MANUFACTURING
Shibata Wins WWDMAGIC’s Crème de la Crème
Japanese-born designer Ayumi Shibata put her angle on Americana and bohemian styles with her label / éis / Los Angeles, and with help from the WWDMAGIC trade show this Los Angeles–based designer is going to Paris.
It was announced last week that Shibata won WWDMAGIC’s Crème de la Crème contest, which has been held every August since 2013.
The winners of the contest travel on an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris to meet with buyers of the prominent Paris department store Galeries Lafayette. Shibata also will get to lunch with Edouard de Bailliencourt, the department-store chain’s international-marketing manager, during her Paris trip, which will run Oct. 10–13.
The / éis / Los Angeles (pronounced Ace Los Angeles) label was introduced in 2014 and has sold at boutiques such as Los Angeles–based Nasty Gal and Planet Blue, which is headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., and Free People, a division of Urban Outfitters Inc.
During the contest, WWDMAGIC show directors select several designers exhibiting at the show and send images of the lines to Galeries Lafayette. Representatives from the high-end department store select the winner.
Previous winners of the Crème de la Crème contest have met with Galeries Lafayette buyers. The buyers gave their contest feedback on the lines. However, the winners did not sell their designs to the high-end department-store chain, said Kelly Helfman, WWDMAGIC’s show director.
At WWDMAGIC, / éis / Los Angeles exhibited at the trade show’s Emerging Designers section, which was curated by Fashion Business Inc., a nonprofit business education group for fashion entrepreneurs. Shibata showed the brand’s cocoon capes, sufi kimonos and oversized jackets at Emerging Designers.
The WWDMAGIC show directors entered her in the contest. Last week, Don Pietranczyk, senior marketing manager of UBM Advanstar Fashion Group, phoned Shibata and told her that she was the winner of the Crème de la Crème contest, she said.
Los Angeles will get an extra look at Shibata’s label. On Oct. 13, 10 of / éis / Los Angeles’ looks will be showcased at FBI’s annual All Aboard runway show at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, said Frances Harder, founder and president of the board at FBI.
“She has got one of those rare talents,” Harder said of Shibata. “She is not only a talented designer, she has a grand picture of the production process and marketing process. If you’re a talented designer, it is equally as important to have business skills.”
