Sabtu, 04 Oktober 2014

Read Fashion

It’s a question we debate a lot: Can fashion and philanthropy co-exist? So when Nordstrom announced their latest pop-in shop, TMRW TGTHER, we were intrigued. Their concept: a retail space and online store with “eco-friendly, upcycled, artisinal, and community-focused goods.” Their offerings: homegrown hits like an exclusive range of Lauren Bush Lauren’s FEED bags, Brooklyn-based Gather Journal and South African springbok boots beloved by our own fashion editor, Danielle Prescod. Their fearless leader: Olivia Kim, Nordstrom’s Director of Creative Projects, who was more than game to talk about the paradox—and the potential—of the idea that we can shop to save the world. “The first rule of products that give back is that you have to want them anyway,” Kim explains. “Otherwise, it’s insulting your customer. There’s nothing in TMRW TGTHR that I wouldn’t already want in my home, or my closet.” An Opening Ceremony alum, Kim collects tattoos the way some kids hoard baseball cards, but her true passion is watching how her peers like to connect—and often, she says, it’s through shopping. “A big thing about our generation, Millennials, or whatever they want to call us,” Kim muses, “is that we do love to shop, and we don’t apologize for that, because we’re making our own money and driving our own careers. But we’re also really conscious about the wider world. And I think, we believe—I know I believe—that we shouldn’t have to choose between looking good and giving back. I think looking at shopping versus making a difference as an either-or thing is passé. There’s been this explosion in conscious, sustainable products that are also really cool. And it’s because we—as young women, as shoppers, as part of the Nordstrom community, and the fashion community—want to have both.” Kim’s collaborator, Lauren Bush Lauren, agrees. “I’ve always felt shopping and philanthropy were a natural fit,” she explains. “Fashion is a wearable art form, but also a way to express yourself and your identity. If your identity is that of someone who’s compassionate, and cares, and wants to make the world a better place, philosophically it’s a very natural fit to show it in your clothes.” Or in Lauren’s case, your bags—exclusive ones created in Kenya by artisans, with proceeds going back to the UN World Food Programme. “Profits from these bags go back to feeding children in Kenya,” Lauren says, “And I think some of them are already sold out!” “They’re so good,” Kim echoes. “When I look for things to put in Nordstrom, I ask myself, ‘if I saw a girl wearing that on the street, would I want to know where she got it?’ And these new FEED bags, if I saw someone on the street with them, I wouldn’t ask her anything. I’d just walk up,” she says, laughing, “and try to steal it!” Not exactly the definition of “look good, do good.” But what’s a little fashion crime in the face of helping others?