Nordstrom City Creek – Fashion That Fits Your Lifestyle
By Laura Jackson
In our exclusive interview with national fashion guru Gregg Andrews, Nordstrom’s top Creative Fashion Director, he shares invaluable insights on the season’s top trends and sensational styles. Andrews supports a national creative team that produces all of Nordstrom’s live fashion events across the country, including their designer fashion shows. He also works with corporate visual teams to create Nordstrom’s fabuluos fashion windows.
Style Seekers
With over 247 stores across 33 states, including City Creek right here in Salt Lake City, Andrews spends many of his days out on the road. He gets the unique opportunity to see first hand how his clients respond to the latest designs, fabrics and styles.
As a company, Nordstrom’s devotes a great deal of time looking at what comes down the runway, and then delivering desirable and wearable fashion to its customers. Andrews explains, “That’s probably my favorite part of the job—helping customers navigate through the trends they see on the runway and then demonstrating how that relates to their lifestyle.”
Leather’s New Rep
Not just for jackets anymore, leather is showing up in everything from t-shirts, to pants, to dresses with leather panels, to leather trims on all varieties of pieces. Although misconceptions about this fabric abound, Andrews sets the record straight, “There are still many women who believe leather is just too tough, or that it’s too biker chick or rocker, or that they can’t wear leather to work. But part of what we do is show them that really any woman can wear it regardless of her personal style.”
“For some women, it might be a leather jacket with skinny jeans, but for another it’s a leather pencil skirt that you wear with a tweed blazer and pumps. A different woman might wear a leather flippy skirt with a sweatshirt. They’re all leather pieces, they’re just going to do different things for them.”
Also gone are the days when leather had a reputation as being heavy and stiff. New innovations in tanneries and even leather mills have ensured that most leather is very soft, supple and easy to wear.
The Blush of Plush
Soft and luxurious to the touch never gets old. According to Andrews, “With these plush fabrics, they’re obviously going to take you into holiday, but they aren’t reserved only for holiday dressing. We traditionally think of these types of fabrics such as velvet, brocade, satin and lace as being evening wear fabrics. What’s making them look new is that they are being worn in the daytime. So you might take a velvet jacket and wear it with denim jeans, or a lace skirt and wear it with a cashmere sweater or a chunky hand knit sweater. That juxtaposition of something dressy with something casual can make all the difference.”
Menswear Inspired, Female Fashioned
It’s important to understand that when we’re talking about menswear, it’s not about androgyny or trying to dress like a man. “There’s a strong sense of femininity; it’s not Annie Hall dressing from the 80s. Women have really discovered that they can dress in a feminine way and still compete in a man’s world,” said Andrews.
“And it’s interesting, four or five years ago, femininity in clothing was really more about sexuality. I mean we were seeing a whole lot of skin. But today, necks are higher, sleeves and hemlines are longer, and it’s not so much about showing skin as showing a feminine silhouette.”
The Return of the Feminine Form
It’s good news for many of us—showing our curves is in. And it’s about time we celebrated a woman’s real shape. “Many of the menswear fabrications are cut with a very feminine silhouette,” explains Andrews. “So you see a lot of waist definition, a contouring over the hips, and maybe a even a little emphasis at the shoulder that helps create that hourglass silhouette. The same holds true with leather, we’re seeing a lot of leather that contours to the body.”
With an emphasis on our feminine side, “We’re also seeing more references to past decades, everything from the 40s to the 60s, even some 80s. We’re seeing some iconic pieces that women feel comfortable with in their wardrobe. But they’re being done in a new way.”
Shoes of the Season
The two must-haves: shoe boots and pumps. “A woman could really own an entire range of booties and shoe boots, anything from high-heeled to flat shoe boots, pointed toes and more. They’re truly being worn with everything. And there’s the return of pumps, anything from a basic pump to one with an ankle strap or a Mary Jane strap.”
