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Christmas Ornaments Go Upscale : Retailers Say Pricey Collectible Decorations Are the Rage

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UPI Fashion Writer

In the retail end of the ornament business, the word this Christmas is collectibles. It’s not that Woolworth’s shiny red balls by the dozen are passe; just that exclusive or one-of-a-kind decorations are tres chic .

“The collectible tree is what I would say the trend was,” said Thomas Dyjor, Macy’s fashion director for home furnishings. “What you find is people doing more and more of what I call a keepsake tree--ornaments, or little odds and ends of things. It’s almost a scrapbook of their life. I find myself doing it.”

Dyjor bought a paper Eiffel Tower in Paris last April. He did it, he said, so that when he assembled it last week, it would remind him of Paris. Similarly, he says, parents are using things their children pick up.

Handblown Ornaments

At Bloomingdale’s, Claudia Wachtel, the store’s gift and trim buyer, agrees with Dyjor. “The trend is for, of course, collectibles,” she said, “be it exclusive design or reminiscent of Christmases past. The traditional handblown old ornaments from Germany are always popular but this year they’re skyrocketing.”

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“What that is telling me is the customer is looking for something serious,” she continued. “Not necessarily red-and-green Christmas, but something to collect. It’s a serious ornament. It’s for adults only.”

As for “red-and-green Christmas,” Macy’s Dyjor said, “What people are doing more and more is not having theme trees. It used to be, a few years ago, ‘This year, well, I want a red-and-white tree or a candy tree.’ It’s almost like fashion now. We’ve gotten to buying clothes that cost more because we’re going to keep them longer.”

Wachtel tackled the adults-only aspect of the trend. “Adults decorate the trees,” she said. “They have the purchasing power. It’s simple if you think fewer people are having children and there’s a tremendous number of singles. . . . They’re decorating their tree and they want a sophisticated Christmas.”

That Homespun Look

As you might expect, the look and feel of the keepsake or collectible tree is distinctly homespun. “I hate to say let’s make ornaments at home, because it puts us out of business, but yeah, there also is that as well.”

Among Macy’s eight shops, Dyjor cites a collection of handmade German wreaths of natural dried grasses, leaves and nuts and patchwork ornaments as examples. In combination with this, there’s also an interest in collectibles with glitter, he said.

At Bloomingdale’s, the best sellers are an exclusive set of Art Deco dancers made of ceramic resin and hand-painted in metallic colors. “Decorators are coming in to do parties based on these ornaments,” said Wachtel.

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The ornaments are exclusive to Bloomingdale’s and are the brainchild of Wachtel and the store’s resident designer. Together they research ideas and come up with designs, which are then manufactured elsewhere.

Roaring ‘20s

Contemporary handblown and hand-decorated glass ornaments with whimsical decoration are another popular item. “We did a Roaring Twenties group of flapper heads which are hand-painted balls,” continued Wachtel. “They’re of our own design from Italy, and we can’t keep the ornaments on the trees.”

As you might suspect, a sophisticated Christmas costs. A set of four flapper heads goes for $36, and five deco dancers is $54. The patchwork ornaments at Macy’s--balls made of pieces of folded fabric tied with ribbons--are $12.50.

“I’ve been working on the selling floor,” said Wachtel. “We do have upper-middle-class to upper-class (customers), considering that $54 for five ornaments is expensive.”

Then again, price always makes for conversation on the selling floor. “Someone picked it up and said ‘$12.50 for a Christmas ornament?’ ” said Dyjor. “And another said, ‘Look how it’s folded. It takes a lot of time to make that.’ ”

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