Why Juicy Couture's New Commander-in-Chic is in an Enviable Position
Juicy Couture, a division of Liz Claiborne (LIZ) just named LeAnn Nealz, executive vice president and chief design officer at American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) as its new president and chief creative officer. The brand desperately needs a leader with a clear creative vision as it strives to reinvent itself from a maker of flashy track suits to a (flirty! fun!) fashion house.
Juicy may get lucky with LeAnn Nealz, the problem is it will take some time before the full impact of her influence is felt. Though founders Gela Nash-Taylor and Pamela Skaist-Levy took leave of their day-to-day responsibilities in January -- while maintaining creative roles -- Juicy hired LA-based queen of quirk, the blonde-banged Erin Fetherston as guest designer and creative consultant through 2011.
Fetherston created a capsule collection for holiday 2010 which got a splashy reception at Fashions Night Out earlier this month and is on track to craft the 2011 collections. But Fetherston has her own fish, err, fashions, to fry having just launched an e-commerce site and blog for her eponymous line.
Nealz, who officially starts in November, will be playing in the stylish shadows of the aforementioned fashionistas until she can take over full creative control. It's a pity because the gal's got serious cred. Nealz steered American Eagle through a tough recession â€" and came out mostly on top. Sure the teen retailer could have handled its foray into, ahem, older territory by positioning Martin + Osa better, but you have to give AEO credit for pulling out quickly when the initiative failed.
If she can anticipate trends now, she'll be able to catapult Juicy's assortment into truly covetable territory for the 18-29 year old market. The brand posted a modest 1.5 percent increase in the second quarter, so there is definitely room for improvement.
And this is where it pays to be a wallflower -- at least temporarily. With this much time (several seasons is an eon in fashion world), Nealz will be able to see what works, and what doesn't. Depending on how Fetherston's threads fare on the racks, Nealz can build her own collections accordingly. That's a position every style setter is drooling after.
Image via Juicycouture.com
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