Live from Las Vegas

8:37a.m. — Bright and early, here’s your loyal correspondent, blogging live from the PPAI Fashion & Accessories Show. Despite its 8:30 a.m. starting time, there’s a more-than-adequate turnout, though according to a few of my row companions, it’s considerably less than years past. The coffee hasn’t yet dispersed through my system, and I can kind of see how this could be that much more fun with cocktails instead.

8:41 — The lights dim 10 minutes late, and I can’t help but think of Marc Jacobs’ two-hours-overdue N.Y. Fashion Week opening. Good to know our industry can keep “fashionably late” from approaching diva-like proportions!

8:43 — The chairman of PPAI is up talking about how businesses are looking to become more relevant in the eyes of their customers and promotional products is the way to achieve that connection. He cites this as being the “Golden Age of Promotional Products” and tells distributors to go forth and create value, instead of just fulfilling demand.

8:49 — Bam Bams kick off the show with a choreographed dance number to Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” I gotta say, from my perch in the second tier, it does look pretty cool to see show-goers clapping their Bam Bams together (light-up, blow-up audience involvement devices).

8:53 — Despite the fact that the models look like they just woke up (I keep wanting to yell out Tyra-ism: “Smile with your eyes!”), Capital Mercury Apparel sends the first crew down the runway in various buttondown shirts and polos from their Bill Blass, Arnold Palmer and Nyne lines. The polo colors in particular are vibrant, rich, and paired with khakis, they look great under the stage lights.

8:57 — I’m not understanding why each line is being punctuated with superhero-movie vignettes (so far, we’ve seen clips from Spiderman and Underdog).