This week’s poll is about your shopping preferences, or lack thereof. I’ve been in the rag trade for 27 years, and assumed that people in the industry would enjoy shopping. That assumption was completely wrong. You can absolutely take an interest in fashion and style, enjoy looking your best, be well turned out, keep up with trends, and be a successful retail buyer — but not enjoy shopping for your own wardrobe.

You are on Team Shop if you enjoy shopping for your wardrobe. Shopping can take any form be it online, in brick & mortar stores, thrifting, clothing rentals, clothing swaps with friends, and even lots of online browsing. You are on Team No Shop if you enjoy fashion and style, keeping up with the trends, and being well tuned out but do not like shopping for your wardrobe at all. In a perfect world, your seasonal refreshers would be hand-picked for you by a your style angels every three months. The goods would be ready for you to wear at home, and each item would work flawlessly right away, and suit your needs and wants. You would never need to think about or do any shopping for your wardrobe again.

I bat for Team Shop because I love to shop, both in stores and online. I find the process relaxing, social, therapeutic and exhilarating. It’s the fun and unstressful part of my life. It’s a good distraction sometimes, and the hunt is almost as satisfying as wearing the item. Shopping is one of my hobbies, as well as something that I do professionally. I love to shop with others for their wardrobes even more than shopping for my own. I enjoy making the puzzle pieces fit, and helping people do something that they need to do, but don’t necessarily want to. You’d definitely be robbing me of a joy if I couldn’t shop for my own wardrobe and help others shop for theirs.

Over to you. Do you bat for Team Shop or Team No Shop? And tell us why. No batting for both teams, but feel free to sit this one out on the bench with comforting mac ’n cheese, a crunchy green salad, and lemon curdy pud for dessert.

I’ve shopped at Nordstrom since Greg and I moved to the US sixteen years ago, becoming a diehard fan of the department store. For myself, but also for my clients, who cover a wide range of body types, ages, preferences and lifestyles. Despite this diverse set of needs, we always end up at Nordstrom for something, be it a season’s worth of refreshers, or a single pair of knee-highs. Department stores are extremely handy to have on your shopping route, and I’m grateful that Nordstrom is on mine.

Nordstrom operates in a new retail reality that’s pretty mind-blowing. Many department stores have gone away. Online shopping has taken over the industry. Social media is driving the conversation, not merely following it. Consignment and thrift stores are gaining momentum. Personalized shopping packages are popular, and it’s possible to rent your wardrobe instead of owning it.

Nordstrom isn’t immune to all of this upheaval, and for much of the last decade the company has seemed on a mission to become more attractive to an audience hungry for budget fast fashion. No doubt feeling pressure from fast fashion retailers and fearing a declining relevance as the attention shifted from those with disposable income, to those with social media influence. They did so with pop-up stores and lines from social media influencers, but most importantly, through a change in their assortment. A shift to new brands, and new house brands at lower price points.

I’m all for moving with the times and expanding Nordstrom’s target market, but these changes came at the cost of the quality we were accustomed to seeing in Nordstrom merchandise. There just aren’t as many brands at Nordstrom who provide what used to be their staple diet: A cut-above-the-rest product that is value driven, reliably good, and fairly unique. And there are far more items where the fit is problematic, the fabric inferior, and the construction sub-par. Where the guts and the flair are taken out of an item so it can be sold at a lower price.

The biggest casualty has been stellar, value driven Nordstrom house brands like Classiques Entier, Sejour and Valette, with their gorgeous fabrics, thoughtful design and precision craftsmanship. Silhouettes were interesting, items oozed hanger appeal, and fits were magical. Prices weren’t budget, but they weren’t designer either, and you got what you paid for. My clients and I could rely on tried and tested Nordstrom house brands to provide important wardrobe building blocks and fill tricky wardrobe holes. We were prepared to pay more for the real value of a better product.

What I have also seen, alongside the shift to more disposable fashion at the low end, is a larger assortment of high price point designer wear. Of course, Nordstrom has always sold luxury, high status, exclusive brands and designers. But now it seems to be focussed on two ends of the fashion spectrum, with less in between for the value-driven customers who I think were Nordstrom’s loyal core.

Now, if these shifts were successful I would have mourned the loss of the brands I loved, but I would have also respected Nordstrom’s business decision. The thing is, I don’t think they have been successful. Nordstrom has been struggling to make sales targets. Markdowns are far more frequent, and stores have closed. In Seattle there are often more sales assistants than customers on the floor. 

So I’m left wondering about the wisdom of following the rest of the industry to a world of polarized price points. Budget fashion shoppers can get more, better fast fashion at any one of the number of retailers who do this so well. Shoppers looking for designer wear can go to more exclusive stores than Nordstrom. What made Nordstrom magical was the opportunity to get that value-driven core merchandise, with SOME fast fashion and SOME exclusive items to spice things up. You could go to Classiques Entier then shop the inexpensive B.P. department, and end up at Chanel on the ground floor.

Nordstrom, please stop chasing a customer who isn’t interested in you. Please bring your focus back to what you did so well — the product that lies between the extremes. Your loyal customers will return because these items were beautifully made, looked really good, and lasted over time. They were the reliable items we relied on Nordstrom to provide, season after season, year after year.

I could relate to Lauren Bravo’s recent article in Refinery 29: “Down to Earth: Has 2019 Killed the Heel?” In it, Lauren explains how she used to wear nothing but high heels, but that things have changed enormously over the last few years because we are living in the age of the fashion flat, and comfort rules supreme. She started making the switch from heels with fashionable flat oxfords, slipper flats, ballet flats, and loafers, and then moved onto oh-so-trendy sneakers and Birkenstocks. And while fashion can swing back and forth between heels and flats as the “it” shoe, she’s noticed how she’s not willing to go back to wearing high heels, and is in good company when she raises the subject on Twitter. She also talks about how the heels-wearing market in the US and the UK have changed significantly, and across all sorts of dress codes. These days, heels wearing is more of a choice than an obligation. It’s a great article and well worth a read.

I’ve never been a high heels wearer. I’ve worn fashionable flats most of my life with the odd two-inch heel thrown into the mix. I wore ballet flats, ankle strap flats, loafers, flat Chelsea boots and oxfords forever because they are dressier and more comfortable than sneakers.

Unexpectedly, that all changed in the last year. I found comfortable and refined sneaker silhouettes in narrow fits, and I’ve bought more pairs of fashion sneakers than ever. I’m addicted to their comfort, sturdy soles, and ease of movement. They are also an excellent way to dress down my dressier dresses, skirts and trousers, which I enjoy wearing as everyday items.

Here is my current sneaker collection, of which the first four pairs are new this year. I effectively doubled my sneaker collection in one year, and have duplicates in the wings.

Nordstrom

Moving Sneaker

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15

Nordstrom

Soft 7 Sneaker

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28

Zappos

Ecco ECCOSoft 7 Sneaker

$149.94

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15

Zappos

Ecco Soft 7 Sneaker

$149.94

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38

Nordstrom

Converse Converse Chuck Taylor All Star CT 70 Street Warmer High Top Sneaker (Women) | Nordstrom

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20

Zappos

SAS Free Time

$157.00

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16

Amazon

Converse Converse Women's Chuck Taylor All Star Winter Knit & Fur Fashion Sneakers

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28

Nordstrom

Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Faux Fur Chelsea Sneaker (Women)

$89.95

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33

I wear the low-tops in mild, warm and hot weather and without socks. Sometimes, I wear them with nude knee-highs in the Spring. I wear the hi-tops in cool and cold weather with socks and knee-highs. They are amazingly warm because they have fleece lining.

I don’t wear sneakers when I’m working with clients unless I’m wearing them with a formal suit, or if I’m on my feet for 14 hours of the day during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. But I do switch to wearing sneakers at some point during the day because I live in the city and walk everywhere. I switch my footwear to sneakers and leave the rest of my outfit as is, because you can wear sneakers with everything these days — and feel stylish.

If you’d asked me two years ago whether refined fashion sneakers would become a wardrobe essential, I’d have chuckled and politely said “I don’t think so.” Never say never when it comes to fashion and style, because things change unexpectedly. The fashionable sneaker is among my favourite trends, and Lauren’s concluding quote puts it best: “The future of women’s footwear is comfortable.”

Guaranteed. I will be happily adding to my sneaker capsule.

It’s Labor Day in the US, which means Summer vacation is over, the new school year is here, and Autumn is on the horizon. It has also traditionally marked the last day in the year of wearing white. When I started my wardrobe consulting business about fourteen years ago, I remember clients asking me what I thought of wearing white after Labor Day. I was awfully puzzled, and asked what on earth they were talking about? They explained to me that Labor Day was the first Monday of September and it’s good etiquette to stop wearing white until Memorial Day at the of end of the following May.

Sixteen years later and I’m getting my head around the two long weekends that bookend the long Summer school vacation in the US. But not wearing white outside of that time frame is still extremely foreign to me. As far as I’m concerned you can wear shades of white whenever you choose to.

These days I don’t think many people adhere much to this dated dressing rule. Most of my clients and friends wear a shade of white, and will wear it whenever it tickles their fancy. Many though, will wear shades of white more frequently during warm and hot weather.

Personally, I don’t think of white as a seasonal neutral. I’ve always worn it throughout the year, no matter where I’ve lived, because it’s one of my favourite colours. I wear white jeans, handbags, pearls and footwear throughout the year. I also wear knitwear, tops, jackets, outerwear, belts and scarves in shades of white and in the appropriate fabric throughout my four-season climate. I LOVE shades of white, and would miss the colour terribly.

Over to you. Do you wear shades of white throughout the year? Or is it a seasonal colour for your style.