Retail Diary - Deep Dive - Week of April 29th 2024 - Bridal retail, Accessible Luxury, Sandal Trends & more

Say 'I Do' to Bridal Fashion & Luxury Trends. Get ready for the latest in wedding, fashion, and luxury trends. Plus insider insights on the hottest sandal trends, bubble hems, and retail industry news

May 02, 2024

This Week's Topics:

Here Comes the Bride (and the Bridal Party, and the Guest, etc…)
“Accessible” Luxury
Trends - Sandals, Bubble Hems & Two-Tone Dresses
New Collabs, Launches, Investments, Corporate Moves & Store News
What else I ❤️️

🛍️ Quick note: I write a lot (too much good stuff to share!) so if you’re reading via email only, you may need to click through to the web version or read on the Substack app. I promise it will be worth it. 🛍️

Here Comes the Bride (and the Bridal Party, and the Guest, etc…)

This Glossy article by Emma Sandler “The Wedding Wardrobe is the New Wedding Dress” is a great place to kick-off the conversation around the wedding industry and retail opportunity because it is filled with data and insights. Key points:
- Recent entrants and expansions in the bridal space: Ba&sh, Hai, Loeffler Randall, Staud, Hill House Home, Larroudé Bridal collection, Jennifer Behr expansion of bridal accessories, expansion from Lele Sadoughi, Abercrombie & Fitch, Jacquemus and Forever 21. This expansion could look like adding an all white SKU1 to a collection or a bigger statement by launching a full all white collection.
- The bridal wear market is expected to increase from $55.5 billion in 2020 to $69.9 billion in 2026 according to the Global Bridal Wear Industry Report from 2023. In 2021 the U.S. accounted for $26 billion of sales - more than 44% of the market. But this data is more attributed to the singular wedding event and not the extension of events surrounding the big day (multi-day bachelorette parties, bridal showers, engagement party, engagement photos, etc.) So the opportunity is likely much larger.
Pinterest Predicts included wedding trends in their 2024 round-up.
It is also smart that the brands are calling it the bridal collection and adding the SEO2 to build discovery for these products. While they could easily just add in a white sku and drop on the website, by adding a broader assortment and calling it the “bridal collection” and adding to the site navigation they are making it more discoverable and making a statement as the destination for bridal.

“Accessible” Luxury

Why we are talking about it now:
- First, the Tapestry acquisition of Capri. I wrote about it in more detail on Tuesday here. As it relates to accessible luxury - Tapestry's pursuit of multiple mid-tier luxury brands (read “accessible luxury”), termed "serial acquisitions" by the FTC, is under intense scrutiny. If Tapestry and Capri merge, the resulting entity would strengthen its hold on the "accessible luxury" market, potentially stifling competition and contributing to industry consolidation, according to the FTC complaint.
- Second, the term is being thrown around because the price point of designer brands has reached so high! Chanel handbags are over 5 figures for the classic style (maybe giving new meaning to “Chanel No. 5”) and designer handbags seem to start at the $2k range with other designer brands. So when the market is either a handbag at a mall brand for $200 or less, or a luxury handbag for $2k or more, there is a lot of missed opportunity in the middle.
Definition: Accessible luxury refers to products positioned between mainstream and true luxury, typically priced in the range of $200 to $800, offering quality and style without the exorbitant price tags associated with high-end luxury brands. Despite industry terminology, consumers perceive these products simply as luxury, with variations in price reflecting different competitive sets.
The latest news:
- This Vogue Business piece by Madeline Schulz, “These brands are reinventing accessible luxury. Just don’t call it that.” is a fantastic read on accessible luxury and the handbag industry at the moment. Great brands at this price point. A few of my personal favorites are Toteme (at the high-end of accessible luxury I think), Little Liffner and Mansur Gavriel.
- Rachel Tashjian wrote “Can the fast-fashion giant Zara rebrand as luxury?” for the Washington Post (gift link to read behind paywall) and it is a deep dive on how Zara has inched up from Fast Fashion towards “accessible luxury” by working with collaborators that really know high-end design. They produce enough quantities that they can keep their prices down but still use nicer fabrics. Of course there are still plenty of pieces that are fast fashion and the quality is a miss, but with lines like SRPLS they are working towards accessible fashion price point and quality. Navigating the middle price range can be tough for brands and become a total wasteland. However, with luxury prices soaring, and Zara offering trendy designs, if they can maintain quality, Zara’s mid-range prices could remain competitive without facing a downturn.

Trends

Sandals

I’m seeing two trends emerge and I’m loving both! But note, I love flats.

Bare-ly there Sandals

Whether it is a leather flip-flop, a thin ankle strap flat or a slight heel, I think this is a beautiful, delicate and feminine look for spring/summer. It feels like the see-thru mesh made bare feet really enticing and this summer we needed to take off even more. The Row influences this look for sure too. My one concern is over city walking, this seems like it can be difficult for summer sidewalks in NYC and having your foot so open, but if you aren’t too concerned I’m not either. I love this look with maxi dresses, cropped pants (maybe pair with some capris) and for those spring days it is great with denim. leather toe ring, I am LOVING the Emme Parsons sandals this season - this is just one example (here is another), really barely there in pale, love ancient greek sandals and in iridescent rainbow, in a high heel from Freda Salvador or mid or low, Khaite, pool & beach ready, well-priced leather flip-flop, flip flop with a heel, these are great and keep selling out, barely there with a more substantial sole, Doen x K. Jacques, currently on sale at J.Crew. I could keep going, but I don’t want to overwhelm.

Metal Embellished

Details: still often in the barely there look, but not necessarily. These are characterized by the jewelry like metal embellishment. Some times a single detail, often around the toe, and others as a statement with all-over studs. I keep thinking that the beginning of this might have been the “pierced” flat from Tory Burch (and another iteration here) but there must be other inspirations too. Very Scandinavian in style. Woven with a metal toe ring, Emme Parsons perfection, Freda Salvador new with gold studs in a fisherman sandal or with tonal olive already sold out (can add to waitlist), jewelry for your feet from Larroudé, well priced easy sandal, clear illusion, Zara, gorgeous from Amanu Studio, and I love a chain.

Mesh

If you are looking for LY’s hot trend forward shoe, that is now everywhere and seems almost classic, The Cut did a great mesh shoe round-up. Of the options I would suggest: low, mid price, high. For a fun fresh alternative, try this, this in black or this in silver. Not mesh but still open.
If you love mesh, but not as a shoe, are you daring enough to reveal what is in here? My tip would be to go heavy on the pouches.

Bubble Hem Skirts

And I’m not the only one seeing bubble dresses, I love
Style Analytics
history and recap here. reformation polka dots, mini, luxe, similar look, accessible price point, mini puff dress, J. Crew best seller and in a ticking stripe.

Two-Tone Dresses

Three makes a trend? I keep spotting these maxi two-tone dresses one, two, three, and four & five (she’s short)

New Collabs, Launches, Investments, Corporate Moves & Store News

Collabed
- Laura Vassar from Brock Collection has a new Reformation capsule collection. (Tying it back to the Bridal trend above, lots of bridal ready skus and wedding guest looks.)
- Jennifer Behr collabed with creator/influencer Julia Berolzheimer on a capsuler collection.
Launched
- FKA Twigs is partnering with Swiss sneaker brand On to launch a new training apparel line. FKA Twigs will be the “creative partner” on this launch. “After their inaugural training collection, Twigs will design a second Spring/Summer 2025 training drop, which will include a brand-new sneaker silhouette, On confirmed.” Quoted from this Business of Fashion article.
- Rhode Mini, the clothing brand launched a small capsule of kids dresses and they are adorable for summer events.
- Erdem is the latest pop-up at Nordstrom. If you have a spring/summer garden party you NEED to see these.
- From ex-Violet Grey senior executives, a new Asian Beauty concept, PlayLab Beauty where the idea was to launch in-person with brick and mortar so customers could engage with the products.
- Goop launched a new bronzing gel.
- Loving the new The Great Outdoors collection from The Great - perfect for spring hikes, workouts and sideline cheering at kids games. Also, love their Mother’s Day collection.
- Celebrity Trainer Tracy Anderson is launching her apparel line at Bergdof Goodman.
- QVC x Nicole Miller
- Fragrance brand Snif launches at Ulta.
- Forever 21 launches Bridal (see above for more details)
- Jason Wu launches Beauty in CVS stores.
Invested & Acquired
- West Lane Capital Partners has acquired Mented Cosmetics. Mented has been sold thru Target, Ulta, Walgreens and CVS and appears to have needed help either with capital for inventory or managing inventory.
Corporate Moves
- Alexandre Choueiri was named President and CEO of Kering Beauté Americas, in a newly created role. Choueiri has ben at L’Oréal for over twenty years. Kering has plans to double down on beauty and expand many of their luxury brands into the beauty space (think Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen.)
- Sandra Stangl is out as Gap’s Banana Republic CEO.
- Jeffery Kalinsky left Theory as the Chief Creative Director and Chief Merchant.
- Rumors of Hedi Slimane has everyone talking Hedi. BoF here,
  Dana Thomas
  great piece here, Highsnobiety here, Hypebeast here….
Retailer News
- Glossier is opening their Las Vegas location soon and I love how they always nail their merch. Glossier boxers feel perfect for this moment as the boxers as shorts are trending. I reco these.
- Shoe brand Mach & Mach is exploring retail expansion with pop-ups.
- L’Ensemble, a by-appointment luxury retailer opened in Dumbo Brooklyn. I love this strategy of a special shopping experience and elevating shopping for the customer. Owner Dawn Nguyen said she loved the experience of seeing collections as a store buyer and wanted to recreate this. Also a great strategy of focusing on the higher-end of the market that is less impacted by economic hits. And if you are wondering “why Brooklyn vs Manhattan” just read this.
- As I’ve reported earlier (here, and on reels here if you prefer video) Levi’s is leveraging DTC vs wholesale to turn their business around. This can work, especially in Levi’s case, as they have a strong brand name (and a Beyoncé hit song with customers asking for the denim by brand name.) What they need to do to make this work is invest in DTC channels - store experience, key locations to grab foot traffic, highly trained and motivated sales associates, omnichannel experience (research online, try on in store, easy returns etc) and since they will have direct insights to their data they need to use it to improve inventory tracking, trend forecasting, etc. WSJ article “Levi Strauss is Stretching Beyond Wholesale In Search for New Customers” (gift link to read behind paywall.) More on Levi’s marketing strategy from Glossy.
- Nordstrom is expanding their Marketplace in an effort to become the ‘Spotify of Shopping.’ Different than online buying and drop shipping3, this is a marketplace strategy. The challenges they will need to overcome is decision fatigue from the customer, endless scrolling (with no action from the customer) and keeping the brand and image tight vs dilution by expanding to too many brands. In some ways this removes the role of the Merchant to select the right brands for the retailer, but to utilize the data and insights from shoppers and marketplace brands. What is selling, what is the audience engaging with, etc. And while this allows them to sell more sizes without having to buy the inventory, they don’t want to not actually bring the traffic of customers looking for those products. But they need to make sure it is managed and they are asking the right questions of the data for it to be really helpful and drive bottom line profit for Nordstrom. I could clearly talk about this more - I have a lot of thoughts.
- Urban Outfitters expanding with Vintage and Remade (Vintage/Clothing repaired) collections. I’ve seen this done in retail before (I remember Topshop had in the early 2000’s) but it is difficult to scale and make revenue from. But it can potentially drive traffic and marketing opportunities. Check it out here. I do like that they are partnering with indie brands and using deadstock fabrics.
- Beauty brand L’Occitane is going private. The company has been challenged to improve growth, which has resulted in high operational costs, therefore negatively impacting their stock price. As a private company, L’Occitane can focus stabilizing and growing the core brands. Worth noting that L’Occitane owns Sol de Janiero and while that brand is on fire, the parent company needs more solid growth brands to balance their reliance on SDJ or they can spinoff SDJ.

What else I ❤️️

Ralph Lauren had his Fall/Holiday 2024 Runway show this week. It was a return to his roots with an intimate and smaller runway show and focus on the classic American Sportswear that RL is known for. The looks showcased ease and luxury in an understated way. The models even wore the dresses out to dinner after (captured here by Booth Moore.)
Discovered via .@sade_style on Instagram, ReSee is celebrating their 10th Anniversary and doing an auction of celebrity’s pieces to benefit Women for Women International. Closing in a few hours is Naomi Campbell’s 1990’s iconic Chanel Suit (the jacket is an incredibly popular style!! The auction price at the time of writing this Wednesday is not so bad - including the skirt it is similar retail from when I recently spotted it on TRR.)
Fashion Retailers are opening up pop-up cafes as a branding and marketing opportunity. It immerses the customer in the “world of” their brand. I also like that it gets the customer to stop and hang out longer in the shop. When Hill House Home opened their Charleston, S.C. location it included a spot to grab food and drinks. As a Diet Coke fan I would love to try a Nell’s fountain DC.
Brilliant partnership - Beauty retailer Thirteen Lune partnering with American Airlines on in-flight amenities.
This icymi podcast episode is a great explainer on what is going on at Foxtrot and Outdoor Voices, the impact on workers and how the broader shopping community is taking the news.
I 🖤 a LBD and this article from the WSJ discusses how to make it special and not boring. (TL;DR an interesting silhouette and cool accessories.) A few finds: fun details, my go-to for dressing up or down, a fresh summer find and she’s gorgeous and sculptural.
For the 15th Anniversary of the Stella McCartney Falabella handbag, is the XXL the largest ever? For some reason I thought of this.
You have to see this belt.

What's Next?

What I’ll be watching for at Monday’s Met Gala? The news around a possible Condé Nast strike and TikTok being this year’s sponsor (challenging headlines given what is going on with TikTok and Washington D.C.) Next week I’ll have the first Brand Crush series ready and Straw Bags next week or the week after. Chat soon. xx

Thanks for reading Deep Dive Edition 163

Sarah Shapiro