Doing the Designer Line Up at Henri Bendel's

So as I am approaching what I believe is the end of a line at Henri Bendel's at 7:30 am it turns out its the beginning!!! I asked the first few "By the way,what time did you get here?" their response 2am...OK so I can understand if you really just have an undying need to be first rather than all the way at the end of a line. However the doors open at 9am so technically those first few people where waiting out in the cold a whole lot longer than me. I'm not kidding there is nothing sexy about camping out in your sleeping bag on fifth avenue in the cold or hot. My advice would be to sleep in a bit and arrive ready and organized between 6am and 7am. Time goes by fast in the company of other trend setters, and once the line starts to move it moves quickly. You have a total of 2 minutes to sell and show yourself to the buyers,they know immediately whether they are interested or not. You don't have a moment to take your coat off in the presence of the buyers. Simply open up your case of items and layout a look book or line sheet attached with your business card. The buyer will offer you the opportunity of an in house trunk show at Henri Bendel's on the spot. There are a few categories they are looking for which are,swim wear,lingerie,accessories and skincare. At one point a woman came outside to announce anyone showing swim wear and lingerie please come forward. So a few lucky designers ended up cutting in much earlier.

There are so many people from different walks of life. You'll meet everyone from the nearly fresh out of school fashionista such as Priestesse to the single mother of 2 kids like Jewelry designer Debra Skyler. Debra Skyler's line of yoga influenced jewelry Light was beautiful gold casted and diamond accented. I was floored and could immediately picture it on Madonna's manicured fingers and with one quick snap of a paparazzi cam "click" everyone in Hollywood wood want to own a piece to wear to their next Kabbalah class. Unfortunately I overheard one of the jewelry buyers say we don't by high end jewelry with diamonds here. Stuff like that would be nice to know before you hang out all morning with the hopes of getting a chance.

But in any case you will learn something new and meet a few more people on the way to the top.