Personal stylist Catherine Bloom on Saturday joined Nordstrom in the company’s new role of director of luxury styling.
The company is transforming its Nordstrom Local location on Melrose Place in Los Angeles into a dedicated storefront for Bloom and her clients, dubbed Catherine Bloom for Nordstrom. Bloom will also be joining members of Nordstrom’s staff on their buying trips in March, according to a company announcement sent to sister publication Retail Dive.
Bloom resigned from Neiman Marcus, where she worked as a personal stylist at “Bloom’s Room” on the second floor of the company’s location in Beverly Hills. In that role, Bloom boasted a roster of international clients including stars, athletes and executives. Bloom began working with Neiman Marcus in a part-time role at the age of 18.
“After watching and admiring Nordstrom evolve and elevate and seeing how quickly they can pivot and develop new points of view with new and exciting brands, it feels like the perfect moment to bring my luxury expertise to their story,” Bloom said in a statement.
Chief Brand Officer Pete Nordstrom compared Bloom to the Michael Jordan of personal styling. “We are committed to providing Catherine with all the necessary support to continue serving her customers, attract new ones, and bolster our team's efforts to enhance personal styling at Nordstrom,” he said in a statement.
Nordstrom CEO Erik Nordstrom talked about the importance of personal styling when the department store shuttered its Trunk Club subscription service in 2022. “I want to be clear. This move reflects our belief and commitment to styling and we are dedicated to growing and investing in these services,” he said at the time of its closing.
Later, the company launched its Stylist Ambassador program, which enlisted store stylists from its top 20 markets to work as influencers.
Even as the company has pulled focus to designer style with the new role, Nordstrom has recently seen the most success in its off-price Nordstrom Rack unit. A year ago, Erik Nordstrom pointed to new Rack locations as a “growth driver” and stated they are an “excellent investment.” In preliminary fourth-quarter earnings, the company said that net sales rose nearly 5% year over year in the holiday period. The company’s namesake brand saw net sales increase 3.7%, while Nordstrom Rack sales increased 7.4%.
