VOGUE BUSINESS | SHARON EDELSON

Designers are embracing the trunk show model to connect with customers as Covid-19 restrictions ease, help predict sales demand and break free from the Instagram crowds.

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Digital platforms including Instagram may be the latest way to herald designers’ new collections, but the tried-and-true trunk show continues to provide healthy sales for designers willing to hit the road.

“There's much more profit and fewer returns,” said Zang Toi, who has been holding trunk shows in conjunction with retail partners for 32 years. “It helps build a solid business.” Designers including Jonathan Cohen and Badgley Mischka and retailers such as Moda Operandi and Saks also use the trunk show model to build closer relationships with customers; set the tone for demand for a collection through early sales; encourage loyalty; and reduce the number of returns since customers can try on the designs. While runway images can be intimidating for clients, designers can ease those fears by showing how the clothes are worn. They can also adjust prices based on demand.

Trunk shows alone may not drive an entire business, particularly among the younger crowd of customers used to shopping on Instagram and other platforms, but the intimate showing model offers an analog way to stand out offline. To make the transition, many have gone virtual, expanding the trunk show to a new audience via new formats – particularly relevant while Covid-19 restrictions halted in-person shows. Streaming via Facebook Live, Instagram Live or Zoom, among others, designers introduce their collections to consumers globally, describing fabric quality, construction and embellishments, while consumers place orders through dedicated links.

It also lets designers test drive interest in products before they’re made, an increasingly important asset in the inventory fallout since the Covid-19 pandemic. "They can put up one sample and get a reaction rather than making 100 pieces and selling only 60,” says retail analyst Robert Burke.

Renewed relevance

Trunk shows have been a fashion mainstay since Bill Blass popularised them after World War II.

Considered the king of the trunk show, Blass catered to his clientele of wealthy society women, guiding them to designs best suited for their figures and lifestyles. They knew their friends wouldn't show up at an event wearing the same dress because Blass was careful not to sell too many of the same style. That remains a major attraction today.

“Trunk shows offer customers the opportunity to purchase looks uniquely tailored to [the individual’s] needs,” said Anna Irving, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of women’s designer ready-to-wear at Saks Fifth Avenue, which has hosted Oscar de la Renta, Naeem Khan, Catherine Regehr, Ripetta, Wingate and Toi. “They provide customers with exclusive early access to designer collections and allow retailers to strengthen their relationships with customers by providing a personalized experience they can’t get anywhere else.”

Toi discovered the power of trunk shows at the now defunct Martha International in the 1980s, where his first foray rang up $100,000 in sales in two days. Owner Martha Phillips wanted him to repeat the success at her Palm Beach store, where they did “a little over $200,000,” Toi says.

The Covid-19 pandemic brought new relevance to trunk shows, enabling consumers who crave personal attention more than ever to engage with designers. “Our special order business continued throughout the pandemic and bounced back even stronger as stores began to reopen. Now Saks is benefitting from our customers’ increased needs for special pieces to attend postponed and rescheduled events,” Irving says.

“We’re definitely seeing more small, up-and-coming designers express interest in trunk shows to offer special packages to our customers, and we recently introduced a custom evening program to address the increased desire for evening wear,” she adds.

New York designer Adam Lippes made six stops for trunk shows from New Jersey to Puerto Rico in a span of six weeks, accomplishing major sales for the spring 2021 season. Design duo Mark Badgley and James Mischka have a full dance card of trunk shows this summer and fall for their bridal collection, including stops in Pasadena and Carlsbad in California, and Glasgow and London in the UK.

Designer Jonathan Cohen and co-founder and CEO Sarah Leff say trunk shows help gain clients and visibility. “Trunk shows have been a big part of our business,” Leff says. “We weren’t always part of New York fashion week, so we’d go and do trunk shows around the county and sometimes in other countries as well. It’s a huge percentage of our overall business.”

“We’re able to launch new products and try new things,” Cohen says. “A trunk show is where the magic happens. We’re in the dressing room with the client. It fuels creativity because you see that the client wants to go there with you.”

Sarah Easley, formerly of Kirna Zabête, founded MaisonMarché in 2018, with a unique trunk show model. She says MaisonMarché “travels from lovely home to lovely home” with an assortment of hard-to-find brands discovered by Easley during buying trips around the world.

MaisonMarché’s top category is ready-to-wear with interesting prints and florals. For each show, she curates 25 brands out of a roster of 75. “Unlike a typical mono-brand trunk show, this is a trunk show on steroids. I do up to two trunk shows a week. It’s not just putting the clothes out there. We have stylists giving product knowledge,” she says.

Updating the model

Trunk shows have also gone virtual, particularly during recent lockdowns, where designers were seeking ways to keep up facetime with clients online. Luxury e-commerce site Moda Operandi staged around 150 virtual trunk shows for the spring 2021 season, including for Johanna Ortiz, Zimmermann, Carolina Herrera and The Row, with an average spend of $779 per item. Consumers pay 50 per cent of the price when they place the order. 

Moda’s clients enjoy the insider aspect of choosing their fashion early, while the retailer gains insights into buying patterns and an early read of the consumer’s mindset six months in advance of a collection’s release.

Jonathan Cohens’s digital trunk shows during the pandemic “gave us a little hope for the future,” Leff said. “We're ready to get back on the road and we’re excited to mix digital with our regular trunk shows. It’s another tool to connect with clients.”

“With trunk shows, your customer isn't this fictional person,” Cohen said. “We know when they're going on vacation and what they do for a living. A lot of people see trunk shows as an old way of doing things, but they're incredibly vital and modern, now more than ever.”