Hello friends! After an action-packed opening week at GAL, my mom and I just returned from a seven day trip to New York City, where we visited showrooms, shops and gathered inspiration for my boutique in El Paso.
I’ve written about her before, but my mom, also named Gesuina, is my partner in crime and favorite travel companion. I feel like I can pen a novel about this trip alone, so I’ll break up the trip into a couple of blog posts.
Where to begin? The thing I love most about fashion is that you can truly express yourself through clothing; everything from your style, your mood, to your personality can be revealed by the colors, fabrics and the way you wear your outfit. Because of this, I take pride in being a part of that creative and expressive process for my clients, and saw the same passion in the many designer showrooms we visited.
We had the pleasure of stopping by lines like Sonia Rekyil, Moschino and Versace. Showroom appointments are my favorite since the vendors use the appointment to sit down, introduce you to the designers, and offer previews of the collections on live models. We were shopping for Pre-Fall, which consists of June- September delivery so we are offered a sneak peek of what’s to come in the world of fashion and trends.
Each showroom visit can be long, but well worth the time because you get to really meet and develop business relationships with the people whose vision you are buying. One thing that I love about buying for GAL is learning the process and history behind the brands, every designer and collection has a story to tell. Each designer has his or her own perspective and inspiration, and each followed a dream and pursued it and accomplished something great. My personal favorites include Veronica Beard, Michelle Mason and Irene Nicholas. They inspire me to bring to El Paso not just their garments, but their stories. I love knowing the story behind the clothing I wear, and the personal connection to the designers make dressing in their designs even more meaningful.
When I shop, I try to be thoughtful about what will resonate with my clients in El Paso, what kind of items will be fun for shoppers to see, and how I can excite my customers by what we offer. My goal is to have my clients love what they buy because of the story behind the pieces. I look for upcoming and new, because there are so many fresh, talented new designers, and I always like to support the emerging and up and coming.
Next week I’ll dive into all the goods we ordered in NYC. Stay tuned!
