The Business of Fashion Podcast

This year marks the 125th anniversary of Nordstrom — a company that began as a small shoe store in Seattle founded by a Swedish immigrant and has grown into a $16 billion retail juggernaut.

At a moment when the American department store sector is under enormous pressure — with bankruptcies, consolidation and changing consumer behaviour reshaping the landscape — Nordstrom has taken a different path.

Last year, the Nordstrom family partnered with Mexican retailer Liverpool to take the company private, a move Pete Nordstrom says allows the business to move faster and focus on the long term.

Pete began working in the Nordstrom stockroom at age 12 and has held roles across merchandising, buying and store management before becoming co-president alongside his brother Erik. Pete remains sanguine about Nordstrom and the future of department stores:

“It's the best mousetrap. We've got the ability to have a curated breadth of offer. We have an online ecosystem that's integrated with the store, an off-price division with a practical exhaust for things that we don't sell at full price, and then there's scale. If you're big enough, you can be the first call for those brands,” he says. “We can create enough scale and leverage to make your digital business profitable. That's how I would pitch our thing: we think we offer a good solution for a modern customer and how they shop.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, Pete Nordstrom joins BoF founder Imran Amed to discuss the company’s 125-year history, why he believes the department store model still works and how taking the company private is shaping Nordstrom’s next chapter.

Key Insights:

Nordstrom describes the business as “a company with heritage” rather than a “heritage company,” prioritising modern relevance over tradition. The move from shoes into apparel in the 1960s and the national expansion in the 1970s established a blueprint for organic growth, always anchored in service and a focus on the customer.

Taking the company private was a move to secure long-term stability and efficient decision-making. Nordstrom notes that public markets often undervalue department stores due to the sector's lack of a “growth arc” compared to tech-driven industries. By partnering with Liverpool, the family retains 51 percent control, allowing them to lead without the “cumbersome processes” of public market expectations. He maintains that the business is improving not because of the “trappings” of being private, but because the structure allows the team to “lean in with more energy and focus around customers”.

Despite the negative narrative surrounding American retail, Nordstrom highlights the necessity of an integrated “Omni view,” where physical stores and digital platforms share a single inventory. Curation remains vital to compete with independent boutiques, balancing relevance with inspiration, or the discovery of new brands. “We have the ability to have a curated breadth of offer,” he says, adding that the most successful modern closets mix high-fashion houses like Chanel with performance brands like On Running and Nike.

Nordstrom emphasises that successful retail leadership is built on a foundation of tangible, varied experiences rather than academic credentials alone, arguing that there is no shortcut to developing the necessary judgment for the industry. “You’re valuable to a company because you’ve done things that have worked and things that haven’t worked,” he notes, advising the next generation to focus on building a broad professional perspective over immediate gratification.

Additional Resources:
Pete Nordstrom | BoF 500 | The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry
Can Department Stores Save Themselves? | The Debrief
American Department Stores Have a Beauty Problem

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Hip-hop has served as a primary pipeline for fashion’s entry into pop culture for decades, transitioning from organic street-level references to high-stakes global partnerships. Brands have historically leaned on a select group of superstar "style icons" to drive visibility, with A$AP Rocky emerging as the definitive case study for this crossover. However, as Gen Z consumer habits shift and the traditional music-to-market pipeline evolves, the industry faces questions about its over-reliance on a few familiar names.

Takanashi joins hosts Sheena Butler-Young and Brian Baskin to discuss the tension between the safety of established stars and the cultural necessity of finding fresh voices.

Key Insights:

Takanashi positions A$AP Rocky as the case study of hip-hop’s interaction with fashion, whose organic love for runway brands transformed him into a definitive bridge between hip-hop and luxury. He recalls how Rocky name-checked designers in his breakout moment, and how that shifted what young fans even understood as fashion. “On this breakout single ‘Peso’, [Rocky] said that he was into Rick Owens and Raf Simmons,” Takanashi says. “He came out the gate as this rapper who really declared that he was into high fashion.” This authenticity created a bridge that allowed luxury brands to feel comfortable moving beyond traditional streetwear.

However, fashion houses frequently default to known quantities like Pharrell, Travis Scott, or A$AP Rocky because their long resumes provide predictable results for risk-averse marketers. This creates a feedback loop where the same faces appear across multiple, sometimes competing, brand categories. “A marketer can just point to several examples they’ve done in the past and they could see the result of it,” Takanashi explains. The industry’s tendency to "glom onto certain familiar names" risks diluting the unique identity of the brands themselves.

On the other hand, niche fan bases offer a more potent alternative to mainstream superstars. Some of the most successful recent collaborations have bypassed the Billboard charts in favour of artists with highly engaged, specific communities, such as Action Bronson with New Balance. Takanashi highlights that there is “a lot of strength in just kind of collaborating with artists that aren’t necessarily like charting super high.” Smaller artists with highly engaged and loyal fans can move the needle more effectively than a mass-market star who may feel interchangeable.

While brands are happy to dress rising talent for red carpets or front-row appearances, the leap to a global campaign remains a "slow burn." Takanashi points out that many decision-makers lack a deep investment in the culture, leading them to extract value rather than nurture new talent. “Fashion is a business that extracts culture, but doesn’t necessarily give back to it as much as we’d like,” he says. Without more diverse perspectives in positions of leadership, the industry struggles to identify which younger artists possess genuine, long-term cultural resonance.

Additional Resources:
How Fashion Picks Its Hip-Hop Style Icons
Breaking Down Chanel’s A$AP Rocky Partnership
What’s Next for Hip-Hop and Fashion

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Over the past two years, press tours for films like Barbie and Wuthering Heights have become strategic fashion narratives — moments that extend a film’s story far beyond the screen.

At the centre of that shift is Andrew Mukamal, the stylist for Margot Robbie who has become synonymous with what’s become known as “method dressing” … aligning a film’s character, fashion history and brand partnerships into a cohesive red carpet story.
“Method dressing, to me, is really just about putting a bit of extra thought and consideration into what you wear,” says Mukamal. “With modern marketing, the way people consume media and the evolution of the ‘super-press tour’, it’s now one of the options for how to approach this.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, Andrew Mukamal joins BoF founder and CEO Imran Ahmed to speak about the rise of the super press tour, the business dynamics between stylists, studios and fashion houses, and how method dressing has reshaped celebrity marketing.

Key Insights:

Mukamal’s entry into the industry is rooted in assisting and learning on set, from photo shoots to the unglamorous logistics of the fashion wardrobe, and he argues that an apprenticeship remains the clearest training ground. The work is emotional, interpersonal and fast-moving; assistants learn by seeing how decisions get made under pressure. “The only way to really learn how to deal with those things is to be part of a team where you’re seeing all of that happen,” he says. “You have to be very limber and flexible and ready for somebody to call you and say, ‘Maybe we need to pivot.’”

Mukamal defines method dressing as intentionality, not a gimmick. “Method dressing is just about putting a bit of extra thought and consideration into getting dressed – you’re not just grabbing something off a rack.” In his view, most actors are already doing it because red-carpet presentation is fundamentally different from everyday life; the difference is whether you use that gap to build a narrative. “They don’t walk around their normal lives looking anything like what you see them on these public carpets,” he says. Done well, he positions it as performance and persuasion — “a living, breathing billboard” that sustains attention between the trailer and the release, and gives audiences “a daily reminder” of the story they’re being invited into.

The Barbie tour was more than a marketing stunt.. Mukamal went back to the original mood boards of the Mattel designers to find the high-fashion references they used in the 1950s and 1960s. He explains, “Putting myself back in their heads and saying, ‘OK … What was the brand that they were inspired by for this Barbie?’ Now I need to go to that brand and [close] the loop. It was kind of just magic.”

After the global vibrancy of Barbie, Mukamal shifted into a dark, psychological aesthetic to match the tone of Wuthering Heights. He describes this evolution as a “complete gear shift,” returning to his “fashion goth” roots to build a narrative grounded in the 1847 novel’s intensity. By sourcing vintage Victorian accessories and collaborating with designer Dilara Findikoglu, he orchestrated a moment that merged archival history with a “tone of the coolness and, like, darkness” appropriate for the story.

Mukamal frames styling as an apprenticeship-based industry where you absorb judgement, communication and crisis management by watching someone else do it – and then debriefing afterwards. He says, “The only way to really learn how to deal with those things is to be part of a team where you’re seeing all of that happen.” He adds: “Stick around, because you didn’t learn everything in a year or two … I really am a tiny little tadpole in this pond, and I should keep learning while I can.”

Additional Resources:
What Makes a Red Carpet Moment in 2024 | BoF
Have We Hit Peak Red Carpet? | BoF
Case Study | How to Create Cultural Moments on Any Budget | BoF

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Nearly a year after President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs sent shockwaves through the fashion industry, the Supreme Court ruled he did not have authority to impose the sweeping levies. For an industry that imports billions of dollars in clothing, footwear and accessories into the US each year, the decision initially felt like relief. But that optimism narrowed almost immediately as new tariffs were introduced at 10 percent, with Trump indicating they could be raised to 15 percent over the weekend.

Key Insights:
While a drop to a 15 percent tariff technically represents a rate reduction, the sudden policy reversal has plunged the industry back into a state of operational paralysis. Executives are struggling to form long-term strategies when the foundational rules of global trade shift from week to week. “The problem isn’t even the difference in the rate of tariffs,” Chen explains. “It’s that the uncertainty makes decisions so much harder than if we knew exactly what that rate was going to be, even if it was higher than before.” This volatility forces companies to make reactive, shipment-by-shipment choices rather than fortifying their businesses for the future.

The sheer scale of the disruption means that import duties can no longer be managed as a siloed logistical issue. Navigating the changing rules requires constant, cross-departmental negotiation to align product adjustments with consumer messaging. As Bain notes, “In the past, with something like this you would talk to your supply chain manager and come up with a plan with them. Now, you get everyone in the C-suite together into a war room … it’s just constant negotiation within your company and with your consumers.”

Despite social media chatter suggesting that brands and consumers are owed money for the now-illegal tariffs, the reality of recouping those funds involves a looming legal nightmare. The government is expected to aggressively fight payback efforts by demanding extensive paperwork or proof that costs were not passed onto shoppers. “Refunds are a possibility, but it's not going to be a simple process,” Bain says. “It's not like returning your e-commerce order online where you fill out a form and you get a bunch of money back.”

Fashion has experienced significant sticker shock over the past few years, but brands that successfully raised prices without losing consumer demand are unlikely to surrender those gains now. If the cost of production decreases under the new tariff structure, powerful labels will likely absorb the difference to improve their margins. “I think it's a possibility that some brands and retailers will lower their prices, likely in the form of discounting, rather than lowering retail prices,” Chen says.

Additional Resources:
The Supreme Court’s Tariff Ruling: What Fashion Needs to Know | BoF
US Supreme Court Overturns Trump’s Emergency Tariffs | BoF
Will Prices Come Down With Trump’s Tariffs? It’s Complicated | BoF
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If you’ve been to a major party in London, Paris or Los Angeles, chances are that Dave Benett was there too. For nearly four decades, Benett has been a constant presence, documenting the evolution of celebrity, society and style in all the spaces and places where culture is happening.

From concerts with Madonna and Prince to after-parties with Princess Diana and the rise of fashion as a pillar of culture, Benett has seen it all and become an expert at the art of working a room.

“Journalists can miss something [and] be told about it. Photographers can’t,” he says. “Whatever you’re doing, you’ve got to make sure your eyes are everywhere.”

This week on The BoF Podcast, Benett joins Amed to talk about what it really takes to cover an event, how party photography has changed in the era of smartphones and Instagram, and why relationships — not just access — are everything.
Now he is launching the Dave Benett Agency — a boutique model designed to protect quality, mentor a new generation of photographers and adapt to an era where everyone has a camera, but very few know where to stand.

Key Insights:

Born in Mauritius in 1958, Bennett moved to the UK as a child and by his late-teens was honing his photography skills at the Daily Mirror and Thames TV, covering riots and crime before pivoting to the social scene. He witnessed the cultural shift where fashion merged with music and celebrity: “We started to see it when Kate Moss, Naomi [Campbell], Vivienne Westwood and the The Fashion Awards all started to happen.”

Bennett operates as what he calls a "society photographer," a role built on mutual respect and long-term relationships. He explains, "we were recording what society was doing. We photographed the royals but when they came into our world and that relationship really did make a difference.” This trust was exemplified by his interactions with Princess Diana at private events. “I would just photograph her arriving and meeting the host and then she could go off and chat to all her friends. She felt safe ... and it really paid off for us as the doors closed later on."

While the digital revolution has democratised image-taking, Dave argues that there is a distinct gap between a personal snapshot and a professional photograph. He acknowledges that "the power of the individual has increased massively," but maintains that the industry still relies on a specific editorial eye. "The good thing for me is that they still need what we do, because we're shooting for a client ... and there's a skill that comes with that — how you take a photo, what you're looking for in the photo. When you've got people with their own cameras, their own phones, taking their own pictures, they practically have only one use — for themselves."

Benett describes event photography as a tactical exercise, mapping arrivals, tracking key players and staying on his feet for hours. To capture the right moments, he explains: "You work out exactly where you need to be for the initial arrival or where they come, then you work the room as and when new people arrive. You can actually spend four hours just campaigning the room, just making sure you're in the right place at the right time."

Additional Resources:
The Return of Old-School Celebrity Campaigns | BoF
How Celebrity Image-Makers Capitalise on the Red Carpet | BoF .

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