STYLE : YSL Soiree Must Mean It’s Time for Trunk Shows

The coordinator was French and so was the champagne. Tea and petite sandwiches were served on silver. And one of the jackets was selling for $9,950.

The occasion was the recent unveiling of Yves Saint Laurent’s spring-summer ready-to-wear collection at South Coast Plaza’s Rive Gauche boutique and was--because of the designer’s prominence and the French coordinator’s efforts--more European than many such shows in the county.

But in other ways, the Yves Saint Laurent show held earlier this month was typical of informal trunk shows. Saint Laurent-clad customers came and went throughout the modeling, with the sandwiches disappearing faster than the $2,000 designer dresses.

But trunk shows are not necessarily held to ring up big sales. The purpose is to increase store traffic and present all or most of a designer’s line, providing customers a temporarily expanded selection from which to order.

The name comes from the trunk or shipping carton that is used to bring the collection to the store. And, unlike formal fashion shows in which many models walk the runway, trunk shows usually use only a couple of models who move informally among the customers.

This is trunk-show time, when stores big and small are unpacking crates of spring collections. Although trunk shows can be held throughout the year, the next big flurry of activity will be in August and September when the fall lines will be presented.

“We use trunk shows to highlight a particular designer because no boutique could possibly buy everything a designer has,” says Darla Khachadoorian, co-owner of the My Girl boutique in Corona del Mar. “This way they get to see the whole collection and order what they want.”

In addition, trunk shows educate customers about different designers. Nordstrom holds dozens of trunk shows throughout the year as well as at the beginning of the major seasons, and Nordstrom spokeswoman Lucy Hamilton says the stores try to fly in designers whenever possible, as do most department stores.

“It’s really a service for the customer,” says Kristine Cleary, buyer for South Coast Gallery dresses at Nordstrom’s South Coast Plaza store. “They don’t usually have an opportunity to talk to designers about fabrics and how the (outfits) are made.”

In YSL’s case, Rive Gauche store manager and buyer Josee Sievert selects lighter-weight clothing from among the many ready-to-wear outfits designed by the man who brought to high fashion Breton fisherman-style jackets and men’s dinner clothes for women. Sievert also looks for elaborate evening wear, including Saint Laurent’s signature dinner jackets and linen dresses, for her Orange County customers.

Corrine Aubert, the YSL representative from New York who coordinated the recent Costa Mesa trunk show, says regular customers are familiar with the designer’s work and want to know about items in his twice-yearly collections that do not make it to a store near them.

“All the Saint Laurent pieces work together, so when you see it all, suddenly all the colors and textures make sense,” Aubert says.

She was referring to the designer’s unusual color and fabric combinations for spring: black with navy, brown with olive green, wool with linen and heavy cotton jackets with wool pants. Says Aubert: “He has always mixed fabrics and colors and completely avoids predictable looks.”

Sievert says her customers, many of whom are women of means, favor Saint Laurent’s cocktail dresses and summer linens over his extremely tailored, businesslike looks.

Also favored by Orange County customers are YSL’s brilliant colors over his subdued shades, although those were in abundance at the trunk show: earth tones and navy with brown.

Another look stressed by Saint Laurent this season and seen at the shop: dramatic white dresses for evening. The flowing gowns ($2,695 each) of white viscose acetate were shown with sheer black hose and gold shoes.

The collection includes what Sievert calls specialty evening pieces, such as a short black jacket with jewel-colored, grape-like baubles strung on the shoulders ($9,950). These are the items the local women go for, she says.

Among the faithful attending the 2-day YSL trunk show were Renee Segerstrom, who says she has been wearing Saint Laurent for 20 to 25 years and wears his couture as well as his ready-to-wear; Jane Lawson of Newport Beach, who attends every show; Carolyn Wagner of Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, and Lynda J. Rosenblatt of Newport Beach.

Lawson, who chooses several pieces from each Saint Laurent collection, says she buys from the designer because his designs are not faddish, “they’re classic, beautiful clothes.”