In recent months, concerns about retail’s turbulent economic landscape have likely haunted the minds of many entrepreneurs — especially smaller, independent fashion labels who lack the capital and resources to cover the costs that come with even the smallest of market tremors. Some have been forced to bow out entirely (see: Interior and The Vampire’s Wife), but others have managed to find the right business strategy or retail opportunity to move forward.
Case in point: Nordstrom has teamed up with Harlem’s Fashion Row to platform the work of brands House of Aama, Megan Renee and Harbison via exclusive collaborations available online and in select stores.
Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom
For designer Megan Renee Smith, this opportunity “has been a dream” and will provide “instrumental growth.”
“As an emerging brand and a Black-owned brand, it’s very hard to get your foot in the door with some of these amazing retailers such as Nordstrom,” she tells Fashionista. “So having this collaboration is huge for me. Also, just the visibility of it alone is immense — Nordstrom has an amazing reputation, it’s one of the leading retailers, and I think by me having a collection with them only great things can happen from here.”
House of Aama’s mother-daughter duo Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka agree, with Henry noting that a partnership like this “provides access to a customer that [they] may not normally have.”
Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom
“There’s so much that comes about when you get these types of opportunities,” Shabaka adds. “There’s marketing, there’s potential PR, there’s activation. For small businesses, we’re often only able to focus on one or two of those areas at a time, and so this [opportunity] creates a full-funnel of immersion into the business. It’s still up to the designer on how we capitalize on that, how we take advantage of the moment and how we bring it to our existing and aspirational customer. But it creates a more even playing field, I would say, for small businesses or businesses that have low funding.”
The idea of supporting small, independent designers is an enticing one. (Who really wants to admit they shop Amazon or Shein?) But many shoppers run into a price barrier: Products by smaller designers tend to occupy a higher price range than those from mass-produced labels. Retail collaborations offer the chance to get “product in front of an additional guard of women that have been wanting access to it” at a more affordable price point, as Charles Harbison tells it.
Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom
“I love the product that I make at Harbison,” he says. “I love high taste, aspirational, beautifully made, demi-couture product that really highlights the amazing moments in any of my customers’ lives. But I’m not at the point with Harbison where I’m able to service them all myself. Partnerships with Nordstrom, for example, are my opportunities to do that.”
Each designer was given total creative freedom over their design concept and process. Harbison, for instance was inspired by a portrait of a young Black woman from the 1800s by Simon Maris: “It really pulled me in and I saw her as a muse, and I think I also related to her myself. She felt like a reflection of the Harbison customer — curious, beautiful, open and she was surrounded by flowers.”
His collection centers “youthful playfulness” (regardless of the shopper’s age), florals, easy silhouettes and transitional fabrics. “These are legacy pieces that I want you to hold onto for years, and I want you to be able to pass them down and pass them on,” he says. “That’s the goal with Harbison, is to create vintage.”
Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom
Megan Renee’s collection is for the “bold, very feminine” customer who enjoys “strong and chic” pieces. Smith began with a quote by Erin Hanson that reads, “What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?” It led her to develop a print reminiscent of bird feathers that she incorporated into an off-the-shoulder dress.
Meanwhile, the House of Aama duo was inspired by Dandy culture: “We decided that, for this particular customer, we wanted to focus on the tailoring, the androgyny, our textiles and looking at antiquity,” says Henry.
Photo: Courtesy of Nordstrom
The lineup of pussy-bow blouses, asymmetrical pinstripe skirts, structured overcoats, drop-waist dresses and graphic button-downs don’t only highlight House of Aama’s tailored roots, they also offer customers the chance to invest in “staples.”
Each brand also had access to the internal Nordstrom team. Harbison was able to pull selling information and customer data to utilize in his design process. House of Aama benefitted from being able to source different materials, textiles and fabrics that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
In a time of economic instability, one naturally wonders how — if! — the rocky market has impacted the brands’ design approach. “I honor these times,” Harbison confesses. “I’m experiencing those times as an entrepreneur and as a creative myself. In doing so, I want to meet the moment with as much thoughtfulness and information as I can, and this is how I’m able to do that. If women are shopping with more financial reticence, then it is my job as a designer to see that, to honor that and to still figure out how to get them beautiful high-taste products wherever they’re shopping.”
Please note: Occasionally, we use affiliate links on our site. In no way do either affect our editorial decision-making.
Source: Fashionista.com
