Accessories Show Bows at Cooper

Coeur, a new accessories, gift and home trade show, launched at the Cooper Design Space during L.A. Fashion Market Week.

The show, created by eM Productions co-founders Henri Myers and Lisa Elliot, featured 54 brands and ran Oct 17–19. The event drew in a wide range of buyers from department stores and key boutiques on the East and West Coasts and throughout the Midwest, as well as internationally.

“It’s been quite amazing, actually,” Myers said. “[We’ve had] really positive feedback from vendors, from stores and people generally walking in and seeing something very fresh and very different—which was the whole purpose of what we were trying to do to create this show,” he explained. Buyers included Henri Bendel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Madison, TNT, Des Kohan, Beams, Intermix, Scoop, A&R, Guild, Heist, Fred Segal Rocks and Traffic.

Exhibitors included everything from jewelry and handbags to gift items, vintage goods and homewares. Raven Kauffman, Gabriela Artigas, Dannijo, A Current Affair, Allibelle, Cri de Couer, Bliss Lau, Bijules and Society for Rational Dress Home were just few of the brands on the roster.Designer Bliss Lau, who designs an avant-garde line of body jewelry, said she decided to do the show because she trusted Elliot’s direction with the show and she hasn’t had distribution on the West Coast for a while. “This show has been really good for me,” Lau said. “Being a designer that is very niche and [has] a very specific kind of distribution—this show has offered that for me.”

Kaley Jacobs, co-creative director of Allibelle, a new line of handbags, was also pleased with the show. “The show has been good. Every buyer that is interested in handbags has definitely looked in,” she said. “We’re out of New York, so a West Coast show like this with a lot of really cool specialty stores based in L.A. and around the West Coast is really good for this brand,” she added.

Vintage dealer Richard Wainwright was also pleased. The co-founder of A Current Affair brought vintage merchandise, which fit well with the curated selection of brands at the trade show. Buyers as well as stylists shopped the one-of-a-kind merchandise.

Myers said the show will return in March, and he and Elliot have plans to explore other markets. He is also hoping to expand the show to include more brands, but ultimately it’s about having the right brands to showcase. “Next time we want to make sure that we are going to grow and add some really great lines that didn’t have a chance to get on board this time around because of the scheduling,” he said. “But then [we] also [want] to keep it really true to the feel of the show, which is about having really strong lines under one roof that all make sense and are cohesive.”—N. Jayne Seward