Laced Boston (569 Columbus Ave) is known for its shoe and urban wear collections for men, but last night they let the women of Dames and Dutchess run things for the launch of their spring line.
The event supposedly started at 7pm, but when I came by they were still setting up. I took a walk around the neighborhood and by 8pm they seemed to have things together.
The concept of the party was nice, a cool female DJ – DJ Firicano – playing party music, a ton of moscato and blush wine, and cupcakes – a launch party staple. The shoes were displayed around the store.
DJ Firicano
My issues came with the attention to details. First off the owner and CEO Porscha was very sweet, but absent a lot of the party – actually a lot of the models kept going into the back room – for what – I dunno…and they weren’t really well – there. It was really odd. Grant it, there weren’t a lot of people there, but still.
Porscha
The decor – they had some great blown up photos of models wearing the shoes, but they didn’t take the tags off the photos…so it looked mad tacky. The drinks were kinda self-serve, and the homemade cupcakes were mixed with store bought – not sure why. They also had party favors as parting gifts, but you had to ask what they were – turned out to be body lotion and glitter in generic containers wrapped in tool.
‘sides the lack luster of the “party”, the shoes were what I expected and fit the party girl, going out lifestyle. Style wise I liked the mirrored shoe the most just because they were so unique. It was a pity that this was the launch for their spring collection, but there weren’t a lot of shoes there. I heard that the majority of the collection wasn’t there. Um – why? *le sigh.
Before coming to the party I checked out their website, which is great. I like the fact that you can bring your own shoe to them to change up for you or you can simply customize your own shoe from scratch directly on the site. Very cool.
My thing is this: if you’re going to ask people to pay upwards of $350.00 for a pair of shoes, act like you can do something constructive with the money. Or do at least have the party at an establishment where someone else is in charge of the catering and decorating. That’s what event planners are for.
I think if they would have put a bit more thought into their presentation of their brand; maybe had it at a women’s boutique and created a partnership with them to sell their shoes, it would have been a much more successful event.
