It’s one of this season’s biggest trends but it’s not animal print or cycling shorts: high street fashion retailers are hiring armies of personal stylists to give shoppers the VIP treatment as they battle the slump in clothing sales.
“There is still a bit of a stigma [around personal styling] from back in the day when Trinny and Susannah and Gok Wan would strip you off and make you stand in front a mirror in your bra and knickers,” says Lucy Knight, one of the 140 stylists now employed to help shoppers find their best looks – and boost clothing sales – on the fashion floors of John Lewis & Partners department stores. “It’s not like that.”
Department stores have found themselves in the firing line as the growth of online shopping sucks sales out of the high street. To stay relevant John Lewis boss Paula Nickolds believes its stores need to get into the business of selling “experiences” as they fight for a slice of discretionary consumer spending that increasingly competes with mini breaks and nights out.
To that end its customers can now expect the kind of red carpet treatment usually found in upmarket stores such as Harrods and Selfridges. A two-hour session with Knight, who is based in the “style studio” in John Lewis’s newest branch in the Westfield super mall in west London is free but other services such as an epic four-and-a half-hour treatment in the beauty salon come with a hefty price tag.
“Your client needs to trust you in the first 30 seconds,” says Knight, who is not paid commission on sales even though well-heeled shoppers typically part with £200 to £500 on the back of her advice. “If you don’t build that trust straight away it’s going to become a difficult appointment.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
