It’s no secret just how much I shop at Nordstrom. For as long as I can remember, the retailer has been my go-to source for all things fashion and my first destination for any closet essentials that need replenishing. While the site is filled with heavyweight brands like Gucci, Nike, and Ugg, you might not be aware that it’s also home to some of the coolest on-the-rise labels that only the most devoted of fashion people know about. They’re all hiding in Nordstrom’s section called Space: Emerging and Advanced Designers.
Tab over to this section of Nordstrom’s website and you’ll be met with plenty of sartorial goodness, the likes of which are typically found at sites like Ssense or Farfetch. Thanks to Olivia Kim, Nordstrom’s VP of creative projects, the retailer is now home to a number of fashion’s most exciting indie labels like Isa Boulder’s stunning swimwear, YanYan’s creative knits, or Puppets & Puppets’ romantic silhouettes. Here, I’m getting you acquainted with my eight favorites.
If low-key cool Scandi style is what you’re after, A. Roege Hove is not to be missed. The conceptual knitwear is a nod to the ’90s with knee-length skirts and semi-sheer materials that feel understatedly sultry. Its tie-front cardigans, in particular, are what I’m spotting all over Instagram right now.
Between the return of Miu Miu’s ballet flats and the popularity of pastels like baby pink, all signs point to the rise of the balletcore aesthetic. Nobody distills this quite like Kathryn Bowen does. The Canadian-born, London-educated designer uses vintage garments as the jumping-off point to her beautifully tailored pieces. The fluttery mesh tops and wrap skirts are not to be missed.
Instagram darling Paloma Wool always delivers on the main-character energy. Her colorful and offbeat designs are as fun to wear as they are thoughtful to make since the Barcelona brand is committed to local and sustainable production practices.
Describing themselves as “a celebration of women-led couture”, renaissance renaissance offers elegant eveningwear that accomplishes its aim of celebrating the female form with hourglass silhouettes and beautiful draping.
New York-based Puppets & Puppets infuses fantasy and surrealism into its collections.
Shushu/Tong focuses on serving up sweetly feminine style with its signature twist. Designers Liushu Lei and Yutong Jiang launched the brand in 2015 after sharpening their design skills at Simone Rocha and Gareth Pugh, respectively. The duo sets out to “push the boundaries between girl and women” and redefine our ideas of femininity with its playful take on 1950s motifs like the shift dress, which it’s assigned an exaggerated bow and modern cutout.
