Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert has joined forces with Bergdorf Goodman this month for the launch of Gio_Graphy: Fun in the Wild World of Fashion, ahead of its global release in October. The partnership will comprise of a pop-up shop celebrating emerging Italian fashion talent, a store window takeover, and a t-shirt collection inspired by the book.
Both the pop-up shop and windows will pay homage to Battaglia Engelbert’s Italian heritage, working with the Italian Trade Commission to feature Autumn/Winter collections by her favorite Italian labels. I’m an Italian living in New York, so for me it felt natural to support Italian fashion in New York, of course there is a lot of Gucci, because Gucci is having such a huge moment now, but we also wanted to support younger, emerging Italian brands too.
For Bergdorf Goodman, a collaboration of this kind represents a new way to draw customers into the store. We are relying on bringing both the personality and the personal to retail, says Linda Fargo, senior vice president of the fashion office and the director of women ‘s fashion and store presentation. It was a highly unusual decision for us to turn over our windows and develop a pop-up during New York Fashion Week, but we felt strongly about Giovanna’s essence as a happy antidote to the physical store retail malaise.
