- SPACE at Nordstrom to introduce an incubator project to showcase and support new designers
SEATTLE, 2017-Feb-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — On February 21, SPACE at Nordstrom will introduce ‘The Lab,’ an incubator project to showcase and support new designers in select stores and online.
Conceived and curated by Olivia Kim, Vice President of Creative Projects at Nordstrom, ‘The Lab’ will present five designers selected for the inaugural season: Eckhaus Latta, Vejas, Eric Schlösberg, A.W.A.K.E. and Dilara Findikoglu.
Kim and her buying team selected a handful of looks from the five designers, including exclusive and custom-made items signature to each’s aesthetic.
SPACE, which Kim launched in Fall 2015, is an in-store designer boutique featuring cross-category collections of apparel, accessories, home goods and fragrance from emerging and advanced designers such as Simone Rocha, Koché, Ellery, Colovos, Molly Goddard, and more.
A long-time champion of emerging designers in the fashion industry, Kim saw a subset of truly new brands just starting their collections and wanted to develop a place dedicated to recognizing fledgling talent.
“A brand has to be relatively established in order to support a substantial wholesale business,” Kim said. “We wanted to find a way to show the truly new brands just starting out, and to recognize the great, raw talent out there. To say we see you, and we want to support you.
“There are incredible demands on a young designer trying to grow their business, and we wanted to say ‘you may not be able to produce enough of a collection for eight stores right now and that’s okay.’ The Lab is for the designers who have just launched their collections, did their first show, maybe used their friends as models and showed in a basketball court in the Lower East Side. It’s true, authentic and they’re creating beautiful collections that we want to share with our customers.”
The Lab will be an ongoing program in SPACE at Nordstrom, refreshed with new brands each season in order to give each designer a spotlight to help grow their businesses.
‘The Lab’ will be in the following SPACE locations:
- Nordstrom Downtown Seattle, Seattle, Wash.
- Nordstrom The Grove, Los Angeles, Calif.
- Nordstrom Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Ill.
- Nordstrom CF Pacific Centre, Vancouver, B.C.
- Nordstrom CF Toronto Eaton Centre, Toronto, Ont.
- Nordstrom.com/SPACELab
Dilara Findikoglu
Dilara Findikoglu is a London based designer of Turkish origin. The Central St. Martins graduate’s rebellious nature first came to light when in lieu of the press show, she held her own guerilla catwalk to much admiration from the International fashion press. Since then her name has quickly become synonymous with empowered tailoring fused with historical references and social commentary – Dilara plays with the roles and perceptions of the norm and distorts and twists them for our pleasure. Stocked worldwide in the finest boutiques and concept stores, her rise has been nothing short of meteoric.
Eric Schlosberg
Heavily influenced by fantasy and storytelling, Eric Schlosberg’s eponymous label opens up the door to a sexy alternate universe that’s ever so slightly off kilter and twisted. The Parsons graduate envelops his audience with glamour and decadence all while keeping true to his punk sensibilities.
Eckhaus Latta
ECKHAUS LATTA is a New York based fashion label designed and executed by Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta. The two met while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. After graduating (BFA 2010), they designed and worked with many labels, artists and institutions including Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Matthew Barney, Opening Ceremony, The Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and threeASFOUR. Together in 2011, Mike and Zoe founded ECKHAUS LATTA.
A.W.A.K.E.
A.W.A.K.E. was founded in 2012 by Natalia Alaverdian. Natalia’s unique eye for fashion has developed through a multi-disciplinary career encompassing styling, art direction and photography. Natalia’s goal with A.W.A.K.E., an acronym for All Wonderful Adventures Kindle Enthusiasm, is to propose a personal and distinct voice through clothing that balance conceptual, storytelling aspirations with commercial viability. Keynote designs are Natalia’s take on classic shirting, tailored coats, and dresses, each with an idiosyncratic quality underlined by a succession of very specific inspirational references of animals and characters from history, art and film. The major reference point and inspiration for all of the collections so far have been deviated from the Japanese art and culture.
Vejas
Vejas manifested out of aggregate desires to actualize a reality, and the will of that longing culminated into a uniquely staged presentation for Autumn / Winter 2015. The show embraced the contradictions of strength and vulnerability, freedom and control, and explored the ideals of self-actualization that allowed it to enter into the real. The clothing contorts the familiar into unnatural forms: the soft mechanized and the hard cut into submission, composing a wardrobe that allows an emotive form of dressing. In 2016, Vejas was awarded the LVMH Special Jury Prize.
ABOUT NORDSTROM
Nordstrom, Inc. is a leading fashion specialty retailer based in the U.S. Founded in 1901 as a shoe store in Seattle, today Nordstrom operates 349 stores in 40 states, including 123 full-line stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico; 215 Nordstrom Rack stores; two Jeffrey boutiques; and two clearance stores. Additionally, customers are served online through Nordstrom.com, Nordstromrack.com and HauteLook. The company also owns Trunk Club, a personalized clothing service serving customers online at TrunkClub.com and its seven clubhouses. Nordstrom, Inc.’s common stock is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol JWN.
Contact:
Brie Cross
Nordstrom, Inc.
206.303.4315
brie.cross@nordstrom.com
Source: Nordstrom, Inc.
###