, but in a more flattering/less body conscious fit. And for designer denim, they’re a steal at $101. Check out both of the styles available on the Black Orchid denim sales page.