My School Rocks! 2014-04 Arlene Goldstein | Page 29

AG: The most exciting thing is

the people I work with. I interact
with some amazing people.
I’m inspired by people who are
passionate about what they do,
and I love being around those
kinds of people. I like to be an
influencer, to be able to create
the point of view for Belk and
to sell that to the people in this
building. They are my internal
clients.

Ava: New York Fashion Week

looks like it is crazy. How many
shows do usually attend?

Shayna: What do you do when

you travel, and who do you travel
with?

AG: I travel with our internal

managers, and we’re there to get
ideas. When we go to Europe,
I’m not there to see shows.
We’re there to shop the stores
and to see what’s going on: to
look at the beat on the street,
what colors are emerging and
to take that direction and bring
it back to Belk. Then I have to
come back and say, “What things
are really going to work for us?”

Ava: In my research, I noticed

that Belk is opening a lot of new
stores. Can you discuss plans for
expansion?

AG: Right now, we’re all

AG: I used to attend and really

stay almost a full week and
do shows. But these days, I’m
getting most of my information
off the Internet. I did attend
two shows and that was really
exciting. I was at Lincoln Center
on the Upper West Side of New
York. It’s exactly what you see
on television. Often, Hollywood
has artistic license to make things
look more exaggerated, but it’s
exactly like that. It’s the crazy
fashionistas standing out front
and all these photographers
trying to get pictures of
celebrities if they show up. Some
of us are there to work, to find
out what the trends are!

concentrated on Dallas, because
we have some smaller stores,
we call them satellite stores,
but now we’re going to open
a big flagship. Our goal is still
to embrace the smaller towns
in the communities where we
might be the only game in town,
but also to make sure there’s
a flagship within the realm of
that geography to sort of set a
different tone. That’s what we’re
doing in Texas. We already have
about 10 small stores there.

Personal Styles and Inspirations
One of the inspirational
sources Goldstein said industry
professionals are very interested
in right now is “the millennial
customer.” Even though
the more adult consumer
might not dress exactly like a
20-something, Goldstein said
the mature shopper is definitely
influenced by the younger sense
of style.

Shape Shifts We’re seeing some
changes in the way things are
shaped. We’re seeing some A-line
shapes, away from the body. It
might show up in a top or a dress.
We’re seeing wide-leg pants.
Everything’s been real skinny. But
that doesn’t mean the skinny pants
are going to be gone, because
they’ve become a classic. We’re
seeing shaped skirts, just away
from the body where everything
has been sort of close to the body.

Feminine Charm Belk’s tagline is:
Modern. Southern. Style. We’re
the biggest retailer in the bottom
half of the United States that is
privately held, still held by the Belk
family. We feel since we are based
in the South that we are arbiters of
modern Southern style. Southern
women like things a little more
feminine and colorful, and that’s
something we embrace.

“His is Hers” For fall, there’s a style
segment that I love, called “His
is Hers.” It’s about some boyish
things being integrated. There’s a
whole athletic message, taking an
athletic item and integrating it into
your wardrobe.

The Shoe for Next Fall It will be a
flat, and it’s going to be the overthe-knee boot.

Backpacks are Back The backpack
is emerging as a fashion item. I was
just at a trade show in Las Vegas
and all the guys had on these
amazing backpacks. They were
all so interesting and innovative.
Some real modern ones, and some
lace leathers and synthetic fabrics.
I think that’s one thing that we’re
going to see a lot of — people
carrying backpacks again.
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