Spring Fashion: Home Trunk Shows

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Home trunk shows can offer nice clothing and a good time.

After two hours, a sizable dent in the Pinot Grigio, and an indeterminate number of nursing sweaters, the two blondes in Polly Sturm’s basement show no signs of slowing.

Items that have won approval are set aside on a metal rack. A white ribbed nursing sweater is thrown over a chair—still in the “maybe” pile.

“Now I could see you in this color, Terri,” says Sturm, sliding a raspberry Nursing Pajama off a hanger.

Since the days of Tupperware and Mary Kay, women have sold products out of their living rooms. But a new era of high-end home shopping has arrived. Upscale clothing, semiprecious jewelry, monogrammed baby clothes, nursing clothes and custom handbags are today’s game.

Trunk-show junkies say they like getting stylish goods without the hassles of regular shopping, such as attracting the attention of salespeople and finding parking. They enjoy the camaraderie of shopping with people they know.

Some shows are casual drop-in affairs where children are welcome. Others are by appointment only, drawing from an exclusive invite list. Tricia Lott, wife of Senator Trent Lott, sells the Carlisle Collection from her home, while Allison Brooks, who creates jewelry under the label Queen Bee Designs, has held a private show for Lynne Cheney.

“I’ve probably done my personal all-time best here,” says Rabel, who buys armloads of clothes each year from Sturm. She slips on a $165 cropped wrap jacket with scarflike panels in the front. Schulte suggests she throw the panels over her shoulders, “You can do a bolero,” she says. “Cha-cha-cha!”

Samples do not come in every size, but if a customer who is a size 12 likes a pair of maternity pants whose sample is a size four, there’s usually a pair of pants in the line to try on for size. “There is a degree of guesswork involved,” says Sturm, but she says regular clients learn the line and its fit.

Sturm has learned some near-universal truths about women and clothes: No woman is happy with her body, black is always in, and people buy more when they get personal attention.

Some invitees feel pressured to buy because they know the hostess or designer and don’t want to offend. “You feel more obligated to behave as a friend than if it’s simply you against the store,” says Christina Wilkie.

When she was at one show, she was offered a glass of red wine. Then a friend bumped into her. She spilled Cabernet all over an orange organza skirt. The hostess was nice about it, says Wilkie, but she felt obligated to buy the $280 skirt even though it wasn’t her size. She gave the skirt to Goodwill.

Some women, Schoenfeld says, buy a dozen things and return them all: “They want to spend lots of money in front of their friends.”

If two friends both like an item, there is no need for a standoff. Most trunk shows display samples, and clients order items they like. Jewelry designers simply make another bracelet or necklace.

Unlike stores that may have 30-day return policies, trunk-show return policies vary and are usually up to the seller. Sturm gives clients about a week to make returns and will give cash back as long as the clothes are unworn and with tags. Some sellers do exchanges only. For children’s clothes with personalized monogramming, sales are usually final.

Social Shopping

Many women enjoy trunk shows because they can be more like cocktail parties than business affairs.

Susan Thompson-Hoel of Vienna also appreciates the social aspects of trunk shows. She is a representative for Beaux et Belles, a New Orleans–based company that makes children’s clothes and accessories. As a new mom, she says, “You want to be with other adults.”

At a show this past summer, Thompson-Hoel took orders from a clientele dominated by Junior Leaguers in flowered miniskirts with babies on their hips and toddlers underfoot.