Plaid Men

One of my favorite new terms is recessionista: It’s those “fashionistas” of earlier in the decade, the ones who prayed at the temple of Alexander McQueen and Michael Kors but have decided it’s now stylish to shop at T.J. Maxx, search for sales and discounts, carry a bag without a designer name and wear the same outfit into a second season.

As a result, those old fashionista hang-outs – Neiman Marcus, Saks, Bloomingdale’s and the rest – have to address the new realities of the marketplace.

So Neiman Marcus announced that it’s working with its designers to develop mid-price collections. And this morning, the home page on its web site announced, “thousands of sweet deals still available – take an extra 25 percent off already reduced prices to save as much as 55 percent off.” Wait a minute. Am I on biglots.com?

I’ve always honored Neiman Marcus for its refusal to cut corners, taint its brand, lower its vision. But nobody ever said Neiman Marcus was run by dummies. It’s not a museum, after all, but a business, with inventory to sell, stockholders to please and financial goals to meet. You do what you have to do. It’s just depressing.

So how refreshing to read about all the effort Burberry has put into its new U.S. headquarters space in New York. The British company, whose tan plaid was ubiquitous on handbags, scarves and the linings of trench coats back in the day when American banks were still as solid as banks, has taken 68,000 square feet over four floors in the old Newsweek building on Madison Avenue. But what was really exciting was reading about the attention to design detail in the space. Burberry hired TPG Architecture to create what Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey called “disheveled elegance.”

Furniture, lighting, surfaces, paneling, flooring and merchandise vignettes were all given the special attention (and, presumably, big bucks) VMSD always writes about in regard to store design. This isn’t a store, of course; it’s where Burberry hosts retail merchandise buyers. But if the company is willing to invest so heavily in its space, it’s clearly a show of confidence that Neiman Marcus and the other retailers will continue to invest in new inventory from the old, established brands and fill their stores with designer chic. And if they do that, they’ll also invest in upgrading the settings to display those goods.

Perhaps it’s a sign that the apocalypse may still be centuries away.