The Monday Morning Edit: What You Missed In Fashion This Weekend
Parke is unstoppable, Neiman's might win the department store game, and Roblox just became retail's most valuable real estate
Hi!
Interrupting my Old Navy press tour (I’ve become the girl in pilates telling people to go *sEe HoW gOoOd iT iS*) to bring you the best news you missed in fashion this weekend!
This is everything you need and nothing you don’t. We’ll (seriously) keep this under 5 minutes today - let’s get right into it: your Monday morning edit starts now!
Beauty's recession-proof reputation is officially taking a hit as major players across the board report disappointing numbers - Coty down 6% with layoffs, LVMH beauty flat, and L'Oréal growing just 3.5% (we’ll take it in this economy but it’s hardly the flex they're used to). The industry's strategic error? Pushing premium-priced products instead of the affordable treats (and we truly ALL love a ~little treat~) that made the original "lipstick index" work in 2008, leaving inflation-weary consumers saying "maybe later" to their cart full of 12-step routines. Even the well-heeled are changing habits - 36% of six-figure earners are now beauty shopping at off-price retailers (hello, TJ Maxx skincare section- I’m equally shocked and also not). The rise of "underconsumption core" on TikTok signals something deeper than budget constraints - it's the beauty equivalent of deleting dating apps after too many bad experiences. I've watched my own friends proudly show off their newly minimalist routines like they've discovered some revolutionary concept. Beauty isn't dead, but the era of "add to cart without thinking" definitely is.
Richemont just showed that jewelry is luxury's current star performer with an 8% annual sales jump while Cartier hit an impressive 11% last quarter - outperforming fashion-focused luxury that's struggling to maintain momentum. This performance reveals a shift in how we're approaching luxury right now - when economic uncertainty looms, a beautifully crafted piece of jewelry apparently feels like a smarter splurge (ahem, long-term investment) than the season's trending bag (ADHD sidebar: I just made the most beautiful wishlist of vintage bags on TRR and the thrill of the hunt just NEVER gets old). Despite tariff pressures and gold prices climbing 20% this year, Richemont maintained its brand perception through strategic price adjustments that still signaled value to their consumers. Their improving performance in China (a sentence I haven’t heard muttered since the aughts) suggests jewelry might actually lead the category's recovery rather than follow it. The takeaway? When consumers become more selective with their spending, they're choosing pieces with staying power - both emotionally and potentially financially.
Nordstrom shareholders just approved the retailer's $6.25 billion exit from public markets, giving the Nordstrom family and Mexican retail powerhouse Liverpool room to rebuild without quarterly earnings calls dominating their strategy (I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from Seattle). After years of public scrutiny, the family can now focus on recapturing what once made them special without having to explain why investing in service and merchandising might temporarily impact this quarter's numbers. The deal structure is notably thoughtful - the Nordstroms maintain control with 50.1% ownership while bringing in Liverpool's retail expertise at 49.9%. Do I need to point out the irony that to save a traditional department store, they're essentially taking it back to its pre-1971 private roots (Saks should take notes)? While they're adding debt during high interest rates (not ideal timing), compared to watching other retailers try to transform while activist investors circle... going private might be the retail equivalent of going on DND to finally get the important work done.
Speaking of: The Saks saga continues and honestly, how lucky are we all to live through a time where we get such a front-row seat, a case study if you will, in how not to run (or turnaround) a business? I hate to be snarky and a hater buttttt it feels like every move from Saks over the last year has been the absolute wrong choice. Maybe this is the saving grace moment? They just called in the financial SWAT team so to speak - PJT Partners, Kirkland & Ellis, and Bank of America - to help them figure out how to keep the lights on while tariffs, and the ghosts of decisions past, deliver yet another body blow to luxury retail. They're targeting a $350M loan while simultaneously considering selling off real estate assets, which is basically the corporate equivalent of listing your bags on Poshmark to make rent (we’ve all been there). The most painful part might be those bonds from their $2.7B Neiman Marcus acquisition losing HALF their value since December. Remember when luxury consolidation seemed like such a brilliant idea? This is what happens when you make a massive acquisition at the exact moment consumer spending shifts and international tourism dries up (this one was harder to predict, I will give them that) - you end up trying to offload the family silver just months after the shopping spree. Between the market's clear skepticism, their increasingly desperate financial gymnastics, and the press around their brand relations, Saks is giving us a masterclass in how quickly retail fortunes can reverse. I just hope they're not paying these advisors with the same terms they set out for their brands.
No matter what you think of the product, I will stand by (and constantly repeat) what I’ve said the last few months: Chelsea Kramer is one of the most interesting and formidable first time founders I’ve seen and she has HER FOOT ON THE INDUSTRY’S NECK! She just hosted her 3rd NYC pop-up for Parke, proving the physical retail apocalypse has been greatly exaggerated, with lines stretching two blocks and devoted fans arriving at 3AM (!!!) just to buy sweatshirts they probably already own. So how did a Miami-based 25 year old with a very micro-level Tiktok following (at the time of Parke’s inception) create this Rhode-level frenzy around her brand? Through the perfect storm of strategic scarcity (three-day pop-up only 2x a year in only 2 cities), product drops that create actual FOMO (see the v-day debacle), and showing up personally from open to close (still zero paid marketing! This girl's personal style is the catalyst for the entirety of the brand). Their 950% sales growth in a single year (again I say: !!!) shows exactly how powerful this playbook can be when executed with precision - limited distribution, transparent founder presence, and products that make customers feel like members of an exclusive club.
Post-COVID e-commerce has officially entered its reality check era, with executives across the industry admitting the digital gold rush is over. Several brand leaders have highlighted what they're calling "an infection of sameness" across fashion e-commerce - and I will say what a perfect description it is of that feeling when you scroll through Instagram and can't tell one DTC brand from another. And this explains why customer acquisition costs have skyrocketed while conversion rates plummet - when everything looks identical, price becomes the only differentiator, and nobody wins that race to the bottom. The brands still thriving are pivoting to three key strategies: first, genuine product differentiation (actual innovation, not just marketing speak. Imagine: consumers want good products! gasp!); second, strategic offline activations that create real connections (the second iteration of the brand partnership gold rush); and third, leveraging AI (spending $$$) for backend efficiencies rather than just throwing that same money at the same digital channels everyone else is using. Many successful founders now openly criticize the classic DTC playbook that prioritized growth (about time!) and marketing over product development - finally acknowledging that no amount of algorithmic optimization can save a mediocre product that looks like everything else in the market.
Because it was always the endgame, you can now buy “real” products in Roblox. The Gen-Z powerhouse finally dropped the pretense that they care about the metaverse and launched what they've likely been building toward all along - a shopping mall for Gen-Z with Shopify checkout built directly into games. Starting with Fenty Beauty's exclusive Gloss Bomb launch, they've created the perfect customer capture mechanism: let kids play games, get them emotionally invested in their digital identity (and build that from a young age! hello loyalty), then seamlessly sell them physical products without ever leaving the ecosystem. Roblox has 97.8 million daily active users who trust the platform and spend hours there daily, making it potentially more valuable retail real estate than any physical location on earth. The real genius is how they've flipped the traditional retail funnel: instead of bringing your audience to your products, they're bringing products to audiences that already exist. Every fashion brand claiming they're "evaluating their metaverse strategy" needs to wake up - this isn't about digital fashion or NFTs or whatever buzzword is trending. It's about access to an audience that has tuned out traditional advertising and retail environments. Fenty understood this immediately - I guarantee every major brand will follow within months.
I have a feeling this summer is going to be wildly interesting for retail (tariff impacts finally hitting shelves, pricing strategies going haywire, the great consumer behavior shift we've all been waiting for), so I will see you Thursday to kick off our lil summer series RR style. Think what's actually trending (and why), how we're all shopping differently, and the psychology behind those "must-have" purchases everyone's suddenly making. I'm genuinely excited about this one.
Hope these little strategic nuggets make you the smartest voice in your meetings this week - drop one of these insights and watch everyone wonder how you always know what's happening before they do (because you do, and that's why you're here).
LYLAS <3
xx
Carly
Ok but can we also talk about Saks licensing their name to COSTCO?!?! I knew they were desperate but....yikes.
This is amazing as always Carly. You made me laugh so hard with this: "which is basically the corporate equivalent of listing your bags on Poshmark to make rent". I'll say it again - you need to write a book!