Magic Market Week in Vegas

On February 17^th (5 AM to be precise) Joanne, Haleigh and Rebecca (that’s me) embarked on most every woman’s dream – attending the largest fashion convention in the world – better known as Magic Market Week in Las Vegas.

In a nutshell, for more than a decade, Magic Market Week has brought fashion designers and boutique retailers from around the world together. It now fills 5 Vegas convention halls and is the premiere event that shapes fashion for the upcoming year.

Wow!!!  Right??? For the record…Joanne has attended this event practically since its inception; Haleigh has been in the world of fashion practically since her conception; and I’ve been a stay-at-home mom for the last 12 years, wearing mostly sweatpants and messy ponytails. Thank God for my Desperado ‘work life’ intervention!

Fueled by PowerBars, instant coffee and Emergen-C, we hit the strip running. Our mission was to visit all our major designers and to scour the endless rows of 10×12 booths. We were in search of those up-and-coming fashion designers to add to our Desperado spring, summer, fall & winter collections.

I can assure you, it’s going to be a great year at Desperado Boutique! The trends are awesome and fit really well with our broadening clothing lines. There will be lots of beautiful embroidery, soft knits, and great denim with less emphasis on bling and more on fit in really cool colors. Dresses will flatter every figure. There will be jackets in spectacular faux leather and fur.
Desperado will also be debuting a much larger footwear department with the addition of great new lines including OG by Old Gringo and Steve Madden’s new Freebird collection. My wish list is long!

The Magic Market Week days were also long. Joanne’s bracelet that monitors everything from her heart rate to sleeping patterns clocked us at walking 9 miles of convention floor in a single day. All of us were in cowboy boots! Mine, brand new and while that wasn’t my smartest packing item, it is a testament to Old Gringo- I survived. Besides we all looked good.

I could likely go on forever with tales from Vegas, but you know the saying “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”.  So I’ll leave you with a few final thoughts:

Biggest Tip: Every garment needs to be touched to know quality. And we know Joanne knows quality.

Biggest Triumph: Booking Johnny Was as a Trunk Show for our 18^th Anniversary Celebration this fall.

Biggest Smile: Watching 4 of the original Commodores do ‘synchronize dance’ the opening night of convention. Shhhhh…Haleigh had to Google them (she’s from the younger set). Joanne and I knew all their songs (what does that tell you?).

Biggest Disappointment: Underwear models really do have perfect bodies – it’s not airbrushing after all.

Biggest Scam: the Oxygen Bar – breathing 20 minutes of blueberry smelling “pure oxygen” doesn’t really perk you up!

Biggest Scam #2: United Airlines offering a $7 voucher after telling you your flight won’t be leaving San Francisco for another 8 hours. $7 buys nothing in an airport!

Biggest Realization: I am grateful for all the Joannes and Haleighs of this world. It’s their relentless pursuit of beautiful and high quality fashion that gives us all the opportunity to feel good about the way we look.

Biggest Accomplishment: That for one week, I too could be a part of bringing to Desperado some of the best fashion the world has to offer.

~Rebecca Meade