I’ve the odd thought I’ve written about emotions of déjà vu earlier than on this column however as that is the fourth anniversary of me placing finger to keyboard for TheIndustry.style I can’t be anticipated to recollect every part I’ve finished over the earlier 47 months.
It’s been a time of anniversaries just lately. On 28 January it was precisely 45 years since I began my first function on this style commerce publications lark. My concern is someday I’ll should get a correct job however till then I’ll carry on conserving on (as Curtis Mayfield as soon as suggested us to do).
My newest bout of “I feel I’ve been right here earlier than someday” troubled me on Sunday, 2 February when I discovered myself wandering concerning the halls of the Nationwide Exhibition Centre in Solihull on the opening morning of the long-standing Spring Honest occasion.
My spouse (and one-time style editor) Jane Eastoe runs a small present store close to the place we dwell in north Northumberland, so she was racing about just a few halls sporting her purchaser’s hat, whereas I took the chance to analyze what the style provide was providing for autumn-winter 2025.
I used to be primarily in seeing how the Pure womenswear truthful appeared on this, the primary season since present proprietor Hyve had relocated it from London to the West Midlands. When the present was launched in February 1997 by then-owner EMAP, journos like me have been pressed to seek advice from it at all times as Pure London to emphasize its credentials because the womenswear commerce truthful within the capital.
Now it has change into Moda x Pure, merely an adjunct to the Moda present that at all times operated at a cheaper price degree and magnificence degree to Pure. This season’s inaugural occasion mustered solely 53 exhibitors, with only a tiny handful of survivors from Pure’s London heyday.
I used to be advised Hyve has a plan to return it to its former location “at a while” however that certainly is unlikely. Pure London had an excellent run, lasting for greater than 25 years, however somebody should reinvent the idea spectacularly to get a large-scale womenswear exhibition working in London once more.
In fact the Hyve-owned Scoop, which was fashioned in 2011 by style agent Karen Radley for exhibitors that didn’t discover Pure unique sufficient, has remained at Olympia West (February Sep 11 this season, with round 200 collections on present).
Not far-off from Olympia, in Hammersmith, my former colleague and ex-Pure gross sales supremo Lucy Walsh of The Model Ambassadors company has for the fifth season introduced collectively greater than a dozen style brokers in The Trend Huddle, a kind of collective uber-showroom that runs from 20 January to 21 February, giving impartial retailers loads of time to drop in throughout the shopping for season.
After which, far-off up the M1, there may be the Harrogate Trend Week, which regardless of its title runs for under three days. Launched by ex-Moda director Sarah Moody and Wendy Adams in July 2018, its twelfth version coincided (or clashed, relying in your viewpoint) with Pure x Moda on February 2-4. By all accounts this occasion goes from energy to energy, reminding oldies like me of the good pull style occasions had within the Yorkshire spa city within the Eighties.
(Enjoyable truth: I first met my future spouse Jane at a Harrogate Trend Honest).
And we should not overlook that the AIS shopping for group held its INDX Lady occasion at its showroom venue close to the NEC on January 29-30.
With all this hectic commerce present exercise, with dates clashing and three-way regional rivalry between Harrogate, the NEC and London, plus the AIS occasion, it’s no marvel I’m feeling déjà vu-ish. I – and lots of others – have seen all of it earlier than. Trend would possibly fake to be all about change, however a lot of it stays the identical. All the time.
Moda X Pure at Spring Honest
Again on the NEC on that current Sunday, I quickly realised that it was inappropriate to match Moda x Pure to Pure London at its punchiest finest. Below the Spring Honest banner, the brand new incarnation sits alongside a big accent part and a good bigger jewelry space. (Who knew so many individuals might make a residing promoting comparatively cheap jewelry? Not me).
For retailers who’ve embraced extra of a way of life strategy, at Spring Honest there are acres of stands providing homewares, wellness merchandise, scented candles, presents, stationery, greetings playing cards and the like, so there may be a lot to peruse.
The style exhibitors I spoke to after the four-day NEC occasion (February 2-5) reported a worthwhile attendance, seeing the kind of patrons they may not have seen at Pure London or Harrogate. Trend is actually a many-layered cake and, to combine metaphors, completely different exhibits characterize completely different horses for programs.
I can see Moda x Pure growing its personal area of interest, definitely not on the most inspirational or trendy a part of the sector however serving a big variety of companies. I’ve sympathy for patrons who should get round a number of venues, but it surely ought to be potential as all these occasions give them six months’ discover of the dates.
I’ve much more sympathy for exhibitors who must be at completely different venues on the identical time to catch completely different teams of patrons, however issues have been like that since I began reporting on the trade in 1980, so I’ve no expectation it would change now.
One ultimate commentary from my admittedly few hours at Spring Honest’s Moda x Pure part: I used to be struck how few attendees appeared to have made any effort with their outfits. It has been urged by loads of others that as a nation we now have misplaced the need to decorate to impress. If style retailers can’t be bothered, why ought to their prospects?
As at all times, I’d welcome the ideas of others on this.
