Las Vegas market week is here once again, and this year, the National Jeweler team is sharing the essential items they keep in their bags to survive each day in comfort and style.
Senior Editor Hannah Connorton’s bag
This year marks my fourth Couture show, so I’ve more or less mastered the art of packing my bag for the show. Aside from the clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories I bring all the way from New York, there are five essential items I make sure to have each year, from left.
1. Chapstick. It’s dry out here, and it hurts trying to smile with cracked lips. This shea butter formula keeps my pucker hydrated.
2. Essie nail polish. I’ll be trying on amazing rings for the next few days, and a simple pastel hue from Essie is a great complement to the gold, silver and bright gemstone shades that will adorn my fingers.
3. Headphones. When I finally sit to write, I tune everything else out with my lime green headphones.
4. Visine. Again, with the arid climate and frigid casino air, Visine keeps my contacts from drying out
and withering up on my eyeballs.
5. My iPhone. Keeping in touch with industry friends, Couture contacts and the National Jeweler team is essential for this uber-social week. Having text, Twitter and Instagram in the palm of my hand makes connecting a breeze.
Editor-in-Chief Michelle Graff’s bag
I love bags from Brooklyn-based brand Hayden-Harnett. I tend, as my mother used to say, to “be hard on things” (take from this statement what you may) and I’ve found that the Hayden-Harnett bags put up with everything I put them through, and pile into them. I bought the brand’s Voyager Tote in “elm” specifically for this trip. Here’s what’s in my bag, counterclockwise from left.
1. Business cards. Obviously a necessity for any trade show, I keep mine in this lovely black case from Swarovski. My cards are especially useful this time around, as I have new office phone number (646-668-3721, for anybody that wants to call me.)
2. Travel-sized first aid kit. Perhaps it’s a bit of an exaggeration to call this a first aid kit but I always keep a travel-sized packet of bandages and aspirin with me, for all the headaches my job causes. My mom puts travel-sized objects in her children’s stockings every year at Christmas and I always find them useful. Mommy knows best, as usual.
3. Portable charger. An ex-boyfriend of mine gave me this purple portable iPhone and iPad charger last summer, after 2013 market week.
The relationship didn’t last but now at least my iPhone 5 battery does. If you see me on the show floor, don’t be shy about asking for a charge.
4. Computer glasses. I am extremely, extremely near-sighted and my eyes tire easily. My eye doctor recommended these computer glasses to help reduce the strain caused by staring at a computer screen all day. I don’t actually put them on as much as I should but, hey, at least they’re in my bag.
5. Notecards. National Jeweler is going to be asking for your business advice to write on these notecards for a project to be revealed once we return from market week. Consider yourself warned.
Associate Editor Brecken Branstrator’s bag
This is my first time at Couture as well as in Las Vegas, and I’m so excited to be here. Luckily, I’ve been to a few trade shows already so I’m not going in totally blind, and the contents of the bag I’ll be toting around Sin City are a mixture of suggestions from others and my own guesses. Here they are, from left.
1. Sunscreen. As I run around between trade shows and activities, I’ve got to make sure I’ve got some SPF protection against this hot Las Vegas sun for my fair skin. This one is SPF 30, and anyone who knows me knows this is probably the minimum my skin needs so I don’t return to New York the color of a tomato, which is all too common for this girl.
2. Nail polish. This gold nail polish has been my go-to shade for a while now, and will be through the shows, so I’m schlepping it around with me in case I need any touch-ups throughout the week before I meet with people or for when I play hand model for the National Jeweler Instagram account.
3. Cards. I’m glad you all are seeing these, actually, because as the National Jeweler team is walking around the shows, we’ll be asking you for your best business tips for a fun future story, so if you see me and these cards, get ready, because I’ll be picking your brain.
4. Pen and notebook. We are, after all, here to report on market week. I’ll be talking to a lot of people at the shows, so I always carry writing materials around with me to take notes for quotes, interesting things I see, and other reminders to myself for future assignments.
5. Business cards. We just changed phone numbers at our office, and in an effort to make sure people have my new contact information, I’ll probably be shoving one of these into every familiar hand I can and to all the new people I meet.
6. Phone charger. Tweeting. Instagramming. Emailing. Texting. Using my cell phone as my primary source of technology while I’m walking around the shows sucks the battery out of it pretty quickly, and there’s nothing worse than not having it when I’ve still got work to do. I learned this lesson at a trade show earlier this year, and since I’m a stereotypical Millennial who feels naked without my iPhone, I’m sure to bring my charger with me everywhere I go.
7. Sunglasses. For whatever reason, sunglasses are never something I remember to carry around with me, but it was the first thing I packed when I was prepping for Vegas, and I’m so glad I did. This sun and heat takes some getting used to, but at least I’ll look cool while I’m running around like a mad woman, right?
