10/31/07 Post
Ok, for those of you whom weren’t paying attention: I am a staff acccountant by day and a fashion designer by night. I’ve been a designer since 2001. I started out only doing home decor and honestly can’t remember the transition to clothing.
After 5 years of struggling and depressing revenue numbers, I took an entrepreneur class. (The best thing I’ve ever done besides having my kids but that’s a different story.). The main thing I learned in that class is this: no matter what your business if, if you don’t advertise and/or market your business, you are wasting your time.
That being said, I attended the Open See at Henri Bendels’ which is an open call for designers, jewelers and others.
My friend and I are in line at 7am to wait until 9am for them to accept the designers. We finally got in the door at about 10am. I signed up under the women’s apparel, swimwear/loungewear and accessories categories.
I was immediately whisked away to speak with Kirsten, the buyer for swimwear/loungewear. I showed her my bamboo bikini and coverup. She liked it and wanted to see other designs. I let her know I do have other swimwear sketched out but not made. She told me they have trunk shows, wanted to know if I was interested (duh!), took my card and brochure and I was whisked away to the waiting area.
I was then called for accessories. I brought 4 purses that I felt really represented them the best. She loved them and took a card. It wasn’t a no, it wasn’t a yes.
The big one: women’s apparel. This is the category everyone is fighting for. I’m waiting in line with a black dress, the white pant suit, a silver evening gown, the red island dress and the backless tank top. While waiting in line, I am asked about my price point and the girl (Jody no less) seemed satisfied with my answer. I’m then called to go talk to Amy. She already had a look of disinterest (I was only about 100th in line, how could she be disinterested already!) I showed her the white pant suit, the tank (which she loved) and as I was bringing out the black dress, she said, “I really see this [the white pant suit] as being on an older woman. Our customers are very young. The tank is very cute. Your clothes are nice for older women but too sexy.” I then packed up and walked out graciously.
So, there you have it. I will admit, walking back to the subway, I was thinking about giving up. I was highly discouraged.
Please go to my pictures, look at my outfits again and tell me what you think. The Fall/Winter collection will be out in a couple of weeks (Guess I’m not giving up after all) 
The above photo is the one she said was for older women.
