From March 4 to 7, 348 accessories designers (including 29 newcomers) gathered in the heart of the Jardin des Tuileries at the PREMIERE CLASSE trade show. While the winter 11-12 accessories collections were buoyed by a dynamic buying climate and high business volumes encouraged by the presence of key buyers from Paris Fashion Week, visitor numbers were more subdued than in March 2010. With 11,524 admissions, overall visitor numbers were down 17% on an equivalent session basis.
This decline is mainly attributable to the exceptional results of the March 2010 session, which recorded a meteoric 24% jump. A logical return to normal, in an economic climate that is still somewhat difficult for certain European countries and major export markets. With 60% of visitors from abroad, PREMIERE CLASSE confirms its global reach and continues to set the standard for fashion accessories worldwide.
FROM NOVELTIES TO EXCLUSIVE PRODUCTS…
Following the influx of French and foreign buyers who had been loyal to the second session since the first in January, the buyers who came to the Jardin des Tuileries in March were more focused than ever on new brands, and more than willing to indulge in impulse buying, including exclusive products with high added value. In other words, they had a sharp eye and wanted to be surprised. A case in point is the South African brand QUAMTA, which presented its first collection of small luxury leather goods: “Our brand has won over numerous boutiques, notably in Hong Kong, China, New York, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and England”, enthuses Benedikt Sebastian, in charge of marketing for the brand.
For Mujadid Shah, designer and manager of YARNZ scarves, “the first session is a little more commercial, the second more like a fashion museum”. If we compare the two sessions, “we have different customers:
more French people and smaller boutiques come to the 1st session… However, not without the other! It’s one with the other, because visitors aren’t looking for the same type of products”, says LEA CLEMENT.
As guarantors of this exclusivity, jewelry designers with a very “couture” flair really came into their own. The collections of A CUCKOO MOMENT, MAWI, SIMON HARRISON and NUIT N°12, for example, were highly acclaimed. BERNARD DELETTREZ affirms that his eponymous brand “was pushed by PREMIERE CLASSE. I’m used to presenting my collections in private showrooms, but this was my first time at a trade show. PREMIERE CLASSE gave me 360-degree visibility. The success was incredible. We won 30 points of sale worldwide.
LA MOME BIJOU designer Isabelle Prat, who for the first time offered precious gold and diamond jewels at the heart of the pop and playful collections she is known for, aimed to “present creations not seen elsewhere, while offering accessible prices”. The challenge seems to have been met, with “concept stores all over the world: Paris, London, St Petersburg, Dubai, Istanbul, Luxembourg, Japan and even South Africa”.
This “incredible variety of international buyers”, as Brendon O’Connor, SIMON HARRISON’s Communications Director, points out, extended far beyond the jewelry sector. MASHA KEJA (bags) and CORNELIA JAMES (multi-accessories) also welcomed visitors from all over the world, including major export markets. “Most of them were either exclusive, independent fashion boutiques, or hyper-creative boutiques specializing in a very specific accessory sector”, continues Geneviève Lawson, Creative Director of CORNELIA JAMES.
And Geneviève Lawson adds that PREMIERE CLASSE is also, and above all, a communication and image platform: “The fact that the designers themselves are on site attracts a good clientele”. As SIMON HARRISON and BERNARD DELETTREZ confirm, the press, particularly from abroad, was particularly present.
…WITHOUT FORGETTING THE BEST
Another notable buying behavior was that, as the post-crisis period led buyers to optimize their budgets, retailers were also looking for products that were as creative as ever, but at affordable prices. For this type of product, they spent lavishly… The success of brands such as YARNZ, LA MOME BIJOU and AN+KA attests to this. For Anne Kermanac’h, AN+KA’s designer, “buyers are less cautious than at previous sessions. Their orders are more substantial from the outset. They don’t even want to go through small volumes and then restocking to test the product.
This phenomenon is also reflected in a strong craze for “refuge” brands, with their sometimes centuries-old heritage and know-how, such as the Danish PIET BREINHOLM (bags), LA MAISON BOINET (belts) PIGANIOL (umbrellas) or EMMANUELLE KAHN (eyewear). Proof that the authenticity of their creations, and in particular their updated “bests”, are as seductive as they are reassuring.
While for some, this session was a real commercial success, like NSEW who “noted 30 boutiques and multiplied its sales by 5 compared to its last participation”, the return of fine weather seems to have kept buyers away from full-season winter products. Fur, for example, which had been a huge success in January, was replaced by more versatile, multi-season accessories.
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