So, will Bergdorf’s have a happy ending? It’s been through difficult times before and come out back on top. “The only thing I can liken this time period to is being at the store after 9/11 and during the financial crisis of 2008 and not knowing if it felt right to be selling, wearing, and promoting high luxury goods,” Burke recalls. “During both, especially the financial crisis, there was the feeling that luxury would never be the same and it would never come back. But I think that there is obvious luxury, there is gaudy luxury, and then there is tasteful luxury.” Bergdorf’s, by Burke’s estimation, falls in the latter camp. “I think that hopefully Bergdorf’s stands for taste and some sensitivity of what is going on today and can represent that,” he continues. “After the financial crisis and the recession, they offered to either let you walk out with a brown bag or a Bergdorf bag. That lasted for a while, but not for terribly long.”
The store’s plans for reopening in a post-pandemic world are remain unknown—email requests to its in-house press department have gone unanswered—but as per Governor Cuomo’s latest briefing, New York City could reopen by the first or second week of June. Reflecting on his documentary, which saw Joan Rivers, Tom Ford, and other A-Listers expound on the virtues of Bergdorf Goodman and its version of the American fashion dream, Miele says, “the New York Times called it an ode to consumerism, [but] as we stay at home in our pandemic, don’t we want consumerism to happen more than anything right now? I mean, it’s the one thing we miss and we want to go out and do.” While luxury e-commerce is seeing success, the act of in-person shopping and the thrill that comes along with it, is hard to replicate virtually. He continues, “Bergdorf’s represents a great American story … [Bergdorf’s] is the aspiration, and if you lose that, what are you looking forward to if you do succeed?”
Rihanna said it best, when she was given the keys to the kingdom to celebrate her Fenty collection just three months ago. Standing in front of a display of her Fenty collection just past displays by Marc Jacobs and Gabriela Hearst, Rihanna recalled her first trip to the store “I remember the price tags, and saying maybe one day I could buy clothes, but today, maybe I’ll just buy perfume. I feel really great to have this full-circle [moment] where I can have my own brand that I created in a space like this that offers such a luxury experience to their customers and now mine, as well.”
