Over-40 Finds a Muse
New York designer Elie Tahari invited retail buyers to his showroom this past week to unveil his latest sartorial confection: a $598 purple-floral sheath that he has named 'the Michelle dress,' after Michelle Obama.
The 44-year-old future first lady's immediate influence on fashion 'has nothing to do with fashion trends,' says Mr. Tahari, who plans to put the dress in ads this spring and in stores in June. 'Her style is all about the woman being noticed, not just the dress.'
After years of unsuccessful attempts to satisfy middle-aged women -- a high-spending but difficult-to-please demographic -- the U.S. apparel industry is rejoicing that it has finally found its muse. In design studios along Seventh Avenue and in retail strategy sessions at stores from Talbots to Saks Fifth Avenue, designers and executives are holding up Mrs. Obama as their Baby Boomer pinup girl.
After the election, Talbots Inc. quickly added images of Mrs. Obama to the image book, videos and storyboards it circulates internally to sales and design employees. 'We scrambled to put her in our brand book that we give sales associates that speaks to who the customer is and who we should always be designing for and talking about,' says Michael Smaldone, chief creative officer, who joined the 550-store chain a year ago to update the brand.
Some styles have already begun to change at Ellen Tracy, a label that is overhauling its look after seeing sales slide in recent years. Some items now fit closer to the body, the way Mrs. Obama tends to wear her clothes. The internal book the company is using to relaunch the Ellen Tracy brand has four pages of images of Mrs. Obama on the campaign trail, wearing sheath dresses and casual sportswear. Mark Mendelson, Ellen Tracy president, says the company is even considering running some of those images in advertising.
Designers at Liz Claiborne Inc. have struggled for years to revamp the label for middle-aged women. Now, Mrs. Obama's name is being bandied about as the role model for the company's new flagship collection, which hits stores next month. 'Michelle Obama is the incarnation of what we have been thinking,' says Isaac Mizrahi, Liz Claiborne's designer.
Middle-aged women have long been elusive targets for the U.S. apparel industry. In recent years, fashion marketers aiming to appeal to women over 40 -- from Gap Inc.'s Forth & Towne, Janeville and Liz Claiborne Inc.'s Sigrid Olsen -- have all gone out of business trying to deliver figure-flattering, stylish clothes that appeal to this customer. AnnTaylor Stores Corp. spent a year trying to create a new brand for the demographic, only to shelve the project last year.
One factor that makes mature women tough to please is that, as a group, they wear a wide range of sizes. They lean toward colorful, trendy styles, but they don't want to look like teenyboppers. They also want clothes that flatter their aging bodies -- dresses that cover their arms, pants that are slimming and comfortable. And they don't have time to graze malls as younger women do and so want sales associates to help navigate the clutter of clothes they often find in stores.
As sales of women's clothes have plunged in the recession, middle-aged women have become a tempting target because of their tendency to spend more than younger women on clothes. Women over 35 spent an estimated $53.2 billion of the $109 billion in women's apparel purchases for the 12 months ended in September, according to market researcher NPD Group. By comparison, women from the ages of 18 to 34 spent only $37.3 billion (girls from 13 to 17 spent the rest).
Many fashion companies steer away from being too closely associated with Baby Boomers -- for fear of typecasting their brands as old. Now Mrs. Obama is proving that it's OK, even chic, to be 40-something. J. Crew wasted no time connecting the dots when it ran the headline 'Shop J. Crew for the Michelle Obama Look' on its Web site soon after Mrs. Obama's late-October appearance on 'The Tonight Show' with Jay Leno, where she wore a yellow sweater, shell and skirt, all from J. Crew. 'If Michelle Obama can put together three pieces that we didn't show together, that's the validation that gives other women confidence that they can do the same,' says Jenna Lyons, creative director at the specialty retailer.
Apparel makers appreciate that Mrs. Obama -- unlike many Hollywood celebrities on the fashion industry radar screen -- has realistic proportions. And she dresses in accessible mall brands, like J. Crew and White House Black Market, as well as in higher-priced designer labels like Maria Pinto and Thakoon. 'One thing I love about her is that she isn't a stick figure and not a plus size,' says Mr. Mizrahi. 'She has a body pride I love.'
Jumping on the Obama bandwagon was an obvious move, once Seventh Avenue companies saw how American women rushed to buy her outfits. 'With Michelle Obama, there's an interest in her ability to move clothes,' says Leslie Jane Seymour, editor of More magazine, which targets middle-aged readers and put Mrs. Obama on its October cover. 'She represents the post-feminist generation -- a woman who can wear a sheath dress and show her arms -- and women are responding to her ability to be feminine, sexy and still powerful.'
At Saks Fifth Avenue, where the average customer age is 45, chief women's merchant Joseph Boitano says Mrs. Obama exemplifies the kind of style many middle-aged women aspire to achieve. After listening to customers in focus groups, Saks has begun retraining sales associates to target older women by helping them cross-shop brands throughout the store, he says. Unlike label-obsessed 20-somethings, Mr. Boitano adds, middle-aged women are 'more focused on products, such as a jacket with great detail that has shape, instead of a particular brand.'
Talbots, meanwhile, highlighted two trademark Michelle Obama looks -- pearls and shift dresses -- at fashion seminars at its stores, called 'hostess events,' this past Thursday. 'We really blew this event out once Michelle came into focus,' Mr. Smaldone says.
The connection isn't lost on Talbots customers, who have been bombarding the company with suggestions. One Virginia customer sent an email asking, 'Don't you think Michelle Obama would look so elegant in your cardinal red duchesse satin gown? Why don't you think about designing a matching red satin velvet opera coat exclusively for her?' Right after the election, the company sent Mrs. Obama a packet of catalogs and videos, hoping she will select a few styles and inspire millions of other women to do the same. |
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