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Oh New York...

Off I went on one of our bi-annual accessory buying trips to New York City. Only this time, Liz stayed in Portland and I went with my (almost) 9 year-old daughter Olivia and my 75 year-old mother, Rita. They kept each other good company going to a Broadway production of The Little Mermaid and a carriage ride through Central Park while I walked the halls of Jacob Javitz for 2 days. I found lovely new handbags from lines such as Tano and Highway, beautiful jewels from lines like Joli and Zoe Chicco, new kicks from Jeffery Campbell and scarves from a new French line, Saint Ives.

Anxious as I was to finish my work and join my family on adventures in New York, I made every effort to try and find new, different and special items while focusing on trends and styles that relate to our sense of fashion in Portland. For Holiday deliveries I found the color trends that continue are purple, gray, blue (teals and navy), and burgundy (wine and deep pinks), cool metallic shades and black. Jewelry has a rock-n-roll chic feel with long, mixed metal multi-chain necklaces combined with white pearls and clear stones. Gold is still prevalent in jewelry as are birds, Buddha, and initials. The trend for spring deliveries is bright colors such as royal blue and tomato red. Pearls are still strong too. Overall the show seemed poorly attended by both vendors and buyers and I’m sure that it is due to the economy. Never fear though, some of our best brands and designers were there and I am satisfied that I have found plenty to tempt our customers with in the days and weeks to come (some of my new buys have already made it through our doors!).

The always lovely Zoe Chicco and Kat Clare working hard at the show!

The madhouse we call the Tano Handbag booth! So many bags, so little time!

Street Fashion in NYC.... No fashion trend really stood out. I was in midtown and most folks were in their career wear, on their way to the office or they were tourists holding their digital cameras in their face. I did see a few gals wearing knee high rubber boots with their pencil skirts. The funny thing was it wasn't raining and it was really hot and humid. As a Portlander I thought, really? Did I miss something? We wear boots all year long but we save our Hunter classics for our gray, wet days and when the sun does shine (such a small window of opportunity) we show our toes! While I have always thought of NYC as the fashion capital of the United States, I have to say that in comparison, we Portlanders have a sense of style that is unique, fresh and fun. Maybe that title should be redirected our way.

The Atrium at Jacob Javits Center in NYC.

We remained in NYC for another 3 days and were joined by my sister-in-law Nancy (a native New Yorker who now lives in New Mexico), her almost 9 year-old daughter Bella and 16 year-old son Myles. Together we went to the Natural History Museum, the American Girl Store for tea (Myles sat that one out!) and the Statue of Liberty (cabs, subways and ferry’s…oh my!). In 15 years of buying trips to NYC I have only gone to the top of the Empire State building and shopped in Soho, Noho and the Meat Packing District. So it was fun to be a sightseeing tourist on this trip! Everywhere we went you could hear different languages being spoken by the multitude of folks scurrying around us. I really enjoyed our dinners where we could wind down with a bottle of wine and some yummy food. We had some great meals at Pesce Pasta in the village and Serafina in the east 60's near Central Park. Seems like we kept ending up in Italian restaurants but since good Italian in Portland is hard to come by (yes, there are exceptions) it seemed like a must do. I really enjoyed watching my daughter oooh and ahhh at this truly unique city. That's not to say that it was all fun and games traveling with a kid from easy going Portland, where life is quiet and peaceful. Too much stimulation can send my kid under the covers and ask for room service. She did, however, seem to enjoy the sense of adventure of traveling in such an international city and came away with an appreciation of how good our life is in quiet, peaceful Portland.