SALE SALE SELL

This past weekend was a big one for a small town in South Jersey. SHOP, a small retail boutique, located in Haddon Township had it's first and only sale of the year. I grew up in Haddon Township; it's a small community with one main street we call Haddon Ave. My family has our pasta company there and there are some more businesses ranging from hair dressers to a crossfit gym, a jeweler and a coal-fired pizza place. Over the years, if Haddon Township residents wanted to shop boutique style they would have to venture into Haddonfield (one town over) or Cherry Hill. The boutiques in both of these towns are expensive with most product ranging from $50-500. SHOP opened up in May with a new concept to the people of the town: "Outfits under $100."
Because I was working at Nordstrom at the time and living in Cinnaminson, I didn't catch onto this store until the end of September. I was told by my aunt to check it out because it was "right up your alley and I could totally see you doing something like this one day." I went in and was very surprised at the product that she had and how accurate her three word mission statement was. The clothes are appropriate yet fun and flirty; there is product for the young college girl who wants to be stylish and the moms who are tired of drab and want to be fashion forward. I shopped at SHOP for about a month (going in once or even twice a week) before being offered a job by the owner, Heather. It was a very difficult decision to leave Nordstrom but in the end it was the right choice for me because now I am allowed to be a stylist at much more convenient hours for my school schedule and I am learning the in's and out's of running a small boutique.
Heather decided she wanted to run one sale a year, after the holiday returns were brought back, with the entire store 30% off. That sale was Saturday. With her prices already being so good (jeans ranging from $50-70, tops $20-48, jackets $70-88) our customers couldn't wait to clean out. We brought out the two rolling racks of summer product we had left and instead of outfitting the store like we normally do, we categorized it by type of garment. On Friday we received our first big shipment of our transitional pieces. It was four rolling racks worth of product and we had to decide what we wanted to do. Do we put the product out at full price? Or do we keep it in the back and reveal all new product on Monday? Our customers must be able to smell the boxes because a few regulars came in and started asking when we would get new product. Since we had two of our best customers in the store we decided to bring out the new product, but we kept it in the back by the fitting rooms that was it was clear that it was not part of the sale. Ultimately, that was 100% the right decision to make. Once we brought out the new product, we did and inventory count and closed up for the night, eager to see what the next day would bring.

8 a.m. on Saturday morning we get to SHOP to give the store one final good clean and make sure we were all prepared for what was going to come, good or bad. Heather had her daughter come in to help us ring up so that she and I could focus on selling and greeting (and of course pouring the champagne because we never have a party without it!). Our average day in January has been $600, we would like for that number to increase, but January is always a bit slower in retail. I was hoping to reach $5,000 for the sale. It's 9 a.m. and we are open and there is no one at the door. We got extremely nervous. But! By 9:10 we had about 3 customers in the store and the sale went full swing from there. We had our customers come in rushes. For about 30-40 minutes it would be swamped and then we would slow down for 10-15 before picking back up again. I had worked Nordstroms half-yearly and anniversary sale but this was different, our customers still wanted to be styled instead of just grabbing what they could and running out the door. It made the day a little more hectic, but that is our job and we love what we do. We usually are open from 10am-5pm but for the sale our hours were 9am-8pm. Our last customer walked out our doors around 5:40 and we realized why we close at 5.
Around 1 I had a few minutes to go into the back and count how much money we had run on the credit card machine. I was pleasantly surprised to see we had done $2,600. I was so excited that I whispered what we had done to my boss and told her to bump my bet on $5,000 to $7,000 since we were still so busy. When we did the final count at night, our credit sales totaled $4,400 and our cash was around $800. We sold a range of sale product and a lot of full price product too (Thank goodness we decided to put that out! Our customers felt it was exclusive to them to get the first preview). We did hit my original goal, but we didn't make our stretch. Because we still had a decent amount of sale product, we decided to keep the store as is and run our sale through Wednesday. The sale was a great experience for me as a design and merchandising student. I was able to see how to merchandise for it, how to goal, how to run it, and how to take what you did at the end of the day and plan to apply that for the following year. We had a great day, our customers were so excited about what they got, and it was an excellent learning opportunity.

NRF Retail's BIG Show and Gala

The National Retail Federation (NRF) is the world’s largest retail trade association representing retailers in the United States and forty-five other countries.  As a semifinalist for the NRF 2015 Next Generation Scholarship, I was given the opportunity to attend the NRF’s 104^th Annual Retail’s BIG Show as well as the inaugural NRF Foundation Gala.  

The BIG Show student program panels were very inspiring. At these panels, CEOs such as Karen Katz (President and CEO of The Neiman Marcus Group Inc) and Jane Park (Founder and CEO of Julep Beauty Inc) shared their stories and gave students advice on how to succeed in their career. 

Having the honor to attend the NRF Foundation Gala and being surrounded by the industry’s leaders was truly exhilarating. Some of the attendees who influence fashion include June Ambrose, Stacey London and Jennifer Hyman (CEO and Co-Founder of Rent the Runway). At the NRF Foundation Gala, individuals were awarded for their accomplishments. Three of the four recipients of The Dreamers award pertain to the fashion industry. Isabella Rose Taylor, a fashion designer and entrepreneur is one of the recipients of this award. At the age of only thirteen, she landed her first clothing line in Nordstrom and has now gone on to debut her Spring 2015 collection at New York Fashion Week. Jane Dailey, President and Co- founder of Hollywood Fashion Secrets was also awarded The Dreamers award. Lastly, Kirsten Blowers Stuckey the owner, designer and buyer for ShopRiffraff.com was awarded The Dreamers Award as well.

Moreover, three of the five recipients of The Influencers award are also influential to the fashion industry including: Tonian Hogberg (Founder, President and CEO of Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising), David Moin (Senior editor, Retail, Women’s Wear Daily) and Deena Varshavskaya  (Founder and CEO of Waleno).  Lastly, Jim Gold (President and Chief Merchandising Officer of Neiman Marcus Group) was one of the five recipients of the The Power Players award. For more highlights of the NRF Foundation Gala you may follow this link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ENLjyHt8g

The NRF Foundation strives to empower, educate and cultivate the next generation to shape retail’s future. I can proudly say that taking part of this year’s Retail’s BIG Show and the NRF Foundation Gala was a life changing experience that has reassured my goal to become a leader in the industry

Stylist Profile: Micaela Erlanger

          With award season in full swing, fashion and film lovers alike are spending hours looking through award show style, critiquing every gown, pant suit, bracelet and clutch. Who doesn’t love waiting for their favorite actress to arrive, hoping they’re wearing the Valentino gown People Magazine forecasted they would wear? Would it even be award season if we didn’t see Jennifer Lawrence in Dior? Is there anything more suspenseful than waiting for Jared Leto to arrive on a red carpet and reveal his chosen hairstyle? Hours go into creating the looks seen on the red carpet, and your favorite stars look to their trusty stylists to give them the direction they need.

            Lupita Nyong’o, a new Hollywood favorite, was stunning once again on the Golden Globes Red Carpet. After being the reigning queen of last year’s award season fashion, the entertainment and fashion industries were eagerly waiting her arrival on the Globes Red Carpet, and she didn’t disappoint. Wearing a purple Giambattista Valli Couture gown, she walked the red carpet looking like a high fashion woodland fairy.

            But who is the fashion expert behind all of her flawless gown choices? Micaela Erlanger, stylist to Hilary Swank, Olivia Munn, Hayden Panettiere, and many other big name celebrities, is the style force behind Lupita. Twenty Nine-year-old Erlanger didn’t have a conventional start to her career. Before transferring to Parsons, she was a pre-med student at Eckerd College. Her interest in fashion and style had constantly clouded her mind, and she made the choice to transfer to pursue her then-dream of being a Fashion Editor. During her time at Parsons, she interned at Cosmo. After spending time on photoshoots at Cosmo, she was intrigued by the freelance stylists, and knew styling was a path she wanted to pursue. She spent six years working with the late Annabel Tollman before becoming stylist to the stars. 

            Her looks for Lupita vary greatly; they’re modern, romantic, cutting edge, elegant, fun. She knows just how to capitalize on Nyongo’s feminine features and gorgeous skin tone. The team seems to enjoy playing with color, trying new silhouettes, and throwing in unexpected accessories (hello, Oscar’s headband).

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, she says of styling: “It’s always a conversation with me. There is constant communication going on and I think that’s why our results are as good as they often are, because we really understand one another and I know how to introduce what it is that they are looking for. There’s always a story. We’re always looking to tell a story through image.” I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the many stories she’ll be telling throughout this awards season. 

2015 as Predicted by Back to the Future

When we think of the future, we might think of living in space or walking around like Zenon girl of the twenty-first century. I bet in 1989 when Back to the Future came out, they thought in 2015 we would be a lot cooler driving around in hovercrafts or something far more interesting than being glued to our iPhones and social networks. The producers of Back to the Future might not have made a ton of accurate descriptions about 2015, but there is one thing they accurately predicted, Marty McFly’s self-lacing Nikes.

            Nike announced that this year they are planning to release these infamous sneakers. They said that the sneakers will be an upgraded version of the 2011 NIKE MAG, a limited-edition replica of Marty McFly’s sneakers. The new sneakers are said to include power laces, tightened by motorized rollers in the sole that can sense weight and tighten the laces when someone steps into the shoes. Nike has not yet announced when these sneakers will be released but there is no doubt people will be lining up to buy them.

            In 2014, we saw an attempt by famous skateboarder, Tony Hawk at riding a hoverboard, what’s next flying cars? Maybe apple will create phone glasses in tribute to the movie as well. One thing is for sure, we may not be living in the 2015 predicted by Back to the Future but we are living in a very technological age where motorized laces and watches that function as phones do exist.

S/S 15 Trend: PVC

Today’s rainy weather had me thinking back to several weeks ago when I saw the rain jacket I’ve always secretly wanted. I was scrolling through my endless emails when I came across a picture of a clear PVC rain jacket in one of my fashion newsletters. I immediately clicked on the link (and then proceeded to exit the page once seeing the price tag).

Seriously, what is more practical than a PVC rain jacket? It completely deflects the rain and keeps you looking super chic. Wearing a clear trench means that April showers won’t leave you covering up your fresh spring style. Best of all, PVC could easily be cleaned with a quick wipe-down. Women’s Wear Daily labels this spring/summer 2015 trend as “Playful Plastic”.

While I am totally on board for plastic trenches, in most cases the same practicality of PVC doesn’t lend itself to other apparel and accessories. While the plastic top looks cool, I’d imagine that gets super stiff and super sweaty in a matter of moments. The skirt is adorable but what on earth could you wear under that? And the dress? Forget about sitting… or breathing. My personal favorite offender is the visor. Isn’t the purpose of a visor to block the sun? PVC is much better for blocking rain.

While fashion certainly isn’t always about practicality, these “Playful Plastics” seem like they are no fun to wear.

images from WWD and WGSN

Goodbye C Wonder

Lifestyle brand C Wonder is another ending chapter for Chris Burch. After three years in business, the company is closing it’s doors. Chris Burch created the brand to get back at his ex wife designer of the luxury lifestyle mogul Tory Burch. Burch launched C Wonder boutiques who's products mirrors the Tory Burch design esthetic for a discounted price. Burch says most of the ideas behind his ex-wife brand were his to begin with and this was his way of getting back at her.

The idea was entertaining to say the least. Burch purposely placed his C Wonder boutiques directly next to the luxury giant in hopes to take away her business. The designs were almost identical, having a similar product mix and being marked at a lower cost. However, his fire and passion to make it work wasn’t enough to keep the company alive and going.

Comical or not the downfall of C Wonder was being overambitious. The Tory Burch customer is brand loyal and shopping to be seen with that brand. It takes time to develop a client following and C Wonder spouted out way too many stores too quickly.

Chris Burch business also came short by not defining who their customer is. It seems like the time was spent wisley by spending too much energy worrying about taking a customer away from Tory Burch instead of bringing in a customer of their own. These are two different target markets. The Tory Burch customer does not care if it similar product at a lower price, they care about the prestige. This where Wonder fell apart. What the company should’ve spent time doing was developing it’s own market and redefining itself as not Tory Burch customer. The products were just too similar and if anything customers felt that it cheapened his brand and didn’t reach out to the C Wonder client.

My Best Dressed at the Golden Globes

Golden Globes is not only one the biggest nights for television and movies but also for fashion. This is a time where celebrities whip out their best looks for the New Year to set a precedent for what is yet to come. Two obvious trends for the Golden Globes last night was the winter white/neutral color scheme along with metallics and here are my favorite looks of the evening. 

Emily Blunt

Sometimes simplicity is key and Emily Blunt looked completely agrees. This Michael Kors gown complements her figure and skin tone and adding the messy up-do completely shows off this show stopping look. By successfully accenting this minimalist look with large turquoise earrings, this winter white gown has that extra pop to complete the overall look.

Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon was nominated for one of the biggest awards of the night and she dressed for the occasion. Stemming away from her classic look, she stepped onto the red carpet in this Calvin Klein gown. Normally, Reese aims for simple elegance in a classic red or black dress but I think that this a more risqué look for her. This close-fitting gown wasn't the only reason that she looked like a sparkling goddess. Reese accompanied this silver gown with over a million dollars of Tiffany jewelry. Lets just say this look has it all!

Sienna Miller

Everyone’s been marveling over the countless celebrity looks from last night but my personal favorite was Sienna Miller. Her dress successfully combined the two trends of the Golden Globes into one fabulous look and she completely rocked it. Combining the flowery fabric and beading, this champagne Miu Miu dress aims for bohemian glamour as well as giving off an antique vibe. Even though this dress has a lot going on, it somehow all works together. Sienna Miller stole the night away in this plunging beaded neckline and she has never looked more glam.