Roopal Patel, senior vice president of the fashion office for Saks Global, has left the company, WWD has learned.
Patel, a veteran of luxury fashion retailing, was elevated to the position after Saks Global purchased the Neiman Marcus Group in December 2024. She covered fashion for both the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus divisions of Saks Global.
The luxury retailer did not name a successor to Patel.
Prior to the acquisition and her promotion, Patel worked at Saks for over 10 years, rising to senior vice president and fashion director. Prior to Saks, she had her own consulting firm specializing in brand development. Before that, she was executive fashion director of Moda Operandi, the online fashion retailer.
Earlier in her career, Patel served as the accessories fashion director at Neiman Marcus, and before that, the senior women’s fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman, where she worked for over six years.
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For many years, Patel served as the face of Saks Fifth Avenue vis-a-vis the media and the general public during special events held at Saks stores, as well as being a front-row fixture at designer fashion shows around the world each season. She helped discover new designers and establish relations with them, engaged in trend forecasting, and was instrumental helping buyers determine which designer showrooms to visit and place orders with.
The well-traveled Patel recently served as a judge in Doha, Qatar, for Fashion Trust Arabia, which provides financial and business support to fashion designers in the Middle East and North Africa. She also attended Oscar de la Renta’s 60th anniversary fashion presentation in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and Carolina Herrera’s spring show in Madrid.
One source close to Patel described her as decisive with a strong point of view, and clear on deciding who should be showcased in the stores, advertising, visuals, and the windows.
Saks Global confirmed her departure, indicating in a statement to WWD: “Roopal Patel, senior vice president of the fashion office, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, has made the decision to leave Saks Global. We are evaluating opportunities for leadership of our fashion office for Saks and Neiman Marcus. We remain focused on working closely with our partners to deliver distinct and inspiring luxury fashion assortments for our customers.”
Patel’s departure comes in the wake of Saks Global forming a new management team effective this month as part of its bankruptcy filing. Among the appointments, Geoffroy van Raemdonck, who was chief executive officer of Neiman Marcus Group when Saks Global bought the business, took the reins as CEO. Darcy Penick, formerly president of Bergdorf Goodman, was named president and chief commercial officer, overseeing stores, marketing, buying, digital, analytics and customer care. And Lana Todorovich was named chief global brand partnerships officer, Saks Global.
Tracy Margolies continues in her role as president of Bergdorf Goodman and Paolo Riva continues as chief buying officer of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman’s.
