Stroke of
Genius
Holt Renfrew’s Vice-President of Fashion
Direction Barbara Atkin holds a powerful
Priestly-esque job title, and she explains how she
brings world luxury to the Canadian market
WORDS BY JAY DE BELEN
PHOTOGRAPHED BY ADAM MOCO
Genius – it seems to be Barbara Atkin’s favorite word.
She says it ten times throughout our conversation, all in
different iterations. Designers, fashion-forward thinkers, exceptional ideas, marketing moguls; genius is the
keyword. She chuckles the word heartily, describing Karl
Lagerfeld’s exquisite designs for Chanel. Entrepreneur
Mickey Drexler’s handling of the Gap and J.Crew’s
brand gets an appreciative murmur of genius. But if
you think about it, only a true genius can point out and
appreciate another genius’ work. That’s especially true in
the fashion world, where absolutely everything is blindingly beautiful. So what does that make Atkin? Straight
up – a genius.
Calling from the Toronto offices of Holt Renfrew, Atkin
is a bubbly jolt of morning air, despite having just landed from Paris not too long ago. Though she isn’t caught
up in the much-publicized paparazzi side of the fashion world, Atkin is one of the most important fashion
behemoths in Canada. As the Vice-President of Fashion
Direction at Holt Renfrew, Atkin’s job is as glamorous as
it sounds. “It’s a powerful job,” she says. It’s about shopping the great markets of the world and bringing back
the best brands, the best designers, the new and fiery,
and coordinating all that product into one well-curated
store selection, Atkin muses. Clearly, Holt Renfrew is
lucky to have one such fashion director who is obsessed
with that much detail – she’s one of Canada’s Miranda
Priestlys.
Holt Renfrew is all about the luxurious customer, the
one that shells out the big bucks. Atkin is in charge
of making sure that '6