RESORTWEAR SHOW SAILS INTO L.A.(on refurbished cruise ship)

Daily News Record, September, 2003 by STEWART, AL

LOS ANGELES -- Nearly 60 years after it first set sail, the historic Queen Mary cruise ship was pressed into service for another type of launch. Close to 500 people recently boarded the retired streamliner on the docks of Long Beach, Calif., for the maiden voyage of the California Resortwear Show.

"Just look around -- can you think of a better setting for a resortwear show," asked show organizer Dan Darby as he surveyed the picturesque setting on the ship's deck at sundown during the opening-night cocktail party and fashion show. "We wanted to create the whole feel of a resort."

Darby, the director of marketing for Surf Expo, which organized the two-day event last month, said the new show was a spin-off of the Giftware Show held in downtown L.A....