Fashion Week: Harem Holdouts

Carol Hoffman has been running all over town attending fashion shows and presentations this week, then dashing back to her office to work with the out-of-town buyers who rely on her to be their eyes and ears in the New York designer market.

When the orders are complete at the end of September, though, very few of the looks the models wore will wind up in Hoffman's clients' stores.

"The runway pieces will only turn out to be about one quarter of our buy," said Hoffman, whose eponymous firm is part of New York-based Doneger Group.

Hoffman works with independent retailers in the U.S. and Canada with revenues between $1.5 million and $25 million. These retailers might operate just one unit, or as many as five. They cater to clients who crave high fashion that's less edgy than what New Yorkers or Los Angelinos might wear. It's Hoffman's job to help them capture major ongoing trends, like the resurgence of dresses both long and short, while noting but holding off on more adventurous ideas.

A case in point for Spring 2009: harem pants, which turned up on many runways, from Nicole Miller to Jill Stuart to Proenza Schouler.

"[These stores] have to be specific to their customer base," Hoffman said. "Harem pants are going to be terrific in cosmopolitan cities, but if it picks up in the suburbs it will probably take at least a season or two."

By Catherine Curan

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