This is an episode of the Glossy Fashion Podcast, which features candid conversations about how today’s trends are shaping the future of the fashion industry. More from the series →
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The MoMA Design Store has earned a reputation as a destination for product discovery and a source of cool, limited-edition, gift-worthy finds. On the fashion side, those have included exclusive collaborations with Champion and New Era. On this week’s Glossy Podcast, the curator behind the store’s assortment, MoMA Retail’s Chay Costello, breaks down her merchandising secrets.
Excerpts from the episode, below, have been lightly edited for clarity.
The MoMA shopper
“We believe that good design belongs to everybody, so we want to make it accessible across all these different categories at all these different price points. So we have a bunch of different customers. We have someone who’s visiting the museum — we get 3 million to 4 million visitors a year, and they want a memento. But we also have those design lovers who want to tap into the fact that MoMA was this purveyor of what good design was in the mid-20th century and is still showcasing the most exciting new designs of the day. Increasingly, I would date [our accelerated popularity] back to 2017 when MoMA had this exhibition called “Items: Is fashion modern?” which looked at 111 iconic apparel and accessory pieces that have become so steeped in our culture that they’re almost design icons. That included things like the Champion hoodie and the New Era baseball cap. And that opened up this opportunity for us to create product collaborations with some of those brands, which was phenomenal. And we wanted to do it in a really special, unique way. … Like when we did our first collaboration with Champion in 2017, we did it with a collegiate, sporty MoMA logo — so people almost felt like they were rooting on or part of the MoMA community.”
Different sales channel, different customer
“We have our online platform, and we also have a Museum Store in the museum. We also have a Design Store across the street, which showcases design objects. And we have a store downtown in SoHo on Crosby Street and Spring, on the corner there. We also have stores throughout Japan and a store in Hong Kong. So, there’s a little bit of a different customer mix and product mix based on where people are shopping with us. If you have 3 million visitors coming to the museum, you’re definitely going to see some strong activity on campus, on 53rd Street up here in Midtown. But the SoHo customer is more of a neighborhood customer — a repeat customer, somebody who goes out to brunch at Balthazar and spins by the store to pick up a gift for a dinner party later. And then, of course, our website is really serving our customers everywhere, and we see that really turning up during this particular quarter, around the holidays when people are gift shopping.”
The rise of art x fashion
“I’ve really been seeing the dial turn up on fashion and art collaborations. You think back to Kusama and Louis Vuitton and, before that, Murakami and Louis Vuitton. And I think it has to do with the role that art and artists play in our lives — how they kind of reflect the state of the world back to us and provide some perspective. And I think fashion is looking for a way to bring that into our every day, right? So, [art] is not just seen during a trip to a museum — now it’s on the runway, now it’s on the streets. And I think we’re going to be seeing more and more collaborations between artists and fashion.”
Storytelling pioneers
“Before storytelling was a buzzword everyone used, it was part of the DNA of what we do at MoMA Design Store, because we do so much research and development. When I did this Champion capsule collection, we went deep into the history of the company, and who owned it when, and when they worked with the University of Michigan versus UT — to really understand their DNA and where we come from historically and then weave those stories together. That’s why people shop at MoMA Design Store — because it’s unique, it’s individual, and there’s a great story behind it. And marketing is the way to deploy that story — we’re trying to find great ways for people to not just see a cool jacket but to also know the history of the two amazing New York state-based institutions that are embedded in that design.”
Nostalgia is trending
“I think [the popularity of] retro tech has something to do with the wellness moment. People want to relax, they want to disconnect, and maybe they want to go for a walk and listen to music, but they don’t want to also have their phone buzzing and beeping and letting them know that somebody wants to change a reservation, so they pop a tape into a Walkman and go for a walk. I think there’s also this really exciting element to something like an instant camera. We take so many photos on our digital devices and never see anything, but if you bring an instant Polaroid camera to a party, all of a sudden, everyone’s gathered around.”
