BARNEYS WILL PREVIEW MARGIELA HERMES LINE
Byline: Katherine Weisman
PARIS — Barneys New York, the only retailer besides Hermes itself to offer the firm’s complete line of women’s ready-to-wear, is gearing up to welcome Martin Margiela’s first collection for the French luxury house.
On June 12, Barneys will host a brunch for about 30 of its best designer clients at its Madison Avenue flagship in New York. These customers will preview the fall Hermes collection and meet with Bonnie Pressman, the executive vice president and fashion director for Barneys, as well as Hermes representatives. That same day, the store is having a trunk show. Two direct mail pieces have been sent out for the trunk show, and Barneys will unveil a Hermes window on June 10, according to a spokesman for the store.
And to further fortify the effort, the store has organized a clinic for its sales associates, also on June 12.
In addition to Barneys’ Madison Avenue location, the retailer’s Manhasset, N.Y., store will carry the Hermes rtw.
Longtime Margiela fan Bonnie Pressman is enthusiastic about the new Hermes fashion.
“They are more committed than ever to this ready-to-wear,” she said in an interview. Pressman added that the earlier-than-usual deliveries expected for this fall are a big plus. The fall collection is being delivered at the end of this month.
Pressman also emphasized that the Hermes business at Barneys is very strong, ever since Barneys began working with Hermes some 15 years ago.
Meanwhile, Hermes is preparing its own in-store events to promote the new Margiela collection. From June 9 to 20, Hermes is inviting its existing women’s rtw clients to open-house days at its stores in New York, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Chicago, South Coast Plaza and Houston, according to an Hermes spokeswoman. The clothes should be in the Hermes stores by the second or third week of July.
More promotional events will be scheduled for September in an outreach effort to new customers, the spokeswoman said.
In addition to its 13 freestanding stores in the U.S. and Barneys, Hermes distributes some of its goods through its Boutique du Monde Hermes shop-in-shops at major stores like Neiman Marcus in Troy, Mich.; Saks Fifth Avenue in New Orleans, and Marshall Field’s in Chicago, and in specialty boutiques like Richard’s in Greenwich, Conn., or Oak Hall in Memphis.
These locations, however, carry only folded — as opposed to hanging — rtw, along with accessories, the spokeswoman explained.
Most of the Neiman Marcus stores carry Hermes silk scarves and ties.