MARKET BASKET
FROZEN FASHION: Gliding to the music from Cirque de Soleil, members of the Ice Theatre of New York transformed the skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza into a runway on ice last week for the premiere performance of the Montreal Fashions on Ice Show.
The event, which included the unusual sight of ice skaters in long wool coats and bulky fake furs, was sponsored by the Quebec Government House in New York. It featured nine Montreal fashion firms presenting snippets of their fall collections.
Women’s wear companies Hilary Radley, Irving Samuel and Dino Gaspari were joined by men’s wear firms Oggi, Peerless and Turbulence and children’s lines Deux Par Deux, J.A. Bessner & Sons and La MAre MichAle.
About 200 retailers and other guests viewed the performance through the windows of the American Festival Cafe, where they dined on such Quebec fare as venison patA, smoked salmon, sturgeon and scallops, maple chicken, and beer from the Brasal Breweries.
Maralyn Rittenour, commercial attachA to the U.S. from Quebec, said the event was meant to highlight some of Montreal’s larger fashion firms for the New York retail and fashion community.
SATURDAY ON SEVENTH: At least 25 firms plan to open their showrooms on Saturday, Feb. 24, during early fall market week, in a move aimed at making trips to New York more appealing and productive for out-of-town buyers.
Ruth Finley, executive director of the New York Fashion Council, said the organization is committed to coordinating a second round of Saturday showroom openings during the fall market period.
This would take place on March 30 and could also include a date on April 13. Finley said the extra date might be required because the main fall market usually takes place in New York for a two-week period, but this year it is broken up by Passover and Good Friday.
The Fashion Council is working on the program with the Fashion Center Business Improvement District, which will provide its normal weekday security and sanitation services. The groups will also offer other hospitality services to buyers, such as complimentary coffee, Finley said.
Of the 25 firms committed to the initial Saturday opening, most are among the 74 member firms of the Fashion Council, she added, but some are not.