Well! I just returned from a journey to Las Vegas, to show my fall 09 collection at the POOL tradeshow. This was my first venture into the States as a designer, and my first big financial investment in my company. POOL happens during market week in Vegas, at the same time as the major shows like Magic and Project. POOL is more about the smaller brands, and art and design driven ‘indie’ designers. Of all the shows that were happening there- I think POOL was the right fit for Butikofer.
I brought Danielle Meder with me as an assistant. Being seven months pregnant and not really knowing what to expect- I thought it would be a good idea to have someone there to give me a hand. Danielle has worked with me in studio on the majority of the collection, so she definitely knows it well. She also has a keen interest in all aspects of the fashion industry, and has mentioned to me in the past that she would like to see what Vegas market week was all about. I encouraged her to network herself as an illustrator to other young designers and I think she was successful in getting a few new clients, or at least the beginnings of.
To say the whole experience was stressful would be an understatement. It started before we even left Toronto. The original flight we were on was supposed to get us there Sunday evening- enough time to set up the booth on Monday before the deadline of 6pm, and also to settle in a bit before the show started. Our flight ended up being cancelled because of mechanical problems on Sunday night- after sitting on the runway an hour or two. We figured out our next move with the ticket agent- and got what we thought were tickets on a different airline for the next morning. So. . the next morning- it turned out the agent had failed to give us the proper documents to travel on a different airline, and our tickets weren’t actually valid. The next available flight wouldn’t get us to Vegas until 10:30 that night. Too late. So I bought two one way tickets on a different airline- that was a huge burn. The whole journey was starting to feel like a massive weight on my emotions. Being stressed is not a good thing during pregnancy, so I’ve read a thousand times.
Beyond the ride there, there were other glitches that got more and more ridiculous as they happened. We managed to set up the booth in time and finally got to go back to the hotel. We walked into the lobby and there was an almost hour long line up to check in. For the first- and probably last time during my pregnancy, I played the pregnancy card. Not really my style in life, but I was nearing the end of my tolerance. I told the hotel staff that I couldn’t wait in the line and asked to be checked in right away. They did, not very nicely, but whatevs. It was a good thing- after taking my socks and shoes off- my feet were totally swollen, and may have exploded if I had stayed on my feet for a moment longer. By feet, I mean eyes and by explosion I mean crying of course. They looked like sausages, or maybe burritos because my feet are pretty flat and narrow. Fun! Burrito feet! Burrito feet stayed with me all week.
The actual show was pretty slow. I was expecting more bodies of the human kind to be walking the aisles. It got slower and slower as time went on, and the last day was crushingly so. The optimistic dream I had that the whole experience would be redeemed by a bad economy defying overwhelming number of sales unfortunately did not come true. Not to say that the trip was a huge failure. People liked my collection and I was interviewed by WWD and WGSN. I met some great people and made some good contacts, and Butikofer will be selling in the U.S. in the fall. It’s a good start. It was interesting to see the response to the collection from such a wide variety of buyers. Some didn’t understand it and thought my prices were too high, some thought the collection was a steal for the level of design, quality and being Made in Canada. I feel like the name Butikofer kind of set me back, not like I would ever change it- but it may be an easier road as a new designer if my label was something more easily pronounceable, like Proenza Schouler or Thierry Mugler . I think those are taken though. The vinyl sign I had made for the booth was way larger than I had imagined and maybe it was a bit intimidating. You could see people kind of side ways glancing at it as they walked by, confusedly trying to sound it out. It’s beauty-coffer people. Not too complicated, if you ask.
The emotional drainage of the experience gave me more than a few realizations. The big one was how important and life changing having a baby is going to be. Fashion seemed to matter less and less as the week went on. I was so worried about her all the time. I wasn’t feeling her move as much as I normally would, which totally freaked me out. I don’t think I experienced or got as much out of market week as I could have, because in the evenings I really just wanted to chill out and concentrate on my belly. My apologies to Danielle, I know I wasn’t as fun as I would have been seven months ago, and much more inwardly focused than I normally am.
I feel like I grew into my age this past week, like I really am a month away from 29- which I’ve never felt before. The burden of responsibility of where I am in my life is now real. I realized that something about my business has to change- I need to stop trying to grow it and figure out how to make it the best it can be in this stage right now, and make it work for my very soon to be-life with baby. I am a fashion designer because I have an innate need to be creative, to make something out of the ideas I have. But this needs to be a real business if it’s going to be my career. I am hoping for a creativity/business balance. I am hoping that I can stop spending money on growth and start paying off some of the debts I’ve built up trying to get here. There is nothing worse than being stressed about money. I want to start making stuff for the sake of making it again, I haven’t done that in a long time.
My last mushy realization from Vegas is how much I love my husband, more and more as our lives become more complicated and entwined. I wish he had been there with me last week, with his manly chivalry in these fragile pregnant times. He’s my rock, he has the ability to make all situations better by detracting from them. He teases me incessantly- never allowing me to take myself too seriously, which keeps me grounded and sane. We were in Vegas for a day on our honeymoon- he is the perfect partner for a city like Vegas- fully understanding and embracing the ridiculousness and excessiveness of that city. Fun, lovely, caring man. I am so lucky. I can’t wait to see him hold our daughter.
That’s all for now, more to come eventually.
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