When it comes to the holidays, there’s no one I trust more than Linda Fargo, Bergdorf Goodman’s SVP and Fashion Director, not to mention the master of all things festive. Simply put, everything that goes in and out of the iconic New York City mainstay goes through her, especially during the holidays, when the 200,000+ square-foot building transforms into a winter wonderland of luxury, excess, and glamour. Because of that, you can safely bet that she’s well versed in the year’s most-wanted items and trends for the season of presents and parties, from dresses and jewelry to shoes and handbags.
With December fully under way, I called on Fargo following the store’s 2023 holiday-window unveiling (which she fabulously hosted alongside Martha Stewart wearing the sparkliest gown I’ve ever seen and a matching silver Moncler puffer) to find out which holiday-dressing trends she’s backing for the joyous time ahead. And as always, she didn’t disappoint. Scroll down to get the inside scoop from the “eyes of Bergdorf Goodman” herself.
Weeks after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, retailers are clearing out their inventories in preparation for that much-needed fresh start, and as a result, the post-holiday discounts are steeper than ever. At this point, there are few things you can’t find at a reduced price.
From the designer finds at Bergdorf Goodman (some of which, btw, are up to 75% off) to the nap dresses at Hill House Home, here’s our ultimate roundup of the 24 best online sales happening right now — and some of the most tempting deals we found at each.
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Bergdorf Goodman
Christopher John Rogers Abstract Crayon Three-Quarter Classic Shirt, $370 (from $925), available here (sizes XS-L)
Et Ochs Dolly Scrunchie Mini Dress, $382.40 (from $1,195), available here (sizes S-L)
JW Anderson Strappy Leather Chain-Heel Sandals, $216 (from $675), available here
Thebe Magugu Nightmare Floral-Print Handkerchief Pleated Midi Skirt, $360 (from $750), available here (sizes XS-L)
Net-a-Porter
Molly Goddard Meredith One-Shoulder Bow-Detailed Gathered Taffeta Dress, $391.50 (from $1,305), available here (sizes UK 6-14)
Wales Bonner Swing Striped Ribbed Wool-Blend Tank, $325.50 (from $465), available here (sizes US 4-10)
Meryll Rogge Twill-Trimmed Pleated Checked Wool-Blend Mini Wrap Skirt, $355.50 (from $1,185), available here (sizes FR 34-42)
Altuzarra Larysa Embellished Linen-Blend Peplum Blouse, $298.50 (from $995), available here (sizes FR 34-46)
Ssense
Jil Sander Black Nikky Chain Boots, $310 (from $1000), available here
Bianca Saunders Blue Benz Trousers, $243 (from $810), available here (sizes XS-XL)
Shushu/Tong White Pleated Midi Skirt, $141 (from $470), available here (sizes UK 6-12)
Simone Rocha Blue Puff Sleeve Midi Dress, $345 (from $1,150), available here (sizes XS-L)
Neiman Marcus
Tanya Taylor Noaki Sleeveless Mini Fit-&-Flare Dress, $215.50 (from $575), available here (sizes 0-14)
Cinq A Sept Nola Long Draped Cowl-Neck Silk Dress, $107 (from $595), available here (sizes 00-14)
Nanushka Jayla Shirtdress with Pleated Sleeves, $111.50 (from $895), available here (sizes XXS-XL)
Tory Burch Ruffle Top Midi Dress, $122 (from $698), available here (sizes 0-14)
Shopbop
By Far Baby Cush Azur Toscana Bag, $284.40 (from $474), available here
Azeeza Devon Dress, $797.50 (from $1,595), available here (sizes XS-M)
Christopher Esber Wrapped Tie Fitted Tank, $364 (from $520), available here (sizes XXS-L)
Khaite Ian Jeans, $288 (from $480), available here (sizes 24-32)
Nordstrom
Dauphinette Friendly Skies Silk Jacket, $365.98 (from $1,395), available here (size M)
Commission Recess Polka Dot High-Low Dress, $234.73 (from $895), available here (size 4)
Good American Ruched Dress, $37.49 (from $129), available here (sizes XS-4X)
K.ngsley Unisex Diran Cuffed Straight Leg Jeans, $134.98 (from $495), available here (sizes 30-32)
Coach
Coach Soft Tabby Shoulder Bag, $270 (from $450), available here
These are the stories making headlines in fashion on Thursday.
Altu launches capsule with Alvin Baltrop Joseph Altuzarra‘s “genderful” brand Altu has launched its first-ever capsule collection: a collaboration memorializing the late Bronx-born photographer Alvin Baltrop. Proceeds the collection will help fund the preservation and archive of Baltrop’s unseen images. Trousers, T-shirts, hoodies and a leather jacket feature Baltrop’s groundbreaking photography of New York City’s gay and queer culture of the 1970s and 1980s. “Part historical, part autobiographical, his photographs brim with raw sensuality and eroticism, yet are also full of tenderness and love. They are deeply touching and affecting, and I am so honored to celebrate Alvin Baltrop’s work in this special collection,” said Altuzarra. It’s available at Altu.world. {Fashionista inbox}
10 hours inside Bergdorf Goodman For The New York Times, Jessica Testa takes readers through 10 hours of what can only be described as magic in the iconic Bergdorf Goodman department store. Starting from before opening hours, when staff carefully place the fine jewelry that was locked up overnight back into their display cases, all the way to the store’s last open hour of 7:00 p.m., when the store’s director of loss prevention lets a customer in past closing time because she “just want[s] to look at a Valentino bag.” {The New York Times}
Why the metaverse crash is the right moment to take the metaverse seriously After its peak in November 2021, cryptocurrency’s value fell by 73% over the next 12 months. The value of NFTs has collapsed and crashed 87% in value. Now, Meta (previously known as Facebook) has seen its value crash by 70% since its rebrand into a metaverse company. Despite these numbers and the disappearing mainstream excitement for a metaverse world, brands like Nike, Gucci and Coca-Cola have already placed their bets on its success, paving the way for a technologically innovative future in virtual reality. {Business of Fashion}
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The psychological traps of online shopping For Vox, Emily Stewart breaks down the psychological tools that brands employ to encourage online shoppers to buy more and buy faster. For example, if a hotel is promoting that it only has three rooms left at a particular rate, or an e-commerce platform gives a customer only 10 minutes to buy a dress ‘before it’s gone,’ there is no real way to know if that’s true, and there’s also no way for the FTC to monitor the truth. {Vox}
Before the Thanksgiving leftovers have even been boxed up, retailers all around the globe are displaying just how ready they are for the holidays with festive, over-the-top windows and light shows at their most-trafficked brick-and-mortar locations. In New York City, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s have become entertainment destinations, upping the ante year after year with their seasonal décor. The party has expanded beyond department stores (and the Big Apple), with more brands and hotels getting in on the fun and zhuzhing up their façades.
This year, Saks partnered with Elton John and the Elton John Aids Foundation — pledging a $1 million donation to its Rocket Fund — and invited him and his family to unveil the windows and inaugurate the retailer’s light show on a closed-down Fifth Avenue. Further uptown, The Mark tapped Swarovski to add some sparkle and holiday cheer to its entrance. And that’s all before December.
From New York to London, see all the best fashion-y holiday window displays across the globe in the gallery below.
“NMG is a relationship business,” said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, Neiman Marcus Group CEO.
Photo credit Jesse Crimes, courtesy of Neiman Marcus Group
Everyone in retail has heard the apocryphal story about how Stanley Marcus, known to all as Mr. Stanley, would greet his customers at the Neiman Marcus door in Dallas every morning. He knew his customers by name, knew what they wanted and treated them as the VIPs they were. They returned the favor by giving Mr. Stanley and his Neiman Marcus store their lifelong loyalty.
But then Neiman Marcus was sold to Carter-Hawley Hale, Mr. Stanley went into emeritus mode and the company grew. It’s not that his single-minded dedication to service passed away, but the “money men” took over and the primary goal became servicing the bottom line.
For any retailer, running the business primarily by and for the balance sheet is a mistake, but for a luxury retailer like Neiman Marcus, it’s the kiss of death. And that nearly came for Neiman Marcus Group in early 2020 when it was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
After successfully emerging from bankruptcy proceedings, CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck made all the tough business decisions, including closing 22 stores, most painfully, its prized NYC Hudson Yards location.
Starting over with a reduced footprint of 37 stores and 10,000 associates, he had to build the company back up and did it by resurrecting Mr. Stanley’s customer-first philosophy in a “Revolutionizing Luxury Experiences” strategic plan with its cornerstone being a five-point NMG|Way corporate culture transformation.
Van Raemdonck and his team have been on a challenging two-year journey that is producing needed and, from an outsider’s perspective truly remarkable results. During fiscal year 2022 ending July, the company reported it delivered over $5 billion in gross merchandise value with an 11% increase in EBITDA margin over previous year.
Comparable store sales advanced over 30% compared to last year’s period, producing $495 million in adjusted EBITDA. The company touts investments in technology and digital capabilities as pivotal to its integrated luxury retail model that combines in-store, e-commerce and remote selling.
Specific investments include the acquisition of Stylze to power the customers’ omnichannel journey and Farfetch Platform Solutions to enhance its Bergdorf Goodman e-commerce platform.
Technology-powered service
But the technology investment that may be most impactful for this luxury retailer is its behind-the-scenes’ proprietary Connect application used by the company’s 3,000+ selling associates to engage their customers remotely.
It allows them to share styling advice, product recommendations, personalized look books, and complete transactions. For example, an average of 1.5 million texts and personalized emails are sent to customers per month.
Through Connect, the personal connection between the customers and the sales associate is amplified, effectively teleporting Mr. Stanley’s personal customer service approach to the 21st century.
The Connect tool supports a high-level of personalized customer service that AI and bots can’t match. It extends personal customer service to more customers and reaches beyond the store’s four walls to wherever the customer is.
Poised for growth
This new way of personally serving customers fits into the “Growth Mindset,” one of the five pillars of the NMG|Way culture transformation. The growth mindset calls on all across the company to adapt, embrace change, accept new challenges and find new opportunities to do better “always.”
With its typical selling associates having worked nearly a decade with the company, they’ve embraced this new technology-enhanced way of serving customers.
More than one-third of its selling associates generate over $1 million in customer spend per year. Further, customers who engage across multiple channels, like in-store and through remote selling, spend five times more than those who shop exclusively in one channel.
New ways of working
This enhanced, service-from-anywhere approach also supports another NMG|Way pillar called WOW, meaning “Way Of Working.”
The NMG corporate structure is envisioned as a network of connected hubs that “serves its associates and their needs,” such that an associate may have a working hub from home. Its stores and distribution centers act as hubs and a new corporate hub is being built in uptown Dallas, centrally located between its Downtown Dallas and NorthPark flagship stores.
“Our NMG|WOW philosophy empowers our associates to work whenever, however and wherever to achieve their best results,” said Eric Severson, EVP, Chief People and Belonging officer.
The WOW hub strategy results in greater job satisfaction, which translates into happier employees who then make happier customers. And happier customers are loyal. The top 2% of customers average over $25,000 annually through 25+ transactions and account for approximately 40% of total sales.
All belong
Loyal customers “Belong,” a third pillar in the NMG|Way strategy, as do valued employees. And that extends to the wider luxury business community. The most coveted luxury brands want to belong to Neiman Marcus too.
Belonging means diversity, equity and inclusion across the corporate culture, which aligns with the values of legacy luxury brands, like Loewe, Prada, Valentino, Burberry and Balmain, which did exclusive collections for NMG this past year. It also has helped bring 200+ new brands representing emerging and diverse designers into the NMG family.
ESG impact
The fourth pillar of the NMG|Way culture is its environmental, social and governance (ESG) program. The company just released its first ESG report, entitled “Our Journey to Revolutionize Impact.”
Through its forward-looking ESG strategy, it aims to advance sustainable products and services, cultivate the culture of belonging across all constituencies, including employees, business partners, brands and customers, and lead with “love” in and for its communities.
The report outlines NMG’s 2025 and 2030 goals, including extending the life of over a million luxury items through circular services such as mending, alternations, restoration, resale and donations, and increasing revenues from sustainable and ethical products. It will help customers make these better choices through Sustainable Edits in Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
And central to its ESG goals is to increase inclusion and diversity in an already highly inclusive, diverse culture.
Common values
The final pillar in NMG|Way culture is Values which is the thread that ties everything together. “NMG is a relationship business,” said CEO van Raemdonck and relationships are based on shared values.
The values espoused encourage associates to be bold, be memorable, be trustworthy, be all heart and be the best. And the values are reinforced by the NMG| WOW (Way of Working) principles of working smarter, being present, integrating life and work and feeling empowered to be empowered.
“What’s driving demand today is something special in the service and the experience and the story,” van Raemdonck shared. “The competitive advantage in retail is to do everything in service of the customer.”
The NMG|Way culture is a guiding light for associates to deliver that “something special” to customers, as well as to their work colleagues, the company’s brands and business partners and out into the wider community.
It codifies the NMG corporate culture to make the experience working for, working with and patronizing the company as unique as the shopping experiences are with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
