Fashion Luxe

When it comes to “luxury” fashion accessories the names that immediately spring to mind are Tiffany, Prada, Gucci, Chanel, Fendi, Cartier and Judith Lieber. But for the gift retailer, it doesn't take a couture brand to tap into the luxury fashion market; nor does it mean traveling to new trade shows.

The gift trade shows have long included fashion accents vendors among their exhibitors. And in recent years gift shows have experienced a surge in high end and up-and-coming designer brands, as those vendors recognize the business potential of the gift market. Such growth has even spurred certain markets to create special sections to showcase these high end vendors.

Better yet, the growth isn't limited to handbags and jewelry alone. Those items may represent the bulk of luxe fashions within the giftware sector, but other luxury elements — such as cashmere shawls, tees and sweaters, and fine silk sleepwear and loungewear — are also gaining a foothold at the markets.

Of course, luxury is an elusive term that means different things to different people. But it's more than brand names and couture designers. The term describes products of a high quality and good design that is often trend-forward; it also implies a certain element of uniqueness and exclusivity that lends cachet to the product. These are qualities that Prada and Tiffany epitomize — but are by no means theirs alone.

Though price is not the only determinant that qualifies a fashion accessory as “luxury,” it's a darn good starting point. The quality components that go into making the merchandise — be it precious metals and semi-precious stones for jewelry, or top grain leathers for handbags or the finest cashmere yarns for shawls — are expensive to begin with. Add to that the cost of labor that goes into the final product, and your wholesale cost can skyrocket. However, the retail price tag on such items provides a certain element of exclusivity on the retail side.

Still, fine materials and a high price do not guarantee quality workmanship. “When you move up to a higher price point, you want to be sure that [the designer and/or the brand] you are selling is quality-oriented,” advises Karen Duclos of Frederic Duclos, Huntington Beach, CA. “The last possible thing you want to happen when you sell something for $300 or more is to have it come back the next day because it broke.”

Luxury also denotes that special something a designer brings to create the “look” of a piece or collection; it's that design concept that gives their work its unique style and creates a brand. And when it comes to branding, it is not just the look of the pieces alone that creates the overall image. There's also packaging and presentation. After all, what says “Tiffany” more than that blue box? That's the kind of intangible you can't put a price on.

A celebrity connection is another quality that lends luxe cachet to a designer or brand. And like the image of the Tiffany box, it's one of those intangibles you can't buy. What is the impact when a personality, such as fashion consultant Stacy London, enthuses about the designs of Alexis Bittar on her TLC talk show? Or when Sarah Jessica Parker carries a Timmy Woods handbag in the upcoming Sex and the City movie?

“It's a status symbol to pay a lot for a designer piece,” observes Woods, of Beverly Hills, CA. “And the fact that a star has worn the bag is the momentum needed for the consumer.”

To present a luxury collection of women's business bags and accessories that is also affordable was the goal of Van Group, Ontario, CA, when it tapped the talents of rising celebrity designer Nikki Chu. Now the company has entered the fashion accents category with a line that has a high style look at affordable price points. Chu's celebrity connection (especially with model and television personality Tyra Banks) lends the line some star quality.

But in the end, while price can be a status symbol, as Woods observed, it is the really accessory itself, the designer and the star connection that gives a piece its real luxury cachet.