California Apparel News

NEW YORK—The sixth biannual Lingerie Americas event kicked off on March 6 with record attendance figures at the Altman Building and the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York.

The March 6–8 run of the show featured more than 250 international brands—including Celestine, Boerner, Fleur T, Huit, Le Mystere, Panache and Aubade—and Californian companies, including Beija Brazil, Sassybax and Lavit. Patrice Argain, chief executive officer of Lingerie Americas, was thrilled with the record-breaking figures.

“[Sunday, March 6] was the best day that we have ever had,” he said. “We had double the number of attendees compared to last March and a 10 percent increase from figures from last August. We are very happy with the trend.”

According to organizers, a total 2,475 visitors attended the show throughout its threeday run, a 15 percent increase over the March 2004 event.

This year, Lingerie Americas did not have a competing show running at the same time. Messe Frankfurt’s Intima America, typically held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, pulled out of the New York market.

“I think that it is more a case of convenience,” Argain said. “Every season we have become more successful, larger and larger. That trend is still the same; the big change is that now buyers don’t have to waste time with transportation or cabs to go to the Jacob Javits Convention Center, so they can stay here longer and be in a more comfortable state of mind. And that has a very positive effect. There is a great atmosphere, everyone seems very optimistic.”

Optimism was a word that sprung up again and again from the mouths of agents, retailers and buyers.

Victor Lee, director of New York–based agency NAP, represented six lines at the show: Argentovivo, Princess Tam Tam, Crabtree & Evelyn, Bill Blass, Anne Lewin and newcomer Saville Row–based luxury pajama company Derek Rose.

“I think maybe people are becoming a little bit more optimistic about the future of retail,” Lee said, adding that the luxury market is making a strong comeback. “There have been a few rough months, but it seems that people are beginning to realize that things are on the up.”

Another word that was heard often at the show was “fun.” The atmosphere was absolutely buzzing.

“It’s a fun industry, it’s getting to be more and more so,” said Sonia Winthers of Chantelle. The French company, a Lingerie Americas veteran, this year launched its partnership with Dress for Success, a charity that helps disadvantaged women get back into the working world.

“Lingerie just used to be seen in editorial, but due to the fact it is becoming a more fun category, and certainly with all the high-end designers coming in, the category has become important to press,” she said. “So that’s important for us because for years we were in a category that seemed out of the social norms in America.”

Patricia Fieldwater, a Canadian designer who has shown her eponymous collection at Lingerie Americas since August 2002, agreed. “In Europe, there has always been an understanding of the importance of beautiful lingerie, whilst in America, intimate apparel was always very sports-based,” she said.

The fact that Lingerie Americas has this European standard attracted retailer Rebecca Apsan of New York–based La Petite Coquette. While she noted that there was nothing particularly new at this year’s show, she said she has always been impressed with Andres Sarda and was very taken with the exhibit from Italian company Rosamosario. “Their designs were the most unique thing I saw at the show: couture lingerie like they used to do years ago,” she said.

Alongside the luxury trend, there was the obvious increase in color, lace and detail at the show, from Patricia Fieldwater’s beautiful silk pieces with contrasting fabric and lace colorways to Los Angeles– based Claire Pettibone’s enchantingly elegant robes and the simple but intricate handmade lace nightgowns from New York–based Nocturne.

The show has been growing year to year in attendance and exhibitors. There were 62 new brands added this year, including Elle MacPherson Intimates, which launched in 1990 in Australia and South Pacific Asia, took on the United Kingdom market in 2001, and is hitting U.S. shores this year.

Other new exhibitors included Cotton Sisters, which had previously showed at Intima America; Bedhead; Vivienne Westwood; and Baby Phat.

Lingerie Americas’ Argain said he is determined to maintain the quality and service that the show has built up. “It would be easy to get carried away with making the show bigger and bigger,” he said.

Organizers are planning to expand the new Winter Garden section on the fourth floor next year.

“It’s important that we do it step-by-step,” Argain said. “We have to be very careful to give the same level of service, the same amount of energy to everyone each year. If you increase the number of your exhibitors and the number of your attendees doesn’t grow as quickly, they will have a smaller piece of the cake and be disappointed—and we like to take care of our exhibitors.”