Five years ago, distinctions in bridal market were pretty clear: high end and low end. High end meant you were shopping at Saks or Neimans for Vera Wang and the like… low-end meant an affordable acetate taffeta dress from David's Bridal. Shopping in an intermediate category meant wearing brands you've never heard of – or haven't worn since prom. Bridal styles at both ends generally fell into three categories princess (poofy,) contemporary (form-fitting,) or casual (shorter hem.)
Thankfully, the options are now much more varied; several retail brands have added new energy to the bridal category. J-Crew's entrance into the wedding game brought a fresh dose preppy style at more affordable price points… now URBN (parent company of hipster brands Urban Outfitters & Anthropologie) is launching Bhldn (evidently, the only ownable url for "Beholden". From the looks of the preview site, Bhldn is aiming for the same handmade feel and urban style as Anthropologie.
Appropriately, the brand launches on Valentine's Day and plans to open two stores later in the year.
A new crop of social media platforms aimed at the arts and design cognoscenti have captured an expanding audience over the last few months. Polyvore, Svpply, FFFFound, TheFancy, Wanelo and Pinterest are all aimed at professional and amateur tastemakers who share products they love and organize inspiring images from all over the web. While the sites are all different from one another, it's clear that designers, buyers, editors and photographers are actively cataloguing images on all the sites. Each site has a different angle… some are more oriented toward fashion, graphic design, craft, etc. So far, my favorite of the bunch is Pinterest, for its large community and flexible interface.
Over the course of 72 hours in December, a curiosity for Pinterest snowballed into full-blown addiction. The site allows me to pull almost any image from the web using a bookmarklet and post them onto boards under any category of my choosing. For years, I've been clipping inspiring images from magazines and catalogues, so this is making my life a little easier and a lot neater. I have an enduring record of products I dream of owning or intend to purchase. It's also great fun to browse boards of my friends and design professionals – a big part of that fun is discovering images other users want to post to their own boards.
So how is this all useful? Well it remains to be seen… a lot of information is contained in an image (1,000 words) and it's still a little early to determine how retailers and brands can fully leverage these communities. There's the grandiose a dream that everyone with an internet connection will create their very own personal store filled with all their favorite things. More practically, retailers and brands might be able to identify emerging trends or better estimate preseason demand by measuring enthusiasm among forward-thinking creatives.
At the very least, I've found the sites to be a valuable tool for saving and sorting compelling images.
There is much to be admired at J Crew… however behind the preppy-boho façade and Jenna Lyons PR machine, corporate drama has been brewing.
It all started last November when the company announced it would be purchased for $3Bn in a leveraged buyout by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners. J Crew has a long history with TPG, who took the company private in 1997 and gave management free reign to close underperforming stores, retool its product lineup and hire the brilliant Mickey Drexler (after he was fired by Gap.) In 2006, J Crew went public again and Drexler and TPG made a fortune. Now, it looks like they're aiming for an encore performance.
It seems that in this latest deal, Drexler and Leonard Green privately hatched the plan to sell the company without notifying the board for weeks… then the board signed on without a proper auction process. As CEO, Drexler has enormous incentives to take the company private and the potential for a conflict that compromises shareholders' interests is quite high. Activist investors thought J Crew could command a better price, smelled a lemon and sued… then J Crew started shopping the deal to other investors… then they settled… and now the settlement has fallen apart. The story has more twists than a telenovela.
So will the deal pull through? Probably. However, the clumsy deal process has been such a train wreck it's become a case study in bad board governance and has damaged Drexler's sterling reputation as the merchant prince.
My perfect world? One where experiences and products always exceed expectations and are (in a word) delightful. Here I share my thoughts about my never-ending quest to discover and create memorable customer experiences.
