White woman appropriates cultural motifs for fashion line and earns accolades from Vogue and other fashion cognoscenti. White woman opens store in immigrant community and the Paper of Record offers free marketing. Back pats all around.
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Thanks NYT and Bode...for the burst of creative infusion this piece provided me this morn. Envisioning anew. Reverberating. Connecting. Morning muse. Joy in the creating!
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Love this brand and Emily. I was introduced to her brand while working with the CFDA during the CVFF. She’s very sweet and so down to earth. Great piece as well, NYT. Your growth is inspiring and quite savvy. I love how you stayed true to yourself and ethos by staying in Chinatown. Congrats on your brick and mortar - huge accomplishment.
When explaining her philosophy on branding I noticed a typo.
“It has everything to do with how people explain it so each other.”
I believe it should be “explain it to each other”
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I love Bode and my fave store in NYC has carried her for a minute...I’ve worked in fashion and costumes for film/tv for many years and miss the stores that made me excited to enter and see what was on offer...17th st Barney’s, Charivari, an old EV shop called Horn that Miguel Adrover used to own, Smylon Nylon, which turned into Nylon Squid, even the old Antique Boutique...shopping in NYC was what it was bc you truly had stuff here that was special...her shop sounds like a throwback to that and I will be happy to offer my patronage...Salvation Army only carries faded, oversized tees from American Eagle now...I like to spend my money on truly exceptional and one of a kind pieces I can wear for many years
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Good for her for using vintage and antique textiles! Some of the most beautiful fabrics available.
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Of course consumers still want to experience shopping IRL! It just depends on, shopping for what? The customer experience here makes IRL shopping fun. The customer experience at Amazon Go, now opening around town, makes shopping quick and hassle/wait-free [yes, Amazon is expanding its brick and mortar!]. But mundane staples? Just use Amazon or similar, no need for IRL.
Just depends on what the CX is. But there is still a reason for IRL shopping....
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So we should celebrate that Chinatown is losing another corner to gentrification, one offering Salvation Army knock-offs that no one in the community will even be able to afford?
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@John Chinatown has moved to the Upper West Side. I don’t see anyone mourning the loss of *our* home and culture.
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@John Came here for this comment. Thank you, agreed.
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I'm a long-time merchant and adjunct professor. Bode is emblematic of great fashion. It's new, exciting, and fun. Most importantly - it resonates on a personal level. Best of luck.
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I applaud this designer-artist-business person for her courage. I have been thinking a lot about how to build a brand/start a business. A lot of my work has a storytelling/genealogy aspect to it, too. Her courage gives me hope. I, too, use textiles, but mostly as art although I have hand-sewn a dress prior to an artist residency in Iceland. Bookmarking this story for further inspiration. Hard to even name what all I want to do, but I'll know when I see it. Will visit the next time Im in NY. I wish you all the best, Emily.
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@milagro I wish you all the best, too, milage of Chicago. We need brave artists to make the world interesting.
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