Retail Diary: Sunday Scoop - TikTok Shopping, Celebrity Stylists, Trends & Substacks to Scroll
My Gen Alpha daughter and I chat what "preppy" means, the trending bag shape, hats are back, stories from celebrity stylists and all the fashion news you need.
🛍️ This post is long (too much good stuff to share!) so you may need to hit “expand” or read it in your browser - I promise it will be worth it! 🛍️
This your Sunday Style Substack - where we catch up before the week ahead and enjoy all the fashion, trends and style content. Today we are diving into lots of trends.
TikTok Shoppers - The data behind the TikTok Shopper (Business of Fashion article “Who is the TikTok Shopper”) is showing how early we are in the experience and complicated it can be to figure out the target consumer. TikTok offers a more integrated experience than Instagram with one-click shopping. On TikTok, the feed is so personalized that it makes it more difficult for one user to have a similar experience shopping to another user - but personalization is possibly what is helping to drive sales.
The number one selling product on TikTok is a $15 oral pulling oil product by GuruNanda.
5 million people made purchases on the platform during Black Friday and Cyber Monday and by February 2024 there were as many active users on TikTok as on Shein.
9% of US households made a purchase on TikTok and 50% of shoppers came back for another purchase within 6 to 9 months vs Temu’s 41% retention rate. Which shows us the customers are pleased with their experience on TikTok and are able to find another product to purchase again. Flash Sales dominate on TikTok and the average consumer makes 1 purchase a month with an average order value of $35.
Celebrity Stylist Stories:
I highly recommend this Slate Decoder Ring Podcast “Why Stylist Rule the Red Carpet” and listen to Avery Trufelman from
(who also wrote this partner post “What the hell is a Stylist”) talk about everything from pre-stylist times, how the stylist came to be, and the role of a stylist. is also on the podcast and in her book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost its Luster (see my Book Club post here) she dove into the Armani launch of Hollywood dressing. Teri Agins talks on the podcast (iconic - she developed the fashion column for the WSJ) and Melissa Rivers even shares how Joan Rivers’ “who are you wearing” question came to be.This Barbie is Obsessed!!! I love how Karla Welch showcased the details of the fittings with America Ferrera and Versace and the work of the chainmail piece.
I haven’t seen the movie Poor Things, but of course I appreciate the costume design and I love how
laid out the looks in “Ten looks inspired by Bella Baxter”
Trending Alert 🔥
Prep now vs Prep 1980s-1990s - aka Gen Alpha Prep vs Gen X/Older Millennials Prep
My daughter likes to talk about “prep” but when she shows me the items I’m so confused. So we are digging in. According to Business Insider, “The newest variant of "preppy," led mostly by Gen Alpha over the last year, refers to bright clothing, lots of pink, and specific accessories like ribbons, bowties, and Stanley water bottles. TikTokers have described the new look as "very girly" and "colorful," involving smiley-face designs and brands like Lululemon.” I’m glad I’m not the only one confused (and thankfully we all have
to keep us in the know. Read her Embedded interview this week - it’s fabulous. “My Internet: Casey Lewis”)My daughter created her own Canva mood board. I’m not editing it at all. Here you will see our side by side versions of preppy.
My daughter’s Prep in pink and mine in beige.
According to Ssense, Prep is here to stay. Just which version? (I’d suggest this, this, this and this. And my daughter suggests this, this and this.)
More prep talk, I wrote about The Kingdom of Prep by
in Retail Diary: Book Club here and in February I linked to a great NYTimes piece on tween prep here.
- “sandwiching” style of dressing made the WSJ. “Nothing to Wear? Try ‘Sandwich Dressing,’ the Insider Way to Remix Your Closet” by Fiorella Valdesolo is a method to help simplify dressing. Two matching colors plus some filler in the middle.
Pillbox hats, with inspiration from the Swans and lady-like luxe are trending for 2024 and a strong beret is a similar look that fits in well with the trend. This will be going into Fall/Winter but many are picking up on the trend now. Etsy find with a bow, Gigi Burris beauty here and here, red structured beret on sale here, slightly softer beret here in a variety of colors, The Row Xhefri Hat is a gorgeous take on the style and this Bouclé Beret from Helen Kaminski has a beautiful texture.
East-West Bags Round-Up - East-West bags refer to the direction of the bag - longer than it is tall (aka North-South.) We are seeing this shape pop-up more and more and it is a nice way to have a “slimmer” more sleek bag but still hold the essentials. I recently shared the new Alaia Le Teckel Bag (studded here, here in tan and here too.) This Freja bag is fantastic for under $300 if you like the look of the Alaia Le Teckel or the Toteme T-Lock. Here is another smaller Freja bag (in vegan leather) - and I love that the PDP1 shows the height of the model so you can imagine how it will look in-person. And how fun is this mini? The Row Idaho is an East West Tote and Dragon Diffusion has beautifully woven leather ones. And before you roll your eyes at me, would you consider a tool bag or the oversized stripe version of an Ikea tote? I rounded up a total of 25 East-West bags from designer to high-street and resale to vegan leather. Check them all out here.) (PS if you have handbags on your e-commerce site make sure you are tagging this shape east-west as that is how editorials are talking about it so consumers could be searching this way. Great to highlight in merchandising online and in store too.)
Becoming an It brand - what, like it’s hard?
At the end of Guy Raz’s “How I Built This” podcast he asks his guest “How much was luck vs skill.” I think this is such an interesting question because it can be both, or it can be I had the skills and figured out how to be in the right place at the right time and that was lucky. Or it was lucky that my skills were needed at this time and I saw it. So many combinations.
This Vogue Business article took a look at a few It brands and drilled into the path/strategy they took to get there. And granted, some of it might not have been by choice (ex. DTC because you had to go direct to consumers - retailers wouldn’t buy or you didn’t have the funds to upfront the high costs of production without seeing any payment for 30 days past delivery or starting as a side hustle because you couldn’t afford to leave your career/income while you explored designing your own line.)
For a great read about brands, I also recommend
piece “Have We Reached Peak Brand?”
Substacks to Scroll:
Loving
new Substack - check out “Anatomy of a Splurge” for questions to ask yourself before making a big purchase.Substacker
interviewed of for her podcast Creative Juicy and I really enjoyed learning more about Veurink’s writing, background and hearing her advice.Digging into the good stuff - lots of vintage shopping round-ups this week. Here are a few to check out.
My friends at
spoke to the experts! Issue #45: The beginner's guide to scoring great vintage finds online. Who are the experts?I love how
at First Rodeo laid out the issues with online resale/pre-loved fashion. It spoke to me because of the challenges of scaling this industry online. This is a business of “eaches” of one-of-a-kind. I think AI could be a huge place to improve the shopping experience here. Thinking through YMAL2 and how to recommend other items when one item is sold out. MINI BIZ IDEA: the pre-loved fashion white space, market-- & insurmountable challenges is a thoughtful piece (and thank you Azora for linking to my recent resale conversation and agree that and are excellent resources too!)
I can’t explain it, but I just love this ring!
What have you been reading this week? Add to the comments so we can all check it out.
Enjoy your Sunday Scoop.
Sarah Shapiro
FYI: I use affiliate links where applicable which means I may get a small commission from things you buy (at no cost to you.) Thank you for supporting my work and trusting me. Love that we can enjoy Fashion & Retail together in this space.
Catch up on Sarah’s Retail Diary:
Tuesday’s This Will Be Quick 3.12.24 - Oscars Fashion Recap & an update for readers
Thursday’s Deep Dive - Week of March 11th 2024 - Retailer Check in and Luxury News
Retail 101: Math & Financials and Retail 101: Math & Financials Part Deux (Markdowns)
Fashion Spiral 🌀 Kick Flare Pants
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PDP = Product Detail Page and refers to the e-commerce page with all the details where you add to cart. PDPs are important because shoppers often decide whether to purchase an item on a PDP
YMAL = You Might Also Like. The helpful recommendations on e-commerce. If an item is sold out, it can guide you to another piece to try. Or if you like this hand soap, try this lotion with it etc.
Your daughter's mood board is EVERYTHING!
It’s peppy vs preppy.