The Business of Fashion released this article profiling Mr. Nickelson Wooster, who has been very stylishly working in the fashion industry for over 25 years. Mr. Wooster created a flurry of press when he announced that he was beginning work as an executive at JCPenny. I have long been an admirer of this street style darling and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us at the department store.
NEW YORK, United States — He has been ordained “the alpha male of American street style” by GQ and called “Woost God” by some of his most rabid fans. But Nickelson ‘Nick’ Wooster, known for his sharply tailored blazers, handlebar moustache and armsleeve tattoos, is more than an arbiter of good taste.
A menswear authority who has spent over 25 years working with leading luxury department stores like Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, as well as directional fashion labels like Thom Browne, Wooster surprised many, last April, when he took up the position of ‘Vice president of brand, trend and design’ at JCPenney, an ailing chain of mid-range department stores headquartered in Plano, Texas. Importantly, Wooster now works under the company’s new chief executive, Ron Johnson, who boasts a formidable track record as former retail chief at Apple and plans to completely remake the business.
“It’s about upgrading everything,” Wooster tells BoF. “How we think, how we act, the processes that we have in place, breaking down those barriers. It’s taking a very old company and turning it on its ear by treating it as a start-up,” he enthuses. “It’s like the New York Times crossword puzzle. Sometimes you can do it, sometimes you can’t. For me, the ideas are not hard; getting it done is the hard part, because of either existing process or merchants, customers and factories that don’t necessarily see the same thing I do. But I’m not proposing three-armed jackets. I’m just proposing taste at a price.” Continue reading on Business of Fashion.
Categories: Fashion, Magazine, Menswear, New York City, Street Style
