If the familiar list of the most influential fashion figures is beginning to sound predictable — sorry Anna Wintour, sorry Beyoncé — meet someone who has no less influence but is not (yet) a household name: Elizabeth von der Goltz. As the global buying director for Net-a-Porter, the world’s largest multibrand luxury retailer, von der Goltz is to fashion what a conductor is to an orchestra: everyone looks to her to see what’s coming next.
Her role is to find and nurture brands and designers (from established to developing, in everything from lingerie to sportswear), cut deals in order to sell their designs, and do everything she can to support the brand and its sales.
Fashion’s formidable force
That’s the basic description. In reality, her job is enormous. Von der Goltz’s position demands the ability to recognize new talent and an instinct for trends — clothes as well as concepts — years before they appear. And she must do that with the conviction of someone who is not bothered by the multimillion-pound budgets she is responsible for, and the confidence of someone who understands the cultural differences between the 170 countries that Net-a-Porter serves.
She is fashion’s formidable silent force, yet on every occasion I’ve seen her — whether navigating an army of photographers fighting to get her picture in the rain, or being delayed for two hours on board a London–Milan flight and missing countless appointments — she is always calm, cool and approachable, with an enormous smile. Little wonder she is a part of a wave of retail directors attracting attention. In the past, these roles stayed relatively under the radar outside the fashion industry; they are now getting widespread recognition.
“It really has changed. I don’t know if any of us anticipated it. I didn’t,” laughs von der Goltz, 46, who has nearly 25 years’ experience. “I think people didn’t understand before. Even when I was in school, I didn’t think about how fashion gets into the store. Now, people are thinking: ‘Who’s behind it? Who are these people?’ And it’s not just fashion. People are so much more interested in what happens behind the scenes.”
Von der Goltz recently appeared on the Netflix hit Next in Fashion, which saw ten new designers battle to win a $250,000 (€230,000) prize and sell their collections on Net-a-Porter. As a guest judge, von der Goltz was possibly the most important person on the panel. The cash prize might sound impressive, but becoming a success on her product pages gives a designer the recognition necessary to make them several times the prize money and validates everything they’ve worked for.
On the other hand, if a designer isn’t ready, it could mean catastrophe for them. “It’s a huge consideration,” says von der Goltz, her American accent placing the emphasis on the word “huge”. “At Net-a-Porter, we have three warehouses we ship to around the world — London, New York and Hong Kong — so even when we’re buying a small buy, it’s actually huge! We can make or break a brand, and so we have a responsibility to help them develop and evolve, because we almost change the structure of their company just by asking them to complete our order.” She compares it to a marriage: “You have to believe that they’re ready to build a business, because then we’re in it for a long time.”
Fairy godmother
Von der Goltz knows how to take risks wisely. She admits that she has been “extremely influential” for years. Before taking the top job at the London-based Net-a-Porter in 2017, von der Goltz was the designer buyer for 16 years at Bergdorf Goodman, on New York’s Fifth Avenue. “Brands — even big designers — would come to me for advice,” she says.
Far from just selling fashion, she is responsible for the existence of fashion houses. The founders of Monse, who are also creative directors at Oscar de la Renta, first came to von der Goltz with sketches — now Monse is one of New York Fashion Week’s highlights. She persuaded Valentino to start producing the pre-autumn and cruise collections.
“I told them, work with me; we need this delivery. If it works, I’m totally happy for you to sell it to the rest of the world,” she says. “Now it’s huge business!”
What von der Goltz gives out in support, she gets back tenfold. Vincent Ho, co-founder of the progressive New York collective Peter Do, which started on Instagram, calls her a fairy godmother. “She works for Net-a-Porter, but she’s really helpful to our brand — telling us what to look out for,” Ho says. “She’s always accessible — whether it’s through an Instagram direct message, an email or a text, she’s willing to help us at any given moment. And she’s so personable,” Ho says. “She responds to stories; she talks about food — she’s one of us.”
Style and sustainability
Von der Goltz has had a front row seat not just to every fashion show but at every major fashion event for most of the last two decades — and right now is no different. She has arrived at Net-a-Porter in one of the most polarizing eras in fashion, with the spotlight on sustainability highlighting the unmanageable volume of clothing in the world. Federico Marchetti, CEO of Net-a-Porter, told Women’s Wear Daily in December 2019 that its ten distribution centres worldwide total “almost 100 soccer fields in eight countries”.
While a buyer plays a key role in an industry that has been heavily criticized for creating and selling too much stuff, von der Goltz is articulate and informed. “The customer doesn’t need to choose between style or sustainability any longer — they can now have both,” she tells me in an email after our call. “The product we buy — and therefore what our customers buy — is particularly important, as the production of fashion and textiles has a significant impact on the welfare of people and ecosystems.”
On her watch, Net-a-Porter has launched two things she is passionate about. One is the Vanguard programme, which gives new designers access to the entire company, including legal, marketing and business development teams. The other is Net Sustain, which is a platform for community, craft and locally sourced products. Putting sustainability at the top of the agenda is essential to any buyer’s reputation right now: “Our aim is to give a voice to the brands on site, big or small, that are truly making positive changes by providing them with a platform to highlight their best practice.” She points to “the advancement of data, AI and VR capabilities” that will increasingly help buyers in the future.
Inherited talents
Von der Goltz is good at adapting. Born in New York, she grew up in a family of globetrotters — her father worked in private equity, her mother as an art gallerist. They lived in Tokyo, London and then Hong Kong, where she grew up with her older brother and went to a German–Swiss school. An art history degree at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, followed, including an internship at Christie’s in London.
A career in art was not for her, she discovered, but her formative years and the talents for business and creativity she inherited proved invaluable. “You really have to have two sides of the brain to be a buyer, because so much of the work is financial and analytical. We have to grow our business double digits year on year. But the other side takes a lot of instinct, taste and creativity, because you’re the one setting the trends of what people are buying.” Note that this is always at least six months in advance, so there’s no way to get information from the style on the street.
After Hong Kong, on the advice of a friend who worked at the legendary fashion retailer Joyce, von der Goltz moved to New York to pursue her love of fashion. After landing a temping position at Barneys (“It was my Mecca!”), she worked hard and eventually became an assistant buyer in the “private label” area of the store, which, at the time, was designed by Dutch designer Ronald van der Kemp. It was 1997 — and the break she needed. “In that role, you didn’t just buy, you started from complete scratch; everything from ordering the sample fabric to the finish of a garment. It was a great place to start, because I learned so much about fabrication, how much fabric it takes to make a jacket, production in Italy, all of that. I feel fabrics now and designers say, ‘This is expensive because it comes from this mill’, and I’m like: ‘I know exactly what you’re talking about!’”
After working her way up through Barneys, a brief time at the now closed New York institution Henri Bendel and her nearly two decades at Bergdorf’s, von der Goltz was already an industry authority — especially when it came to what makes a good buyer. Being an excellent negotiator is absolutely necessary: “We negotiate down to the core with each of our brands — it’s all about margin and probability, so you have to have that leadership voice in the industry.”
You also need a range of interests and experiences. “I love people with a liberal arts background who read fiction, watch movies, travel, love art and architecture, because so much of what we’re doing is influenced by the culture around us. The customer is global, so you have to understand who she is, what she’s doing every day, when she’s travelling, what she’s seeing, what her hobbies are.”
A finger on the pulse
When in London, where she is based full-time now with her husband, Andreas, she practises what she preaches. When she’s not busy managing a team of 50, keeping up with her demanding schedule of meetings and attending the London, Milan, Paris, Shanghai, Copenhagen, Seoul, Sydney and Tbilisi fashion weeks, she finds ways to keep her finger on the pulse.
As for what the woman who presents women with what to wear wears, von der Goltz looks forward to getting dressed every day and dismisses any suggestion of pressure — even if she is becoming one of fashion’s most photographed people. “I innately love fashion!” she says. “I love clothes — even when I’m doing Pilates or I’m in the mountains, I have an idea of how I want to look in my head.” Favourites include Gabriela Hearst, Altuzarra, Citizens of Humanity and, of course, Peter Do, which give her what she calls a mix of high and low. She adds: “Comfort and confidence are always most important.”
Perhaps another reason why von der Goltz has enjoyed such a long and successful career is that she’s not afraid to say the things that, ten years ago, would have been considered a crime in the fashion buyer’s rulebook. First up: money doesn’t necessarily buy you style. “There is not a defined way of saying someone has style or not — if you have the money, you have access, but there are so many people out there with the most amazing style wearing clothes from the high street.” Second, there are no rules. “The world has changed so much that it’s not about trends dictating any more, so you can express yourself,” she says. But maybe look for her cue, too.
© Guardian News & Media 2020
| Word | Translation | Phonetics | SearchStrings |
|---|