ATLANTA — Specialty store retailers shopping the Atlanta Apparel Market last week projected a robust 2017 after ending 2016 with increased sales.
The show, held at the Atlanta Apparel Mart for four days ended Sunday, “started out with a bang and finished strong,” said Mary Sullivan, senior vice president, leasing, AmericasMart. “There’s a lot of positive energy going into 2017.”
Permanent showrooms reported a record number of appointments and buyers with strong open-to-buys, she added.
Charlie Brown, president of Karlie, said, “Buyers are buying deeper into their better selling lines, and they’re testing new lines.” He added that the show was steady and strong.
Caron Stover, vice president of apparel trade show sales at AmericasMart, said the temporary showroom area was up 17 percent over the show a year ago and that 26 percent of the increase came from new companies. The Mart expanded temporary exhibitors, mostly young contemporary, onto the fifth floor, adding 7,000 square feet of space. The Mart opened three new showrooms and had three showroom expansions.
Buyers focused on summer, but a few also bought fall.
“There are a lot of the same trends from last year,” said Morgan Ramage, fashion manager at AmericasMart. Key trends, she said, include stripes and florals,

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GOING, GOING, GONE:  IMG, NYFW: The Shows and the E network have struck a partnership with Christie’s to present a selection of artwork by Andy Warhol from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
The works will be on view Feb. 9 to 16 at Skylight Clarkson Sq and will be included in an online-only sale of more than 80 works called “Andy Warhol at Christie’s With NYFW: The Shows.” Bidding will be open to collectors at christies.com/warhol.
The exhibition will be presented at the official NYFW: The Shows launch party tonight. Starting bids open at $1,500, and proceeds from the sale will benefit the Warhol Foundation’s grant-making programs, which support artists and nonprofit arts organizations.
“Given E!’s role in pop culture, Warhol’s legacy as a pop artist and our commitment to celebrating all forms of culture during New York Fashion Week, we’ve created an experience that appeals to all interested in art, fashion and celebrity,” said Catherine Bennett, senior vice president and managing director of IMG Fashion.

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TWEET, TWEET, TWEET: President Donald Trump took to Twitter earlier today to criticize Nordstrom for treating his daughter Ivanka “so unfairly,” but Nordstrom has fired back claiming sales of the brand “steadily declined” in the second-half of the year.
A Nordstrom spokeswoman said this afternoon, “To reiterate what we’ve already shared when asked, we made this decision based on performance. Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now.”
She continued, “We’ve had a great relationship with the Ivanka Trump team. We’ve had open conversations with them over the past year to share what we’ve seen and Ivanka was personally informed of our decision in early January.”
President Trump has finally chimed in on the controversy surrounding his daughter Ivanka Trump’s fashion line.
Last week, Nordstrom announced it would no longer be selling clothing or accessories from Ivanka Trump’s eponymous line. “This was a decision made entirely based on brand performance,” a Nordstrom spokeswoman said at the time. “We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. We’ve got thousands of

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BEACH TIME FOR BARBIE:  Gigi Hadid’s Barbie doll is racking up likes on Instagram. On Tuesday, Hadid posted a photo of a Barbie doll in her likeness that will be unveiled tonight at Tommy Hilfiger’s runway show  in Los Angeles. By noon Wednesday, the post has generated more than 1.28 million likes.
The 21-year-old model, who will reveal her second Tommy x Gigi capsule collection, wrote, “Can’t believe that’s me! Thank you for this honor #Mattel @tommyhilfiger can’t wait to have a #Barbie join us at the #TommyxGigi show tomorrow! @barbiestyle @tommyxgigi.”
Hadid’s Barbie is decked out in a Tommy Hilfiger logo T-shirt, cut-off denim jeans and roller blades, fitting for the Venice Beach runway show.
 

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A 42-piece collection of easy, comfortable designs.

January proved to be a better month for the handful of US apparel retailers still reporting comparable sales figures but it wasn’t all good news, with one big upside offsetting two huge declines – one of which represents the largest monthly comp store sales decline in 19 years.

Trina Turk started her collection with a moody palette and rich, textured fabrics in mind, working geometric-patterned lace and metallic floral-printed jacquard throughout the lineup. The resulting collection — a juxtaposition of feminine frills and boyish charm — nodded to Turk’s secondary inspiration: the neo-noir films “L.A. Confidential” and “Chinatown.”
Speaking of the latter, it was easy to imagine Faye Dunaway in any of Turk’s looks, from cheeky, polka-dot pussy-bow blouses to the more demure camel trench paired with classic tattersall trousers. Midi-length skirts and dresses winked at elegant Thirties and Forties silhouettes, while Turk’s outerwear — a jacquard bomber and a white faux leather jacket — topped it all off with a dose of modern-day cool.

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Fall marks a season of expansion and experimentation for Rubin Singer. The designer is introducing a sizable collection of evening-inspired ready-to-wear — a natural evolution for his gown-enamored collections.
It’s safe to say his propositions are far from traditional fare. Known for his draping and often dramatic structures, separates took on similar features and a focus on variant corsetry. Take, for example, a red minidress with dramatic sleeves; on the rack alone, it looked like a piece of welded armor with warrior vibes. Or a long gold lamé jumpsuit with a pointed deep-V corset that served as a gateway piece for gown-leaning customers. Perhaps the piece that best fused Singer’s core design codes was a bright green corset top with pleats and a dramatic asymmetrical peplum hem; paired with a ballgown skirt it could be quite stunning, or easily made more grounded with tuxedo pants (of which Singer has a great pair done in a two-tone palette).
Additionally, Singer’s take on feminizing traditional men’s wear items stood as a highlight. A mini tuxedo dress with a built-in corset was a playful, sharply tailored offering.
For loyalists, there were signature silhouettes — most notably a silver lamé bias dress, a bright blue gauze gazar

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Pants are Stephanie Rad’s specialty: She launched her collection last spring when she couldn’t find any that fit the way she liked. For fall, she dove further into the category, offering 18 different trouser silhouettes — from zipper-accented leather skinnies to boyish wide-leg trousers in brushed twill — adding a few chic jumpsuits to the mix. Thin-wale corduroy flares in shades of brown and gray lent the lineup a boyish Seventies vibe, while other styles featured sheer cutouts and front-slit hemlines.
Rad complemented her looks with silk and velvet bodysuits and tailored baseball shirts, the latter a nod to her grandfather; Rad was recently rummaging through his closet when she stumbled upon a few of his vintage single-pocket short-sleeve shirts and racetrack jackets. Here, she reimagined a few of his wardrobe staples in luxe fabrics; it especially worked on an oversize silk bomber with a deep V neckline. “I wanted to incorporate the masculine pieces in a feminine way that woman would find approachable,” she said.

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A trip to Costa Rica and a viewing of the Seventies anime film “Belladonna of Sadness” sparked a period of self-discovery in Raquel Allegra.
Though originating from different ends of the world, the Central American adventure and the animation from Japan came together in the warm colors and earthy vibe of her carefree fall collection.
“We saw so many things that we related to in the film,” said the designer, before the start of her presentation that was also billed as a dance party in her eight-month-old store in Los Angeles. “Their watercolors reminded us of the way we work with tie-dye.” She also empathized with the anime heroine, whom she said is “connected to the earth, going through her own trials and is discovering herself as a woman.”
Allegra went through a similar phase in Costa Rica. “It started with a recharge and ended with total self-discovery,” she said. So uplifted by that positive feeling, she named her collection “Pura Vida,” translated from Spanish as “pure life,” and made an art film with Margo Ducharme and Nicholas Trikonis on the beaches in the tropical country.
She also injected new silhouettes and fabrics into her designs. Ivory silk rayon was burned out to resemble

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