With their discerning eyes, Nordstrom‘s tastemakers aim to inspire customers by bringing them relevant and exclusive collections — and top-notch service.
Among them is Catherine Bloom, director of luxury styling, who runs the Melrose Place retail location, Catherine Bloom for Nordstrom, where she caters to private clients including celebrities, musicians, chief executive officers, athletes, hotel owners and royalty.
Linda Cui Zhang, who previously worked at J.Crew, has been the store’s accessories fashion director for five years.
Jian DeLeon, with his editorial background at GQ, Complex and Highsnobiety, has been men’s fashion director for more than five years.
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Autumne West, a longtime Nordstrom beauty executive, has been the national beauty director since June 2020.
Below, they shared their insights into how they cater to their valued clientele in their respective roles and what makes their selections distinctive and unique.
WWD: What makes your role at Nordstrom special?
Catherine Bloom: I love that we have the opportunity to discover the most compelling products for our clients and future clients. Curating our own space allows us to showcase a fresh perspective and create an experience that feels both innovative and personal.
Linda Cui Zhang: As the accessories fashion director, I’m energized by my role working across many teams (merchandising, marketing PR, events, digital, visual merchandising, stores) to connect fashion/trends to compelling product selection with omnichannel storytelling. It’s a dream role, and I’m lucky to have the support/mentorship from peers and leaders along the way. One of my favorite parts of my job is meeting emerging designers and seeing new brands and collections in-person. It’s a special experience to review the craftsmanship and designs months before they hit our stores.
Jian DeLeon: In many ways, my role is a dream job. I get to work across the entirety of our men’s business and have the privilege of working with so many talented people across the company. It’s given me the opportunity to learn so much about the business side of fashion but also how we can meld that with the creative and inspirational aspects of it.
Autumne West: It’s a unique role because it bridges creativity and strategy on a national scale. I love being able to help shape our beauty trends for Nordstrom while partnering with our incredible buying team and brand partners to create experiences that feel personal and inspiring for our customers.
WWD: How do you make the Nordstrom selection distinctive and unique?
CB: When choosing pieces, we focus on items that clients may not already have, whether high or low. We highlight seasonal trends that align with their lifestyle, while drawing influence from everywhere: interiors, automobiles, vintage finds and travel. Inspiration surrounds us, and we bring that energy into every detail.
LCZ: We put our customer first. I partner with our buyers to develop assortments that we hope meet our customers where they’re at — considering factors like regional trends, popular aesthetics and even the weather. We champion for exclusives to bring a distinctive brand experience to our customer. For example, we launched the shoe brand Le Monde Béryl with an assortment that featured mostly exclusive styles.
JD: It always comes back to the customer and having a collective vision for where we want to take him, built on the knowledge of where we know he’s at. I’m always inspired by helping any guy dress outside the box — just pushing him a little bit outside of his comfort zone and getting him to realize he can actually pull something off and he’ll look and feel much better for it.
AW: I get to curate moments based on our customer interests and our buyers’ visions, balancing iconic brands with new and emerging. Our differentiation is not only in the exclusive drops we get access to, but in our beauty salespeople. I’m a true product enthusiast and lover at heart. My inspiration comes from daily discovery and reading about trends, which is very similar to our customers. I started as a customer first, a beauty makeup artist and salesperson second, and years later, I’m still just as excited about that new lip product that just dropped that I must have.
WWD: How do you tailor and communicate your offerings to your customer? What do they respond to?
CB: What’s remarkable about the Nordstrom client is their loyalty to the brand and their genuine curiosity about fashion. They appreciate that we’re introducing a new level of style and luxury service, something beyond what they’ve experienced before, and their excitement is palpable. We love creating a fun, effortless experience. We anticipate their needs before they even ask, and nothing is ever too much. Shopping online can feel like a chore and going from store to store can be exhausting. In our space, we make it joyful by understanding what they’re looking for and thinking ahead. The mood and energy of our studio evolve daily with the arrival of new pieces, making every visit exciting. We’re constantly styling fresh products, so you never know what stunning pieces you’ll discover. It’s always a new experience.
LCZ: We hope to cultivate loyal customers by offering a diverse range of brands, products and services. I’m excited by the resonance of novelty with our customers from items like the Coach Kisslock bag to the Sacai x Ugg collaboration.
JD: Every customer is different, but I think the universal thing is that I feel like most of our menswear customers still want to feel like themselves, just a more stylish version of that. I always use music as a reference so it’s almost like knowing someone’s favorite bands gives you a good idea of what else he’d like to listen to, and I definitely think there’s parallel with the brands he likes to wear.
AW: We focus on the experience, whether it’s personalized consultations, curated edits or immersive events. Our customer is looking for quality, innovation and a sense of connection. Recently, we’ve introduced and expanded brands like Victoria Beckham Beauty, Omnilux, Homecourt, Paume and Ogee Beauty, which resonate with trends in skin care and makeup that our customers are looking for. We also have exclusive product drops every single month from brands that our customers love. For example, we recently launched the new Jo Malone London Care collection as an exclusive, giving our customers the opportunity to discover it first at Nordstrom.
WWD: What makes working for Nordstrom different from any other experience you‘ve had?
CB: Nordstrom truly embodies the spirit of a family-driven business, fostering loyalty that goes beyond anything I’ve experienced before. It’s inspiring to witness.
LCZ: There’s a culture of service that starts in our stores and permeates across every part of our organization. I’ve had the pleasure of learning from people who hold a long tenure of excellence within the company, like our designer shoe buyer John Langston who has been with Nordstrom for 40 years, as well as leaders who offer insights from their own background like our vice president of fashion, Rickie De Sole.
Prior to joining Nordstrom, I worked in the financial services sector and then corporate retail where I often heard the retailer described as “Nordstrom nice” — often describing fair terms and positive vendor relationships. I was happy to discover the “niceness” also extends to the organization’s people.
JD: At the end of the day, Nordstrom still feels like a family business. Not just because we regularly interact with the people whose last name is on all of our stores, but also because of how transparent leadership is with the company. It’s refreshing and retains a bit of that cool, calm Pacific Northwest aura rather than being in an environment that feels a bit too preoccupied with hustle culture.
WWD: How important is discovering new brands and supporting young talent?
CB: It’s incredibly important. When we discover a new brand in the market, we experience it as a client first. If it excites me, it’s rewarding to see that same excitement reflected in our clients. I’m always searching for those brands that make me wake up thinking about them.
LCZ: We love discovering new brands and supporting young designers, and it’s an important part of the fashion retail landscape. I’m inspired by our support of emerging designers — from carrying brands like Zankov and Diotima in our Space boutiques, to our partnerships with the CFDA.
JD: There are many brands that I would say have grown with us — whether it’s classic tailoring brands like Jack Victor or Canali, to younger streetwear brands like Elwood, Pleasures and Carhartt WIP, or emerging designers like Emily Adams Bode Aujla and Jerry Lorenzo’s Fear of God. It’s important to strike a balance between knowing what customers want and also giving them what they need, and supporting up-and-coming labels across our men’s business is a big part of that.
AW: Nordstrom was the first retailer that launched Charlotte Tilbury, and we’ve had many successes before and after in [teaming up] with emerging brands and getting access to product drops first. Most recently, we’ve been early partners with brands like Omnilux, Westman Atelier and Victoria Beckham. We’ve seen an incredible customer response. Customers love being part of that discovery supporting emerging talent is essential; it keeps beauty fresh and relevant.
WWD: As your mark this big milestone, how prominent will exclusives be in the overall mix?
LCZ: We’re thrilled to offer customers special, unique-to-Nordstrom product and experiences. I partner closely with our buyers and brands to develop exclusive capsules and experiences. I’m excited to see some of these partnerships with brands like Christian Louboutin and Tory Burch come to life in celebration of our 125th anniversary.
JD: Creating exciting exclusives goes hand-in-hand with serving the customer first. We’ve certainly been able to work with some of our partners on making exclusive product to celebrate 125 years of Nordstrom, and that’s a reflection of how important building long-term relationships with our partners is, but it all comes down to wanting to create moments that matter for the customer.
