Things Parents shouldn't do on Boxing Day

Don't leave your kids outside unattended! I know there were (and still are) some killer deals at Tru Drama yesterday but we had 4 instances where parents left their kids outside. Fortunately my partner was outside doing security and kept a watchful eye on the kids.

In the early morning, this sweet little guy was outside for 20 minutes!
Good thing he had some reading material!

These two at least had each other for company.

Boxing Day was a great success yesterday, it was our best ever! Thanks to all my staff and their efforts, some were working sick and I appreciate them even more! Thanks also to all the customers for making our store their first store of choice on Boxing Day. The little lineup we had was quite flattering at 8:30 in morning! For those of you that couldn't make it down, we still have lots of great items.

Almost Everything 50% Off - Boxing Day

Pretty much everything is 50% on the Boxing Day, Dec 26th. The only exceptions is the stuff that has arrived in the last two weeks. Those deliveries are for Holiday and Pre-Spring arrivals. For those items, we'll do a one day 15% off.

The very best deals will be really on Boxing Day proper. We'll still have stuff on sale afterwards but it'll be the best prices you'll see prior to final clearance in February. This applies to both the Tru Drama store and Kris + Cris Shoes stores.

Sorry we won't be able to do exchanges or really anything other than sell stuff on the 26th. If you've got an issue, bring it in on the 27th. We'll be better able to help you then.

Merry Christmas!

It's been nuts at the stores and I like to really applaud all the girl's efforts this season. They're the glue that holds everything together!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and holidays!

Pre Spring Christian Audigier is HERE

We just got a delivery of Pre Spring Christian Audigier. The new prints and designs are fantastic!

Stay Focus, Fly Biddell

Project Runway Canada wrapped up it's 2 hour finale tonight. Bad boy Biddell won out against quirky MG and talented Lucian. I could tell by the first hour that Biddell was likely to win. Edited to show his lack of work and design, it was too obvious that they were bringing him low so that if he won, it'd seem like an incredible come from behind win. Clearly all the onscreen time devoted to him wasn't going to be wasted on a runner up. I really wish the producers of the show would give us viewers a bit more credit.

Collection wise I really enjoyed everyone's collection. Lucian's was rich and stylish, MG's quirky yet daring and Biddell's had the attitude and style we come to expect from him. My favourtie designer MG, her collection was to be fair the weakest. Some stunning pieces to be sure but it felt disjointed.

I love Lucian's choice of music for his runway. It was Summer Sun by Swedish jazz/electronic musicians Koop. The song features the stunning vocals of teenage Japanese singer Yukimi Nagano. Very appropriate for his collection. His collection was tight and beautiful but I thought he was being a bit of a one note with nothing but dresses except for his coat and lingerie end piece. I did not think his collection resembled Dior, I almost felt Iman was throwing it out there just be negative. Did anyone notice Lucian's left eyebrow was significantly bigger than his right? Weird.

Lucian and Biddell's collections were so strong I would put their collections to win over any of the other Project Runway/Catwalk finales. I'm quite proud of them, they really showed their design chops. Now comes the hard part, making it in the real world.

Overall I felt the designers out shined all the deficiencies of Canada's Project Runway. My wish list for season 2 would be to:

• replace Iman, her last statement to Biddell was inane, "Stay Focus, Fly Biddell." Clearly without a script this woman makes no sense. Her eerie beauty and odd speaking style distracts easily.
  
• replace Brian Bailey, I don't doubt he was an excellent mentor and overall nice guy. However, I'm watching TV and I want to be entertained. The next guy/girl needs to have more charisma.
  
• replace judge Bustle guy, I like him and thought his comments were spot on most of the time. What Bustle guy lacks is gravitas. He's neither gay enough or famous enough to be on the panel. I often felt he was being bullied by Iman.
  
• replace the Winners as the retail partner. One of the prizes was to work with the team at Winners to learn the fashion business side. I thought Biddell and MG were going to totally lose it when they were at Winners. It's so ridiculous the thought of it! Winners would never sell any of the designs these people make. Unless of course, you're so big like Michael Kors and have stuff even his outlet stores can't sell type merchandise to move. Mind you I did buy a pack of "irregular" socks for my partner the other day there. He won't notice!
  

Holiday Rush

I've finally got caught up in some last weeks realty TV. Project Runway Canada is about to have it's finale this week and despite all it's problems, I'm finding I'm looking forward to finale. The top 3 designers are in the final. Go MG!

Due to the holiday season the store and I are very busy these days. So I'm afraid I can't update the blog for bit. Hopefully, I'll be able to update here and there before boxing day.

Next Top Model - Guilty Pleasure-Yes, Relevant-No!

America's Next Top Model had it's finale this past week. The winner was the bright and cheery Saleisha. All the girls were enjoyable to watch this season but I realized that none of them would ever be a "Top Model" let alone America's next one. Looking back at all the winners from past seasons, all of them have become models (except for fame-whore Adrianne Curry) but have any of them seen success outside the confines of Cover Girl?

The show has been around since May 2003. Some of the earlier contestants should have attained the lofty Top Model position by now. All the winners of course had a flurry of activity during their year of winning ANTM but none of them with exception of Nicole Linkletter (worked for Stella McCartney) has made it into the lofty realms of of high fashion Tyra and her panel goes on about. Jaslene seems to be doing well so far and she's been working her Latin heritage to great effect.

The reality is Top Model status in high fashion really isn't in the cards for any of the ANTM girls. All the show can provide is a quick and cheap way to get notoriety in the modeling business. Top Model status is not guaranteed and unlikely. The show is built to provide entertaining TV but it's unlikely to produce a Top Model.

ANTM has lost much of it's lustre. In the first 2 cycles of the show they went to Paris and Milan but subsequent trips have not made much sense. Certainly the case could be made for Tokyo and London but the other choices are just wrong. Yes models will work these cities but being a Top Model is about working the trinity of fashion cities: Paris, Milan and New York City. Look at the recent Beijing finale, it's odd that the fashion capital of China couldn't have any of it's fashion elite to view the show. The omission of the top Fashion people in China should be expected, since no one would recognize any of them outside of the fashion community in Beijing. My point is that cities like Beijing, Cape Town and for sure Bangkok (what the!?!?!?!?) are poor spots for Top Model training and finales.

For the next season they should make their next end of season destination be New York City. Since the move to LA, I've really missed the energy the city imparted on the show. Moving from one of the world's top fashion capitals NYC to LA has never made any sense. This was done to let Tyra do both her talk show and ANTM without her traveling to both coasts constantly. Good for Tyra, bad for models and the show.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the show despite the lack of results and polish. They can still tell a great story about it's contestants and the relationships they have with each other. Cattiness always makes good TV!

Malaysians do Project Runway Better

I've just finished watching the finale of Project Runway Malaysia on YouTube. The videos aren't the best quality but the designs from the finalists were spectacular. The fashions showcased were more couture-feeling than any of the other Project Runway shows.

For a country approximately the same size population as Canada, they've managed to put together quite a show. Our Canadian contestants with all the benefits of Iman, Brian Bailey(???) and geographic location (close to US fashion centers) seems to be only just the same level as their Malaysian rivals. What's sad is that on a production level I actually think the Project Runway Malaysia is a better show than Canada's.

All I need to do now is watch Designerspirene the Norwegian Project Runway. Oh to see them make it Oslo fashion week! Now if I could only get me a blond, blue eyed, Norwegian boy to translate the show for me! Yes I'm sad =)

Nina, Our New Mascot... err Model

I've been getting A lot good responses about the "head" I've been putting on our the girls modeling clothes. I think she looks cool and her expression is moody yet non-judgmental. Could she be our mascot? Mascot sounds like some sort of giant furry animal that you see at sport events. Probably a better term would be "in house model".

I'd call her "Nina" and make a Facebook and Myspace page for her. Then I'd put her profile on Lavalife and have her start dating. She'll be the toast of the town with her insane fashions. Hahaha, she'll have a more exciting life than me!

Dereon Holiday Arrivals

New holiday arrivals from Beyonce's Dereon line.

The little black dress

Just had to add another dress to the blog. This one has been very popular. All our dresses are above the knee short, shoulder baring sassy and all below $100. That price applies to the amazing silver sequin dress too!

Juicy Couture Holiday Bags

Pretty in pink and purple, Juicy Couture for holiday!

All dressed up for the Holidays

Despite our love for hoodies and skull tees I recognize a girl can't make that look work for every occasion. So for this holiday season I've gone crazy and gotten a lot of party wear... dresses and tops specifically!
NO, I didn't get weird Christmas colours, things made of prom/bridesmaid dress materials or frocks with puffy chiffon princess sleeves. What I got was a bunch of sexy fun dresses for you to look spectacular in. Materials are easy stuff -- no dry cleaning anywhere. My goal was to get a "little black dress" (or equivalent colour) for everyone!

Thanks to one of our very best girls "H" for modeling!

Long Socks with Laces

One of the unexpected hot items so far are these socks. Yes, I said socks. Maybe it's for Christmas gift giving but these items have really been popular. They're just tall socks with contrasting laces at the back. They're cute, sassy and more than a bit naughty!

Before you gals start emailing me... yes the sock on the left is the same for both top and bottom pictures. I had a brain freeze when I took these pictures.

Christian Audigier Tiger Rose and Goddess tees

These two tees are so gorgeous. I had to make sure I took some pictures.

Tiger Rose is on the left. Goddess on the right comes in both black and white.

Special thanks goes out to "A" my super gorgeous model!

Dec 5th New Arrivals

I'm so backed up at the store,we actually got these new items on Monday.

We're going to be getting big shipment of party dresses tomorrow. I'm super excited!

Runway Canada Get Away

I wasn't planning to blog about the Canadian edition of Project Runway anymore but this last episode was the most bearable of the season.

The challenge this week was to understand the jet-set, luxury and resort wear. So guess what fabulous location they got to. Drum roll please.... Southern France! Sadly no, they got sent to Southern California. The Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach to be exact. Yes that resort destination of choice for the rich and famous. Oh you don't know where that is? It's like a an hour and half drive south from downtown LA, past Long Beach... past the docks. Yup they really splurged on the accommodations.

They showed Mood's LA store downtown. I'm very familiar with the area so it was a bit neat to see the 'hood. Nick Verreos from season 2 of Project Runway was the guest to meet them in LA. When he introduced himself he paused awkwardly, almost as if he wasn't sure if the designers would recognize him. Nick we all love and recognize you!

I swear he was channeling Tim Gunn. He had a really good mentoring vibe with a witty banter to boot. Brian Bailey should be taking notes. I hope Project Runway (any of the editions) can find more work for him. I would love to see more from Nick! The work space used was at the FIDM - The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. The school is located close to Mood, so it's nice and close to where all the action is (unlike their hotel). BTW Lauren Conrad from (The Hills) is supposed to be a student there too. I wonder if Nick has ever instructed her?

OMG on their return to Toronto, the best moment of this entire series happened at the work space. Stephen was freakin' unbelievable with his fierce runway walk at the studio. Stephen's walk and Nick Verreos appearance has been the two best things in the series so far.

Tyra Banks would be proud. Fierce!

Ed Hardy Bags

Ed Hardy bags came in and the consensus amongst staff and customers is the gym bag. My personal favourite though is the messenger shape.

Love Is Black Nylon Gym Bag
Love Mystery/Love Gamble Black Messenger Bag

Rose World Citizen Python Handbag
Love Eternal Leopard Clutch

Give the gift of Christian Audigier

Lucky us and you! We've got a new shipment of Christian Audigier arriving today! No repeats, they're all new pieces for Holiday/Pre-Spring (what the heck?) delivery. I couldn't find pictures for the new Goddess tees and Tiger Rose tees we're getting but they're hot! The caps of course are one size and unisex.

Rose Short Sleeve Tee in black

Skull Logo Rhinestone Tee Black


Specialty Cap, Diamond Skull - Green/Green, Brown/Brown with Rhinestones



Cholo Signature Barrio Hat in White or Black, with or without Rhinestones

Holiday Windows at Tru Drama & Kris + Cris

I love our new windows! Don't forget if you know someone to do windows contact me at girls@trudrama.com!

The Kris + Cris Shoes with it's burnt orange zebra stripes. Oh yeah we've started doing our sale already. 20% to 30% off most items.

The Tru Drama window is fab with gold accent pieces on a pink background.

Model Misfire

Oakridge Center Mall had this strange little event last night. It was a fashion thing with models on platforms showing fashions from various stores in the mall.

I felt this thing was a big miss. Not only was it not promoted but having it on the first day in the extended evening hours on a Saturday was not going to generate a lot of interest. It's odd too that there was a modelling platform close to the Tru Drama store but yet our models were on the other side of the mall in front of Wear Else. The snow storm and the mediocre models didn't help either.

So there goes a bunch of my marketing money down the drain! Fortunately the clothes still look fabulous.

Oakridge Mall Holiday Extended Hours

You know it's Christmas when the mall hours change to extended hours for the holidays. Personally, I think Oakridge Center has the sanest holiday hours of all malls in Vancouver.

These hours of course apply to Kris + Cris Shoes as well as Tru Drama.

Holiday Extended hours:

Dec. 1: 9:30am – 9pm

Dec. 2: 11am – 7pm

Dec. 3-8: 9:30am – 9pm

Dec. 9: 11am – 7pm

Dec. 10-15: 9:30am – 9pm

Dec. 16: 11am – 7pm

Dec. 17-22: 9:30am – 10pm

Dec. 23: 9:30am – 9pm

Dec. 24: 9:30am – 5pm

Dec. 25: CLOSED

Dec. 26: 8:30am – 7pm

Jan. 1: 11am – 6pm

The Hills Parody

Oh man, I'm such a reality junkie. Another favourite show of mine is The Hills. Spencer makes it so easy to hate him and Heidi is so clueless I find myself shouting at the screen all the time. I think my favourite person on the show is Whitney. She's like a best friend anyone would be happy to have. Audrina looks like she's gonna be finally free of Justin Bobby's weird rambling incoherent clutches. Serves him right for kissing that chick at the club in front of everyone!

Here's a vid of James Franco (Spider-Man) and Mila Kunis (That 70s show) doing a decent impersonation of Justin Bobby and Audrina. This just proves that you can't fake The Hills!

Vancouver Olympic Mascots are very Tokidoki

Vancouver recently unveiled it's Olympic mascots. There's a bear (I swear it was an eagle), Sasquatch and an orca. There was a poll immediately done and over half the respondents didn't like them. I saw the designer on TV and thought she was young. She was really nervous being interviewed. Can you imagine working so hard on something and immediately after showing your work being told that more than 50% of people didn't like your designs? I felt bad for her.

Many of the respondents thought they looked like Japanese anime. They do have a cuteness about them that doesn't seem to originate from Vancouver. My experience with the Tokidoki frenzy of last year immediately made me think of their designs. You can probably pick out a few characters on the right that look similar to the mascots.

I like our mascots! When you look at some of the previous Olympic mascots you'll even appreciate ours even more. On the left is the 2006 Torino mascots... a snowball and a block of ice.

All this mascot talk is making me think that the store should get one too. Perhaps it should be a dog, plush toy, Britney... Something fun!

Project Runways compared

Sitting on a plane for 12 hours does weird things to people. Finding that I couldn't sleep well at all I started thinking of things to make me drowsy. Most people count sheep, but for me I decided to think about the differences between Project Runways. The American, British and Canadian versions.

Instead of making me drowsy my mind started organizing the variations in my mind and in no time I created a table showing the differences. Did I mention to you it was a 12 hour flight?

Here it is. The best of the 3 shows attributes I highlighted in yellow.

	Project Runway	Project Runway Canada	Project Catwalk
Music	Frenetic and foreboding the music mixes well with the visuals	Slow and often sparse, the music doesn’t do anything but make things seem slow.	Contemporary top UK tunes mixed with the visuals make the show enjoyable and topical.
Prod- uction	Nothing to complain about. It's slick production values make it the best	Oddly, there isn’t enough editing. A budget issue? Not enough cameras? Lighting is also an issue. There’s no mood, it’s just bright all the time	Everything is always oversaturated. The editing is frustrating as they don’t always show everyone’s creations. Omitting styles, only to see them on the catwalk
City	New York. The contestants never seem to go to far since everything seemingly is within walking distance from Parsons.	Toronto. The city’s only landmark apparently is the CN Tower. It’s in every open air background shot.	The city of London is beautifully showcased in the show. They get to go to clubs, bars, horse races, garden parties and even the London Eye
Work Space	Parsons, stark and in Season 1 a hideously coloured building.	Some warehouse in the suburbs	Instituto Marangoni, the great open workspace and the Skylights make it a dramatic space for the competition.
Living Space	Atlas and Gotham Apartments. Maybe because it’s in NYC but the spaces are so cramped that it makes my washroom look big.	The Rosemont is in Toronto’s Theatre district. The suites are large and the furniture is stylishly contemporary. Definitely the most civilized	4 storey Georgian flat in Central London. A nice space in a great location but the bunk beds and Ikea inspired furnishings are horrible.
Casting	The best mix and certainly the most talented The 3 past winners couldn’t be more different.	The mix is actually not bad at all with only a dash of stereotypes.	The contestants are actually too young. Most are students and the garments they make are reflective of their skills. Even PRC contestants could make a better dress!
Hosts	Heidi Klum makes a great host and judge. I love her comments and zingers when they're accentuated by her Teutonic accent.	Iman. Her halting enunciation and constant posing is distracting. All that aside Iman is one beautiful lady!	Elizabeth Hurley Season 1, Kelly Osbourne Season 2. Osbourne lacks gravitas to be the host of Project Catwalk. It’s hard to take her seriously when she’s had so many fashion disasters herself.
Mentors	Tim Gunn, a true mentor with opinions that are dead on that no one ever listens to. His delivery of his advice is just as entertaining as his advice.	Brian Bailey, super nice guy but his personality is not weird or flamboyant enough to really make him in the same league as the other two mentors.	Ben de Lisi, more attitude then Tim and he likes to get his hands and mouth dirty.
Judges	The same team for all 4 seasons and still the best. Michael Kors and Nina Garcia	Shawn Hewson (Bustle Clothing) and Rita Silvan (Elle)…	Julien MacDonald and Lorrain Candy (Elle), Jean Reed (Grazia) Season 2
Guest Judges	Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang, Sarah Jessica Parker... 'nuff said.	A bunch of people I’ve never heard of.	Also a bunch of people I’ve never heard of but they have cool British accents.
Phrases	In fashion one day you’re in and the next day you’re out. Make it work! Auf Wiedersehen!	You don’t measure up.	Fashion has no mercy. You’re the next fashion victim

While doing my research for my table I found out that there's a Project Runway Malaysia! If it's in english I'm gonna watch it!

Christmas Decorations in Hong Kong

I've just came back from Asia. There's less than a month before Christmas and while over there they had their Christmas decorations up. In HK the Christmas decorations are crazy spectacular but it's really just a commercial excercise. Certainly they don't have the same holiday traditions we have here in Canada. However, they have us beat in Christmas decorations. Oakridge mall has a nice spread but like all the other malls in Vancouver, they reuse the same decorations year after year. In Asia, it seems like all the decorations are new every year. Here are some of the great X-Mas displays I've seen.

A tree made of Chinese long dresses, jeans and red envelopes.

Cool spiral ornaments.

I'm not sure if this is a Poinsettia or Christmas Palm tree. Either way it's pretty.

This is a tree made of hanging ornaments suspended from the ceiling. Beautiful!

Britney and Primp, did the stars just align?

I'm up early to catch the (stupid) early train to China. No one's awake yet to take me to the train station, so I'm killing some time surfing.

I noticed that my blog posts meanders around a bit and seems to have bursts of like topic clusters. Take this post. I saw this recent picture of Britney Spears covering herself with what looks like a Primp hoodie.

Hmmm... I just posted separately entries on both of those topics. Coincidence? I think not, I think she wants to make it onto the Tru Drama blog! She is after all a master of media manipulation. Well I bow down to her. All hail Britney!

Britney not LVed

Louis Vuitton apparently is suing everyone. Last week at TNA, they tried to sue me for looking at a Speedy knockoff! They've gone after dogs and now Britney! I love all things French but this is getting... oh how do the french say it... "Stupide!"

The French luxury company won a court injunction in Paris to keep the pop star’s 2005 “Do Something” video — in which Spears, 25, drives a pink Hummer with a counterfeit Vuitton “cherry blossom”- monogrammed dashboard — from airing on European TV stations, Women’s Wear Daily reports.

The civil court ruling also ordered the video’s producer to pay $117,600 for damages to Vuitton’s image, and $1,470 per day until the video is removed from the Internet.

That's the official reason! They probably just don't want to have any association with the mess that is her life now.

Chewy Vuitton

I saw this on the net last night. Cute eh? Apparently LV had tried to sue the company making these cute parodies of their bags. Fortunately, they lost the case!

Project Runway spoof

I was surfing around youtube and I stumbled on this parody of Project Runway. Considering it's a year old I'm surprised I've never come across it.



Best line of the spoof: "Sometimes in fashion as well as in sex, sometimes you in, sometimes you're out"

Lululemon clothes fights the effects of jetlag

I'm at the lounge at YVR right now, surfing around for news. I've got a quick trip to Asia and back within this week. My title if you're confused is in jest/reference to last weeks big ruckus with Lululemon.

I didn't realize that Lululemon was having all these problems with some claims about their clothing. The story caught my attention as I have a friend who has been a long time manufacturer of theirs. Tru Drama and Kris + Cris also shares space in Oakridge Mall with a Lululemon and I've enjoyed some of their active wear in the past. It's a bit too casual for me these days though. I don't feel right without a huge tattoo tiger on my sweatpants.

The big deal was sparked by an article in the New York Times. The paper disputes their claims of therapeutic or performance benefits from its seaweed-infused line of clothing. Tests conducted for the paper showed that the material was no different than common cotton. So their stock prices dived and had the Canada's Competition Bureau asked them to remove any claims from their tags and advertisements. Lululemon did their own tests but I couldn't tell from another article if their tests were conclusive. They said their tests showed evidence of seaweed but yet they still pulled all their product from their stores.

I can't really see how seaweed unless it's wet would provide any benefit to your body. If it was wet would you really want to wear it? If it was infused in the material... well that sounds interesting and it would be nice to think it does something for you. I'd also believe that after a few washes just how effective could it really be? It's not really a feature that would lock me into purchasing it. For me all this stuff isn't a big deal.

I do find it weird (even stupid) that a big paper like the New York Times would investigate Lululemon. Which for the most part is still a Canadian chain of yoga stores. Is it because the claims are so outrageous? It didn't seem like such a big deal when I saw some of those claims myself a few weeks back. I just thought it was neat and didn't give it a second thought.

Lonnies are better

We've probably had some inquiries about what we're doing about about the strength of our dollar. I haven't been asked till today though. Other retailers have tried to address it but realistically most of those efforts are nothing more than a public relations exercise. Here's our situation:

• Many of the items we get from the US are actually bought from agents and wholesalers out of Eastern Canada. Those guys in Toronto/Montreal purchased the goods months before we ever get it. We pay them in Canadian currency and have asked them to have the exchange rate for future orders be reflective of the current situation.
  
• Items that we buy for immediates from the LA and NYC show markets have the most current exchange rate and is already reflected in the price.
• European goods, the Euro has risen in step with our currency. So no effect.
  
• Items we paid for already... well the rate would be as of when we paid for it. So if we bought it 3 months ago (I hope we don't have too much of that stock left!) then that's the rate. Even so, 6-7 months ago the exchange rate was $0.93 cdn to 1.00 usd vs. now of $1.03 cdn to 1.00 usd. New items ordered recently will have the current rate applied.
  

The items where you'll get the best deals are on cars, flat screen TVs or any other big ticket item. Items that would have been manufactured when the US dollar was highest 9 months ago. Fashion may be designed far in advanced but production is just weeks before a delivery date. There are many variables but ultimately it's not the kind of differences that you would see in other products. Unless you're the GAP, their business is about production efficiencies and not really fashion, so it's different.

We've done our best to pass the rate difference savings where we can. I guess with the few inquiries we've had, probably most people understand. Mind you the customer I was talking to today wasn't doing a fair comparison. I'd like to see her get that same Ed Hardy Sweater cheaper anywhere else in this city.

What's interesting is how some retailers are dealing with the situation. I was in a store today (starts and ends in an "A") and they were making a point of showing that they were reacting to the exchange rate difference by offering a 20% discount on certain items. This was an obvious gimmick, since most of their items are Asian made and have never passed thru the US. Their business model would also make it that they paid for it before our strong dollar had happened.

So how or maybe more importantly why are they offering this discount? Looking at the items, I can tell right away the discounted items were their poor performers. They were probably getting discounted anyways since it's about the right time for markdowns. It does sound better to say that they're offering you a break on the exchange rate. I've got some sale items too, you can receive the benefits of a strong loonie in my store too! hahaha

Creativity needs direction, Runway's contestants not making it big yet

In a previous post I wrote about how designers after winning Project Runway had not found success. The show is geared to getting a designer to become the next Michael Kors. Certainly some of them have found good jobs in the industry but none of them are on their way to the dream the show proposes. It's not easy, certainly the fame you get will be helpful. Realistically the $100K cash prize is not enough money to get one of those ugly G Class Mercedes let alone launch a fashion label.

I believe the lack of money isn't the major reason why we haven't seen anyone go anywhere. Like most fields, in the Fashion industry being creative won't guarantee success.

Tru Drama had a line called Primp last year. It was a line of all over print thermal tops. They had cute silhouettes of things like clovers, bunny rabbits and Bambi printed in a tone on tone fashion all over the garment. One of silhouettes would be highlighted with stones. They gained massive popularity when celebrities like Paris and Nicole made it their daily uniform.

There were huge issues with their ability to deliver on time. Our longest wait was 7 months and never sooner than 4 months past their cancel dates. Producing the product shouldn't have been hard as knockoffs came into the marketplace within weeks. The line despite all this was super hot. We'd get daily calls for the tops and to see if they'd arrive. Like anything in fashion the trend was fleeting. We dropped the line when we ran out of patience.

Primp's reps in LA, talked about the designer being this creative force but sadly had no ability to run a business. The kind of success that Primp gained is what many designers hope to achieve. Sadly, it was just a shooting star and not something that lasted longer.