California Apparel News

Since fashion veteran Jill Roberts started Honorine, a Los Angeles–headquartered linen-dress and beach-cover-up line, she typically delivered the brand to retailers during three seasons, Spring, Summer and Resort, but Roberts said that she’s looking to shake up the industry’s seasonal traditions. She feels that Southern California fashion brands and retailers have been ignoring a potentially lucrative opportunity. Consider it a high-Summer season or a pre-Fall transitional season.

“The deliveries for Fall start coming into stores in late July, which is the beginning of hot weather. Retailers start transitioning stores with fall fabrications such as velvets and wools. It can be tricky,” she said. “I’d rather transition to something that is buy now/wear now. These clothes may not be beachy, but [they are made] in a fabric that is lightweight and doesn’t look like you are wearing a fall dress.”

To provide an alternative, Roberts is currently developing new Honorine styles for this niche season. A made–in–Los Angeles brand launched in 2018, Honorine will have its next season arrive after Southern California’s typically cool, early summer of June gloom and through the hot season, which runs from late July through September and sometimes beyond.

“It’s really important to have a transition delivery during the super-warm months,” Roberts said of the hot-summer period. “With traditional deliveries, we’re getting cold-weather clothes. It’s not buy now/wear now. Traditional deliveries just wait on the shop floor for three months.”

Introductions for this new season’s collection will start in February at the temporary New York City Summer Somewhere showroom, which represents Honorine.

The retailers she has worked with have consistently sought to buy goods as late as possible in the season. Her decision to launch a collection based on transitional seasons is also rooted in Roberts’s experience as a retailer. She runs three self-named, multi-line Jill Roberts bricks-and-mortar boutiques in the Los Angeles area.

More than 25 years ago, she opened her first Jill Roberts shop on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. She also runs a Jill Roberts shop in Beverly Hills and another in Studio City. Her e-commerce site, jillroberts.com, is scheduled to unveil a remodel by mid-January. The concept for the shops centers on her view of the California lifestyle. They sell cashmere sweaters made by Roberts’s self-named Jill Roberts private-label line as well as labels which feature beach-culture and summer-friendly styles.

For her Summer delivery, Honorine styles come in linen and gauze, which are more appropriate to wear around the beach, she said. In contrast, Honorine dresses for a transition season will be offered in a lightweight cotton/silk blend and rayon that Roberts said was more appropriate in both office and casual settings.

This upcoming transition line for Honorine will feature more than five summer-dress silhouettes, which were initially meant for beachwear. The silhouettes will include Honorine’s prairie-style dress, Giselle, which is fitted on top and flowing on the bottom. Another look will be inspired by Honorine’s Charlotte dress, which features a V neck and a hem that falls below the knee. The styles will feature fall colors such as rose and spice hues in addition to blue tones and greens.

Honorine’s focus on a collection for a transitional season comes during a time when many designers increasingly make clothes that are not intended for any specific season. This is true especially in a Southern California fashion market where anything goes, said Don Reichman of the sales group Reichman Associates.

“Southern California retailers prefer clothing in lighter-weight fabrics that can be worn year-round,” Reichman said. “Spring/summer colors can sometimes change to darker and richer fall colors. Actually, lighter or darker colors can be worn at any time of year these days and not look out of place.”

Roberts agreed that the fashion business is increasingly making clothes and collections for no specific season. She thought that there did not need to be a strict boundary between the customers who want seasonless pieces and those who build a wardrobe according to fashion’s seasonal calendar.

“We might end up offering these styles all year-round. It’s the buy now/wear now theory,” she said. “Get it in and sell it fast!”

Retail price points range from $180 to $425. Honorine has been sold at prominent retailers such as Goop, Elyse Walker and Intermix as well as its direct-to-consumer channel, www.iamhonorine.com.