Creative Strategy
STRAIT
The Brief
STRAIT is an emerging NYC denim label built around a single product: the Bering Cut, a mid-rise straight leg jean crafted from 16oz selvedge denim, right here in the city. I came on as CMO and Chief Creative Officer and built the entire creative infrastructure from the ground up. I've been across everything: brand positioning, logo design, campaign direction, e-commerce photography, visual identity, social media strategy, and web design. I had no playbook. There was no existing brand. No budget. Just passion, a product, and a point of view to build around.
The Approach
The central strategic question was straightforward but challenging. How do you position a new product in a saturated market without competing on trend or price? Most denim brands launching today are chasing the same customer with the same aesthetic. STRAIT made the opposite call. My answer was conviction. The product was too considered to be positioned as a trend play. Customers familiar with 16oz selvedge and vintage shuttle looms buy with conviction. The brand had to reflect that. Every creative decision that followed flowed from that strategic position.
For the campaign, I pushed for the raw, cinematic quality of film photography, brutalist urban architecture, a slightly grungy palette, and storytelling tinged with romantic tension. The clothes were captured moving through the city with quiet authority, from a slightly voyeuristic point of view. The result was imagery that drops you into the lives of two mysterious strangers, with the city as a character in its own right.
Mysterious as they appeared, I also made a deliberate choice to introduce the people wearing the product, not just the product itself. I felt this really mattered. STRAIT says: get to know these people. They're real characters with real details. STRAIT is a product for living, and the people who wear it lead interesting lives worth knowing. This raw, organic, approach only furthers the connection in a prospective customer’s mind to our raw, organic, product.
The website extends the same logic. Black background. White type. No ornamentation. Every touchpoint, campaign, e-commerce, social, web, identity, says the same thing: this brand knows exactly what it is and who it's for. Social media has been our primary touchpoint with our audience. The brand voice is playful with a slight edge. I wanted to convey a human element throughout, leveraging Instagram posts, stories, and reels to build a consistent, cohesive feed.
The Result
Full creative infrastructure: Brand positioning, logo design, campaign direction, e-commerce photography, visual identity, social media strategy, web design. Now fully launched.
Visual Strategy
Acne Studios
2022 - 2024
The Brief
As In-Store Visual Representative for Acne Studios’ West Village, NYC location, I was responsible for translating the brand’s seasonal directives into spatial storytelling. My directive was to ensure prospective clients were enveloped in Acne’s brand universe as soon as they walk in. I managed everything from mannequin styling and fixture layouts to window displays and floor overhauls to welcome new collections. The role sat at the intersection of brand guardianship and sales strategy, with weekly KPI analysis informing every visual decision.
The Approach
In 2023, during the FW23 Fantasy Forest collection, I made a call that my direct superior initially pushed back on. Acne’s cow-print animation was a key story in the collection and had been featured passively on the floor since launch. I wanted to move it forward to the front of the store, and give it significantly more visual prominence. The cow-print animation suggests a more rugged attitude which warranted inclusion alongside sought after leather outerwear pieces in order to create a visual shorthand for that ‘cool’ feeling biker jackets evoke both traditionally and within the trend market. As higher ticket items, the jackets also work to boost the Value-Per-Receipt (VPR) KPI.
Because of my acute awareness of the market and luxury space, I knew Stella McCartney had just launched a major campaign featuring Kendall Jenner built heavily around cow print. Acne Studios had recruited Kylie Jenner that same season. I knew people walking into the store would be primed, consciously or otherwise, for that story. They’d seen it on their feeds. It was in the air.
My superior’s concern was that Acne wasn’t trying to compete at Stella McCartney’s level. I respectfully disagreed. Acne was actively working to boost its status profile at the time, and this was a moment to meet a culturally activated consumer exactly where their appetite was. I made the case and she agreed to move forward.
The Result
The Womenswear RTW category’s share of sales rose 6% following the change. The cow-print story sold.
The Brief
As In-Store Visual Representative for Acne Studios’ West Village, NYC location, I was responsible for translating the brand’s seasonal directives into spatial storytelling. My directive was to ensure prospective clients were enveloped in Acne’s brand universe as soon as they walk in. I managed everything from mannequin styling and fixture layouts to window displays and floor overhauls to welcome new collections. The role sat at the intersection of brand guardianship and sales strategy, with weekly KPI analysis informing every visual decision.
The Approach
In 2023, during the FW23 Fantasy Forest collection, I made a call that my direct superior initially pushed back on. Acne’s cow-print animation was a key story in the collection and had been featured passively on the floor since launch. I wanted to move it forward to the front of the store, and give it significantly more visual prominence. The cow-print animation suggests a more rugged attitude which warranted inclusion alongside sought after leather outerwear pieces in order to create a visual shorthand for that ‘cool’ feeling biker jackets evoke both traditionally and within the trend market. As higher ticket items, the jackets also work to boost the Value-Per-Receipt (VPR) KPI.
Because of my acute awareness of the market and luxury space, I knew Stella McCartney had just launched a major campaign featuring Kendall Jenner built heavily around cow print. Acne Studios had recruited Kylie Jenner that same season. I knew people walking into the store would be primed, consciously or otherwise, for that story. They’d seen it on their feeds. It was in the air.
My superior’s concern was that Acne wasn’t trying to compete at Stella McCartney’s level. I respectfully disagreed. Acne was actively working to boost its status profile at the time, and this was a moment to meet a culturally activated consumer exactly where their appetite was. I made the case and she agreed to move forward.
The Result
The Womenswear RTW category’s share of sales rose 6% following the change. The cow-print story sold.
TUMBAO
2024
Visual merchandising work for TUMBAO - the largest curation of Latin American fashion in the world.
In an effort to give the unique pieces on the shop floor room to ‘breathe’ a new merchandsing strategy that prioritizes discovery and interaction was developed and implemented. Opting for 2-3 piece outfitting over the previous style of wardrobe-like merchandising, TUMBAO’s new visual direction takes a clean and minimal approach that acts as a shorthand for potential styling. As a result, clients are able to easily discover outfit combinations encouraging try-on sessions, which lead to an increased likelihood of purchase. Key face-outs are utilized intermittently on the floor to highlight special pieces of product that are paramount to a featured brand’s storytelling or are otherwise left unseen.
COS
2024
Oversaw the implementation and maintenance of visual standards and guidelines, outlined by the North American Corporate Visual Merchandising team through weekly refreshes and substitutions, product rotations, and larger scale overhauls for New Collections, or PR Campaign launches.
Operated in the SoHo flagship location comprised of 4 distinct floors, analyzing weekly sales datasets and other relevant KPIs to develop pertinent visual strategies.
Utilized myriad fixtures (including, but not limited to: rails/meters, spigots, mannequins, display cases, stationary and hanging shelving, tables, trays, lighting fixtures, and furniture) to create engaging yet commercial displays that capture the spirit of the COS brand image.
Led weekly floor walkthrough with store management and sales teams to update all on visual merchandising directives and strategies.
COS is renowned for its minimalist design approach, focusing on clean lines, simple silhouettes, and understated elegance in its clothing and accessories. The brand emphasizes functionality is as a key aspect ofits design philosophy, with garments that are both stylish and practical, suitable for everyday wear. In kind, for their styling I opted to layer pieces that may otherwise be seen as seperate entities in order to emphasize their functionality for multi-season use. The silhouttes remain clean. The double and triple denim looks are envelope pushing standouts that capture the textile’s moment of fame within the then-current trend cycle. The careful dispersal of patterns and colors across rails tone down otherwise overwhelming stories while keeping thematic pushes intact and strong.
SEED Brkyln
2024
Visual Direction: Chance the Rapper ‘Starline’ merhcandise pop-up
Devised and excuted merchandising plan for Chance the Rapper’s ‘pop-up’, meant to coincide with new album Starline - situated within the SEED Brklyn Garden space. Pop-up featured apparel, accessories, homeware items, and vinyl records, seated and displayed in an organic and interconnected layout as to encourage exploration and immersion.
Madewell
2024
Oversaw the implementation and maintenance of visual standards and guidelines, outlined by the North American Corporate Visual Merchandising team through weekly refreshes and substitutions, product rotations, and larger scale overhauls for New Collections, or PR Campaign launches.
Led weekly floor walkthrough with management and sales teams to update all on visual merchandising directives and strategies. Analyzed weekly sales datasets and KPIs to develop visual strategies.
Madewell is known for its timeless and classic aesthetic, focusing on wardrobe staples like denim, t-shirts, and accessories that endure beyond seasonal trends. The brand projects a sense of effortless style and casual chic, appealing to customers who value comfort without sacrificing fashion. The visual merchandising strategies in place are emblematic of these tenants - notice the styling’s open and ari approach to blouses, for example. The display of leather goods, specfically shoes, soldifies in the mind just how varied a selection is available while also bringing out the ‘chic’ of shelving destinations. Wall or ‘Shop’ merchandising uses outfits and faceouts to strategically highlight key pieces for each month’s rollout, simultaneously offering clients with unique suggestions on ways to wear.
2ND STREET, USA
2021-2022
First forray into visual merchandsing that consisted of mannequin styling, some window display work, space management and merchandise allocation. Utilized fictures including, but not limited to: rails/meters, mannequins, display cases, shelving, window dressing, rolling racks, and cherry picker.
Rudimentary but endearing beginings.