Amazon’s Shopbop Unveils Content-Focused Redesign

Shopbop, an Amazon-owned retail site for upscale and contemporary women’s fashion, took the wraps off a redesign earlier this week.
 Similar to Kate Spade’s site makeover last year and Oscar de la Renta’s earlier this month, Shopbop’s new site places a greater emphasis on editorial content. The company’s lookbooks and features, of which it produces several each week, are displayed front and center on a cleaned-up landing page. Product images are 60% larger and shoppers can now also watch videos of products on models for a more comprehensive view.

 Shopbop’s editorial team now has about five full-time staffers, including fashion director Treena Lombardo, who was poached from Allure magazine earlier this month.

 As part of the promotions for the new site, Shopbop will release a video featuring designers Rachel Zoe and Stacey Bendet of Alice + Olivia, as well as style bloggers Leandra Medine of Men Repeller and Atlantic-Pacific‘s Blair Eadie, among others, on Sept. 5. The video will be accompanied by a browser-based game where players can “launch” one of the featured designers, stylists or bloggers towards Shopbox boxes in a variety of settings. It’s a little odd, but also cute and designed to be humorous (which, for fashion brands, is a good thing).

Designers Spill: Their Very First Times at Fashion Week

"At the time, I thought I was in the chicest place in the universe," said Peter Som of his first time at New York Fashion Week as a Parsons student. In honor of that impending chicness, we spoke with him and others — veterans and newcomers alike — to hear the experiences of their first shows, their most memorable moments, and how they plan to recover after the madness of the week is over.

 Pamela Love remembers being nervous the first time Anna Wintour attended one of her shows (who wouldn't be?), and Chris Benz told us about his very own House of Style moment at Marc Jacobs's Spring 2002 show. We also heard tales from Rebecca Minkoff, Rachel Comey, Yigal Azrouel, Jenni Kayne, and many others. Read on for a look at their most memorable Fashion Week moments — and find out who was so starstruck by Chloe Sevigny that they offered to let her skip the bathroom line — here, in the gallery.

The Fashion of Empathetic Selling

Joining us today on the blog is the amazing Brittan Bright. With a name like that, it’s impossible not to be a star! She is a dynamic SEO Account Director who has worked with enormous brands throughout her career. Those experiences combined with her passion for taking care of her clients and killer fashion sense, which she’ll explain below, are we think everyone needs to hear more from our favorite agency voice.

 I will never forget when I figured out how to sell for the first time. I was an English major fresh out of my tiny liberal arts college, in a tiny town in rural Indiana. The only job I could find at that time was as a Sales Associate at the new Saks 5th Avenue store opening up in Indianapolis. So I translated my reading skills into people reading skills, moved to the city and accidentally started a career in sales, selling fancy stuff to be exact.

 As I reflect back to the humble beginnings of my career, it’s striking to me how many of the skills that come naturally to me now were learned and honed in those early days. Being in the SEO industry, it’s safe to say I am still in the business of selling fancy stuff. My particular method for selling “fancy” or complex concepts and services, such as those offered in digital marketing, has always been and always will be to keep it simple.
 Sometimes SEO can seem so complicated that we forget that it’s a professional business service. This means that there are simple truths that apply to how to service our clients, and I’d love to share my favorite four lessons with you today.

 Lesson One: Try Things on Yourself

 While pursuing the mastery of decking others out in designer duds, I became increasingly aware of my own ill-fitting and unflattering collection of college clothing. The only confidence this clothing came with was my ability to dominate a game of corn-hole at a keg party. I realized quickly I could never help someone else shop if I didn’t know how to shop for myself.
 Putting away my pride and conquering the dressing room was one of my smartest moves to date. I had never considered approaching the business of dressing myself strategically before. I had never really paid attention in a meaningful way to my approach to getting dressed. I realized I had never clearly defined my end goal; my vague aim was to look appropriate for whatever I was doing, and hope that somehow appropriate would turn into attractive. That seemed to be my problem.
 I needed to be strategic, I needed to understand the arsenal of tactics I had at my disposal. So I tried on every single thing in my department, and then hit the rest of the store. I asked the wonderfully experienced professionals around me tons of questions, and made their advice my own. I learned which line ran big, small, short, tall. I learned what was good for the busty, the flat chested, the apple, pear, and banana shaped people who came through my doors. I learned when I was willing to sacrifice comfort for fashion, and when to give up on a style, fabric, or color that I just couldn’t pull off.
 In SEO we may have clients come to us needing a whole new site, or something completely different and better suited for their business needs. Try not to forget that it may not be realistic to suggest that someone replace her whole wardrobe all at once. Letting the reality that they’ve been doing it wrong sink in can be overwhelming. It will likely involving finding or fighting for more budget than they’ve set aside, acknowledging some bad decisions, and a lot of reeducation, which for some, can be very humbling.
 Because I am an Account Director, I have been accused of being too willing to compromise with my clients on certain recommendations. In my opinion, it’s more about prioritization and partnership. In my role I often deliver strategies and recommendations to my clients. It wasn’t until I started a blog, and offered to write the copy for my dad’s hair restoration site, that I truly understood how annoying it is to stick to a content strategy and best practices when you are understaffed.
 So if your customer can’t afford a whole new wardrobe, it’s ok to do the best you can with the budget she has, and send her out the door with a great fitting and versatile pair of jeans to start with.
 Lesson Two: Learn From Customers Who Know What They Want
 I used to have a client who loved a particular line. Whenever she came in she wanted everything new from that line, in her size, in specific colors that flattered her, ready and waiting in the dressing room. She knew which alterations person and what the hem she preferred was called and when the double shopping points days were coming up. And I let her get away with that for a while; it was incredibly intimidating to realize she knew more than I did. Until I realized she didn’t.
 In any form, clients who know what they want can often be your biggest challenge. These customers are not only strategic, they have a vision and a brand and they know it better than you. What they often don’t know is how to take their brand to the next level. These are dynamic times we live in, regardless of the industry. Every fashion-forward customer or early-adopting client wants to stay that way.
 Although this client came to me knowing this particular designer looked great on her, she didn’t discover that on her own. If I kept letting her call all the shots, what good was I? I was missing out on actually selling her something, and she was missing out on my expertise. So one day I added a few things to her dressing room, much to her dismay. When I explained that what I had added fit similarly to the brand she loved, and were pieces that would complement nicely the ones she already had, she actually gave me a shot. She also came out of the dressing room after a few minutes asking “Ok. What else ya got?”
 For this kind of client you must have a thick skin, and you must earn her trust. This is the kind of client who can pull off an advanced strategy, as well as four-inch, $400 heels. Show this customer that you know your stuff AND her’s and she will not only be a loyal client, she will send you her friends (just not her competitors).
 Lesson Three: Be Clever With the Confidently Clueless
 One of my biggest frustrations as a sales associate were people who swore they were a certain size, and weren’t. It wasn’t just people who had gained a little weight and didn’t want to face that reality; it was just as frequently customers who had lost a significant amount of weight but still saw their old frame when looking in the mirror.
 As much as humans try to compartmentalize our lives, we are not machines, and we don’t work that way. Whether you are a service provider of digital marketing, or designer jeans, you can guarantee that your clients will come to you with some baggage they picked up before coming to your shop. Both in my job as a retail sales associate, and in business development at an SEO agency, it would surprise people to know I have often felt more like a counselor than a used car salesperson.
 In a dressing room it was usually a major life event, big disappointment or traumatic experience that I was counseling. In business, it’s often a bad decision, bad previous partner, or just bad advice. These kinds of opportunities are why I love working with clients. When you succeed in helping these particular kinds of customers, you can literally make a difference in their lives.
 Learning how to quickly overcome your client’s baggage, and not taking it personally, is an important step in becoming a strategic partner, and not just a vendor. Also, seeing the potential and the big picture for the client is incredibly important.
 Lesson Four: Be Careful With the Crazies
 Be sure not to confuse this customer with the previous, there is a subtle but important distinction. This client could ruin your reputation. If someone insists on consistently ignoring your advice and expertise, yet tells people they work with you, your own brand reputation is now on the line.
 If you have a customer whose vision does not line up with what you stand for, and who insists on using tactics that you do not support, you should seriously reconsider partnering with that client. But that doesn’t mean that you have to kick that customer to the curb. Chances are you know someone who is willing to take that risk. Send your friend a freebie.
 Don’t Forget: Sometimes You Will Need Stuff Too…
 And you’ll be confident, clueless, crazy, and know what you want, all at the same time. As a customer, I can personally be either a nightmare or a dream. Regardless, I’m always tough. I cannot stand condescending, pandering, patronizing, slimy, sleazy, lazy sales people. So I am not one.
 I also don’t like to be catered to, sucked up to, taken advantage of, or taken for granted. So I don’t do that either. How do I treat clients? I treat them the way they show me they need to be treated in order to accomplish what they came to me for. No matter how complex the sale, or the process, or service, it’s truly that basic.

Fit for fashion: Disney icons get dramatic makeover

Some of Disney’s most favorite cartoon characters have been recast as runway supermodels. The makeover is set to make girls jealous about Minnie Mouse’s slim body and Daisy Duck’s long legs while guys will applaud Goofy on his becoming a macho man.
 Luxury department store Barneys has teamed up with Disney to create an ad campaign called "Electric Holiday," featuring a 3-D film with the iconic characters as supermodels.
 The characters had to be made much slimmer and taller to meet the standards of the modern fashion world, wearing outfits by the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Nina Ricci and Balenciaga.

 “When we got to the moment when the Disney characters walk on the runway, there was a discussion,” Barneys Creative Director Dennis Freedman told Women's Wear Daily.
  “The standard Minnie Mouse will not look so good in a Lanvin dress. There was a real moment of silence, because these characters don’t change. I said, ‘If we’re going to make this work, we have to have a 5-foot-11 Minnie,’ and they agreed. When you see Goofy, Minnie and Mickey, they are runway models.”
 The challenge for those behind the new image of the Disney characters was not to make their transformation theatrical but rather as close to life as possible.
 “The world of the Paris fashion shows is of fashion, of people in fashion, of the rituals, all of the idiosyncrasies. The important thing to me was always that it had to be authentic. It really had to hit the nail on the head in every detail,” Freedman said.
 The show with the famous cartoon characters is scheduled to take place at Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship on November 14.

Country Music Fashion Police – Readers Poll

Rusty Russell / Rick Diamond / Frederick Breedon / Larry Busacca, Getty Images
Next Wednesday (Sept. 5), the nominees for the 2012 CMA Awards will be announced. That leaves stars less than two months to plan
for the Nov. 3 broadcast. That’s two months to find the perfect dress, the perfect shoes or the perfect jacket. We’ve found the
most adventurous outfits from previous CMA Awards and paired them side by side, just begging for your opinion. You get to play
country music fashion police with your vote!
Each of the artists included is featured in two photos. The one on the left of each match-up is from a recent CMA Awards show,
and the one on the right is from an older red carpet appearance. In addition to the artists shown above, you’ll get to look back
at some wild, eye-catching ensembles worn by Alan Jackson, Sugarland, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and Laura Bell Bundy. Many are
stunningly beautiful, while others are just… Well, stunning. Feel free to add your opinion to the comments section as you click
through.

Grand Slam: Tennis-Inspired Fashion

As much as I enjoyed the sartorial awesomeness of the BeDazzle'd leotards and Fruit Loop-colored eyeshadow at the Olympics, I'm
really happy that it's finally U.S. Open time again. (Yes, I know tennis is in the Olympics, but who can truly pay attention to
the game while scoring Kate Middleton's attempts at plebeian sports fan outfits and steeling their tear ducts against those
saccharine athlete biographies? Not me.)
Now I can finally focus on tennis—and what the players are wearing for the tennis. Maria Sharapova always looks amazing, of
course, but I think even if you don't have Maria's general aesthetic (Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush, but stretched to 6'2) the
sport's standard-issue attire makes you look good. Tennis gear's flattering and cool, and I play the sport partially (or mostly)
to wear it.
All of it, too: whether traditional white polos and pleated skirts or the new wave of colorblocked, mesh-paneled dresses, I don't
discriminate. I love the both tennis looks equally—enough so, in fact, that I wear that stuff off the court as well.
Below, shop my favorites from both sides of the tennis-inspired fashion court. From classic, country club Band of Outsiders-y
stuff to the cyborg-slash-athlete Alexander Wang-esque garb, it's all kinds of awesome. (To really ace the looks, we'd suggest
adding just one thing: a high ponytail straight out of a '90s Versace ad. Or, you know, Arthur Ashe stadium.)

Zoe Saldana talks fashion in 'Gotham' magazine

Zoe Saldana wants to ''continue growing'' as a person.
The 'Star Trek' actress - who has dated Bradley Cooper in the past - admits she has never been as content with her life as she is right now and wants to use her happiness to motivate her to keep learning.
She said: ''What am I looking forward to next year? Honestly, to continue growing in every aspect of my life because it's been a long time since I've been this happy. I really want that to motivate me moving forward on every level.''

One area Zoe will always enjoy no matter her mood is fashion, but she admits she is not a particularly trendy person and does not wear things because they are of the moment.
She said: ''I'm not really a trendy person when it comes to fashion. I never know what's going to catch my attention, so I really just dress in a way that expresses my mood and my feelings in any given situation.''
However, she will always consider clothing as less about ''luxury'' and more about art.
She told Gotham magazine: ''My grandmother and great-grandmother were seamstresses their whole lives, so when my grandmother moved to New York in the '60s, she worked for design houses throughout the city. She really loved fabrics and textiles, so it was natural to my family. Fashion wasn't like a religion to us, but it is in my ancestry. It was never about luxury; it was about art.''