Retail Diary - Week of February 26th, 2024 - MFW & PFW & Collabs

Wrapping up MFW, the early reads of PFW, trend spotting, SO MANY COLLABS, all the retail and fashion news here.

This Week's Topics:  

• Wrapping Up MFW News

• Early PFW News

• Trends for Spring and into next Fall

• New Collabs, Launches, Acquisitions, Corporate Moves, Stores & 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. 🛍️

Wrapping Up MFW News

• Rachel Tashjian’s MFW round-up in the Washington Post was shared often this past week because it is a great article! “The Reality and Delusion of Milan Fashion Week.” Highlights:

  • My favorite quote “Prada and her co-creative director, Raf Simons, have spoken a lot lately — and especially with the collection they showed Thursday — about the importance of the emotional reaction over the intellectual experience. But what hits you when you see their clothes are the kinds of wild, interrogative and imaginative conversations — about womanhood, trends and history — that led to the strange garments before you.”

  • We look to Miuccia Prada not just as an intellectual but as the ultimate trend-setter. When she showed bows down the runways not only did we think “more girl-core” but we wondered what statement she was trying to make. Why after seeing the proliferation of bows all over TikTok (I mean, ice cubes with tiny pink bows tied around them!) did Prada show a pink loose sheath covered in pink bows?

  • Curious - how do we feel about fashion & reality? Do we look to the shows for an escape? To fashion, in general, for an escape? I have so many conflicting feelings here.

  • Miu Miu shows in Paris on March 5th. More Miuccia Prada to come.

• Rory Satran wrote for the WSJ about MFW - quiet luxury, Brunello Cucinelli’s “gentle luxury” and the term I’ve heard most recently and love is “easy elegance.” Prada and the remix of an earlier era (Jackie O inspired shifts, recognizing 1913 as the year Prada leather was founded) and the everyday allure. Very into the oversized clutches at Jil Sander. (Grab the look now.)

• Vanessa Friedman reports for the NYTimes (gift link for article behind paywall) that there is a vibe shift leaving stealth wealth/quiet luxury and heading into more expression in dressing.

• I love a good history lesson and Vogue shared more about Gucci handbags written by Lilah Ramzi (h/t to

  Grace Atwood
  ). I noted recently that I was seeing a lot of the Jackie handbag and this week I’ve noticed the Chain Horsebit popping up more. (See Allison Bornstein looking amazing in the image below.)

Early PFW News

• The Row show sounds amazing. I say sound because they wouldn’t allow photos. But they did pass out cool pencils to take notes and MD Notebooks from Japan.

• Booth Moore writes for WWD also about the audacious everyday. Favorite quote is at the end ““She’s a woman who takes a piece of fabric and wraps it around herself,” Van Noten said of his muse. “But it takes a lot of effort to look this effortless.” Bring it on.” Dries Van Noten also referenced a powerful woman via the clothing of Claude Montana. Montana passed away in France on Friday.

• Business of Fashion recap here and one of my takeaways from the shows this season is that it is about the styling much more than the individual fashion pieces (I’ve been feeling this also with the Substack Fashion writing. There are some amazing style authors here!)

• The khaki color at Dior was lovely, but we seem to all be scratching our heads over the “Miss Dior” of it all.

All images via links, WWD and Vogue Runway

Trends for Spring and into next Fall

Capris

• There have been rumors, but are we ready to discuss capris? Not just cropped kick flares but true capris?

  Leandra Medine Cohen
  has spoken. And trust Leandra after what Lauren Sherman lovingly wrote in The Line Sheet “I thought of my friend Leandra Medine, whose personal style is so evident in the collections thse days….but I saw her so much in both of these collections—at Loro Piana, in the carpet-bag tapestry pieces; at Armani, in the silk swimming caps and velvet trousers. I doubt she was on either of these mood boards (I would guess Armani doesn’t even have a mood board), but she will be referenced directly, and indirectly, for decades to come.”

Green

• French Vogue named Olive Green as the color trending on the runways. Calling out Gucci but also Acne Studios, Bottega Veneta, and J.W. Anderson. I also appreciated and agree that it is a strong spring color - so go ahead and start mixing it in. Check out easy Nili Lotan Shon pants here and new J. Crew dress with Safari vibes for spring here, a great relaxed sweater to style over your trench in a beautiful shade of green here and a classic trench in a slightly green khaki here.

• Tagwalk on instagram has all the data from the shows. Green was 7% of the Gucci show, tied with grey (a neutral) and pastel (which is a collection of colors) and just behind blue (which can also be considered a neutral, I think.)

• Data but make it Fashion also calls Olive Green the new Cherry Red. Popularity +19% in the last month.

All images via links above.

New Collabs, Launches, Acquisitions, Corporate Moves, Stores & News

• Collabed

  • Sofia Richie Grange x Solid & Striped

  • Mejuri x Ganni - silver and gold clover collab all about best friends. Love that this is focused on the love of friendships.

  • The Great x Birkenstock - this is a strong partnership and the shoes are great, but don’t skip on checking out some of the beautiful lace pieces like this.

  • Zara x Clarks

  • SSense x Essence “This partnership represents an exciting venture into the future of playful yet purposeful initiatives through which ESSENCE uplifts Black talent in fashion industry.”

  • SuperCircle x J.Crew for a swimsuit recycling program - customers get $5 (up to $20) for any brand bathing suit turned in to stores to use towards the purchase of a new regular price J.Crew bathing suit.

  • Jacquemus x Nike announces Sha’Carri Richardson as the face.

  • New Balance x Junya Watanabe and Hypebeast says “When you have a workout at 6 and a date at 7.⁠” See from GQ here

  • I’m considering this a collab, but maybe a re-launch? Influencer and Co-Founder of Summer Friday’s, Marianna Hewitt, was named the Creative Director of Revolve Brand’s L’Acadamie.

• Launched

  • We need to talk about this as a “launch.” Reformation launched corporate looks (for all high-powered execs who have returned to the office) with a powerful woman - Monica Lewinsky. And they are partnering to drive people to Vote! Read more here from Elle. Some of my favorites looks from the campaign: a sweatshirt that says it all, a powerful leather trench, a Monica handbag that is an instant classic and a do-it-all blazer. (PS who remembers when Club Monaco had the lipstick shade that Monica Lewinsky wore for the Barbara Walters interview?)

• Acquired

  • Burch Creative Capital acquires Rowing Blazers - the acquisition will help them grow into Women’s Wear and open a bigger flagship location in NYC. If you are wondering how you know Rowing Blazers it is either from their Target Collab or the Warm & Wonderful Diana (as in Princess Diana) famous Sheep Sweater.

• Corporate Moves

  • Margaret Zhang is leaving as Editor in Chief of Vogue China and has signed with CAA Management.

• Stores & News

  • Everlane is still without a CEO, and they have their eyes on being a $1B brand. Last year was their best year and they hit $200 million growing 1% over the year before. They are focusing on social media, hoping to gain more cultural relevancy and awareness of their drops.

  • Macy’s is closing 150 stores and planning to open 15 more Bloomies small footprint stores. I’d love to see some metrics that show if the small format stores are driving top line growth or increasing NPS.

  • U.K. brand Me + Em opened a Madison Avenue flagship and has plans for two more New York stores.

  • Warby-Parker to open more stores and a higher-end collection.

  • Really enjoyed this Glossy Jill Manoff interview with AYR co-founder Maggie Winters.

  • Did y’all see Nadaam’s social posts last week? Apparently it was a campaign??

  • I just discovered via Airmail, you can get your passport photo taken in the Rimowa Soho store. Brilliant activation and customer centered experience.

What else I ❤️️ 

• Talk about iconic style - Carine Roitfeld. This piece in Financial Times actually reminded me a lot of what The Coveteur previously was like. (Since we’ve discussed recently with the Jenna Lyons of it all - also The Line Sheet, Rag & Bone + Jenna? Really? I love JFL but how much can she do?)

• A mini round-up of great content from/about

  Dianna Cohen
  .

  • First, her interview with

    Hillary Kerr
    on the podcast Second Life was fantastic - a must listen with so many lessons if you are freelance, starting a business, starting your career, looking for mentors, work in partnerships and influencers/PR etc.

  • Next, after reading

    Touch the Art
    with Dianna Cohen I could see the connection between the art she chooses for her home/personal life and how that same thoughtful approach connects to her brand Crown Affair.

  • Finally, from ages ago, August 2020, I remembered this podcast with Cohen. Slow Stories is about how she is building the brand in a more methodical and thoughtful way vs growth at all costs.

• How Zendaya and Law Roach are approaching the Dune red carpets as an extension of the wardrobe from the movie. I’ve heard a quote that you shouldn’t make any fashion announcements when Zendaya will be on the red carpet because she’ll get all of the press and media attention. Not wrong…it’s that good!

• This article feels like it could be a whole book - the story of Fred Segal in its heyday and the feeling one would get from shopping there. Despite the title, “What Killed Fred Segal” it doesn’t really go into what pushed it over the edge, although one can assume the 2019 acquisition and then not having time to recover from that and be refreshed before COVID hit retail in 2020.

• Hannah Waddingham’s 9 year old daughter designed and created her “epic” clutch for the SAG Awards and I love it.

• Alexa Corse wrote for the WSJ all about online book clubs sprouting IRL friendships (I hope to do the same here on Substack.)

What's Next?

Next week we will have the end of Paris Fashion Week. Sunday I have some fun Substacks I’ve been scrolling. Thank you to readers who have been messaging me with questions. I’m going to dive into brand’s resale programs, Retail 101 Part Deux: Markdowns and More, and Spring Fashion Spiral are all on my to do list.

Thanks for reading Deep Dive Edition 154

Sarah Shapiro

P.S. If you are on Substack you can message me directly. Hi! Let’s Chat Retail & Fashion.

❤️ If you enjoyed this deep dive into all the latest retail news please click the like button at the bottom of this post so others can discover it.

📧 Maybe even share with someone else who would enjoy.

💬 If you are on the Substack app or platform join the chat and I’m happy to respond to any questions in the chat or comments.

You can email me at sarahshapiro@substack.com with any requests or thoughts.

Thanks for reading Sarah’s Retail Diary! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

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. (Find all related pieces from this newsletter here)