In Fashion Part 30

"I was lucky. Destiny and fate played a very big part in my career. Our Bergdorf buyer at that time told me that there was a position open in the fas.h.i.+on department. I met them and got the job. It was the first time I knew what I wanted."

FAs.h.i.+ON APPRENTICE.

"I worked in the fas.h.i.+on office for three years. Lillian w.a.n.g [now Von Stauffenberg] truly taught me so much of what I do today: how to develop a new designer, how to screen new resources, how to translate a designer's vision into retail, how to put together a trend presentation."

Roopal laughs when she recalls, "Back then, I would sit with boxes and boxes of slides. It took me seven days. Today, I can put together a presentation on the computer in one hour."

ONE YEAR AT CLUB MONACO.

Roopal left Bergdorf to join Club Monaco in visual merchandising. Ralph Lauren had just purchased the brand, and big expansion plans were under way. "It was exciting. We opened fourteen stores that year. I was able to be a part of those store openings. I saw how the LA store needed to be different from the Detroit stores and the South Beach store. You could go in and redefine the whole store. I liked the high-low dressing element, the company, and the environment."

STYLE.COM, ROUND 1.

"The site was just launching. At the beginning, it was set up as a partners.h.i.+p with Neiman Marcus. I was hired as the person who acted as the conduit between Neiman's and Vogue."

BAD SURPRISE ENDING.

"Unfortunately 9/11 happened. At which point Conde Nast let a lot of us go."

JOBLESS AFTER 9/11.

"This was the first time I was let go. I didn't look at it as a sign of failure, but it shook me up and was something I didn't expect in my career.

"It was also a nice break. I had met Peter Som, and I really liked what he was doing.

"I started working with Peter out of his apartment. I just did everything: casting, merchandising, and making model cards. I also consulted with Club Monaco during this time, working on their home stores called Cabane, which were based in Toronto."

STYLE.COM, ROUND 2, WITH CANDY PRATTS PRICE.

"And then Candy called one day. We had briefly overlapped at Style.com. She told me that she had some projects for me to work on. Candy also has her pages and trend stuff. I worked with her on those.

"This was a really amazing and really educational time for me. I learned so much from Candy and owe her a lot. Obviously she is old school, and 99.9 percent of the time she was right. I thought it was weird that my projects were running out, and she didn't say anything about next steps." The reality was that Candy had already lined up Roopal's next step.

CALL FROM CANDY'S FRIEND "Then one day I got a call from Robert Burke. I knew Robert and Candy were really good friends. I thought he wanted to talk about what Christmas present to get her."

DESTINY AND FATE.

Robert Burke hadn't called Roopal to talk about Candy's Christmas present.

"He said that they'd had this position available for two years. We just hit it off immediately. It was instantaneous. Robert Burke hired me to be the fas.h.i.+on director of Bergdorf Goodman."

DREAM-COME-TRUE JOB.

"I was twenty-nine years old. It was my dream come true. I always wanted to come back to Bergdorf in some capacity, and the nice thing is that Bergdorf Goodman was changing at the time with so many renovations."

SIX YEARS LATER: DREAM-COME-TRUE JOB.

"Every day it's an honor and a privilege. I feel blessed by my career. It's a dream."

TERRIFIED TO GET DRESSED ON THE FIRST DAY AS BG FAs.h.i.+ON DIRECTOR?.

"I didn't feel a pressure to dress in a certain way. I believe that you have to be who you are. I am who I am, and I wear what I want to wear. If something is eight years old, I don't care. If I still like it, I wear it. I don't preach. I don't dictate trends. I don't create ideals on a false level. I believe if you don't feel comfortable in something-even if it's the most expensive, exquisite couture gown-you shouldn't wear it. For me, I have many insecurities in life; dressing just isn't one of them."

THE ART OF GETTING DRESSED.

"For me the art of getting dressed is really important. I take great pride in it. It's one of my great joys.

"It's part of being in this position to see how clothing and fas.h.i.+on can make such a difference in your life. You can put on a beautiful dress and feel beautiful. A beautiful color can make you feel so much more beautiful.

"You feel like a rock star when you wear Donatella Versace. Narciso Rodriguez knows how to give you that perfect 360-degree view. Every angle is perfect. Marc Jacobs puts that little bit of whimsy in every piece."

THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF FAs.h.i.+ON.

"It is very rewarding if I've helped make one designer's dream come true or if one woman finds a gown that changes her life. That is satisfying for me."

JOB PARAMETERS.

"When you go to the collections, it's a big mural. We try to simplify that for women. My job is to simplify the message."

Roopal does that through her e-mails to customers and by editing the BG magazine and other mailers (alongside creative director Aidan Kemp).

WHAT ELSE DOES A FAs.h.i.+ON DIRECTOR DO?.

Roopal does a trend presentation to sales a.s.sociates four times a year. She screens new designers. "I try to work directly with designers and try to see as many new designers as possible."

SPECIAL DISCOVERIES.

"Kate and Laura Mulleavy called and called and called. They sent a book, and, wow, it was really amazing. They had eight pieces, and I asked right away, 'Can you make some more?'"

Thanks to Roopal, Bergdorf launched the Rodarte label. "Kate and Laura are going to be major. They are already major, and they are lovely people. They are my friends. When you collaborate like this, it's not just work."

Another random meeting led to the introduction of Derek Lam's collection to Bergdorf. "There are so many moments like that."

THE MAGIC OF BERGDORF GOODMAN.

"Everyone here is open-minded. I've never heard anyone say, 'No. That can't be done.' That's the beauty of working at Bergdorf Goodman. 'No it can't be done' is not said here."

FOREVER INDEBTED TO.

Robert Burke. "He taught me so much of what I know. He's the reason I'm here. Robert took the risk to hire me."

ROOPAL'S BLOG = A MORE PUBLIC ROOPAL "The blog is still new-we've done it for only two seasons. I have a lot of fun doing it. But I still see myself as an inside girl inside the company. Jim Gold [BG president and CEO] is a public face. Linda Fargo [senior vice president, women's fas.h.i.+on director] is a face. I'm not."

INTUITION.

"So much of fas.h.i.+on and so much of runway is intuition. The first sixty seconds of a runway show tell me whether it will be good or amazing."

IT LOOKS LIKE FUN, BUT IT'S STILL W-O-R-K "Just because you're in fas.h.i.+on doesn't mean you aren't working. No, it's not brain surgery. And the whole point is that fas.h.i.+on is fun. But people forget: You are working just as hard as anyone else."

FAVORITE TIMES.

"Riding on the back of Christian Louboutin's moped around the alleyways of Paris." Also, meeting Mr. Valentino: "I was so much in awe of him. There have been so many amazing moments."

HOURS: 24/7?.

"At the same time, this job demands a lot of travel and socializing. A lot of work things are after hours."

CAREER VERSUS REAL LIFE.

"Lately I have made more of a conscious effort to slow down and find a balance in my life."

DIVERSITY ROLE MODEL?.

"I never in my life wanted to be the poster child for Indian-Americans. When I walk into a room or a party, I never think of myself as Indian or dark or different. I just think of myself as Roopal."

YET, ISN'T IT AN INDIAN-AMERICAN MOMENT?

"I am friends with [Indian-American] women like Padma and Rachel Roy. It makes me happy to see their successes."

WHAT HER PARENTS DIDN'T UNDERSTAND "There were moments when they did not understand. Like when I was making $35,000, and my dad mentioned to me that all of my friends were making $80,000 and $100,000 salaries. I said, 'Dad, don't worry. One day it will be major.'"

HOW THAT'S CHANGED "Now my parents will call me up when they read something about Jack and Lazaro [of Proenza Schouler] or Jason Wu. It's just funny."

SECRET Pa.s.sION.

Star Wars. "My brother bought me the Star Wars encyclopedia for Christmas, and it was my favorite gift. Most people don't know that I'm a total Star Wars junkie. I'm addicted. For me, George Lucas is the biggest celebrity."

WHERE ROOPAL SPENDS HER FREE TIME.

"I'm a downtown girl. I do things there."

WHAT YOU WON'T CATCH ROOPAL WEARING ON THE WEEKENDS Sweats, gym clothes, ripped jeans, her boyfriend's clothes. "I don't wear makeup on weekends, but I don't do the slob girl thing. I still believe in art of dressing."

PROFILE.

PAMELA BAXTER President, Christian Dior, Inc., United States, and President, LVMH, Perfumes and Cosmetics, North America The story of Pamela Baxter's amazing life and meteoric career has the makings of a great Hollywood screenplay. The film would open circa 2010 with a day in the life of the U.S. president of the House of Christian Dior. Wearing next season's hottest silhouette (and played by a freshly bobbed Kate Hudson, who conveniently wears Pamela's same Dior size 36), Pamela jets off from New York to Paris for a breakfast with her boss, LVMH chairman and arguably the most powerful man in fas.h.i.+on, Bernard Arnault, before taking in the Dior couture show at his side in the front row. After the final model does the bridal turn, Pamela slips backstage to greet Dior designer John Galliano (played with crazy aplomb by Johnny Depp) with a hug and a kiss.

Then, flas.h.i.+ng back to her unlikely beginnings on her father's South Dakota ranch in the mid-1960s, we see glimpses of her rodeo successes contrasted with her charming townie existence living in a hotel with her mother (Goldie Hawn) so that the pixie, high-spirited Pamela could wear real shoes and girlie clothes and attend grammar school. Life is beyond beautiful for the young heroine until a hunting accident (enter scary music and dark clouds) leaves her father dead and forces her to rewrite her dreams and ambitions. The in-between parts win the Dior-couture-clad Hudson an Oscar. Absent in Hollywood that evening, however, would be Pamela Baxter due to a prior commitment: She's off on her latest spring break scuba adventure with her grandchildren.

BACKGROUND.

Pamela grew up in Mobridge, South Dakota (population 3,574), a town founded only a hundred years ago, earning its name from the railroad bridge built there to cross the Missouri River, that is, "MO-bridge." The area is rich in Native American history with the remains of numerous Mound Dweller and Woodland Indian villages.

ANNIE-GET-YOUR-GUN UPBRINGING.

The barrel racing champion at the Sitting Bull Stampede in 1965, a summer rodeo still held today, Pamela lived a townie-rancher life, dividing her time between the Brown Palace Hotel on Main Street, where her mother preferred to live and was more convenient to school, and her father's ranch, sixty miles outside of town, where she perfected her riding skills.

CHILDHOOD AMBITION.

To be a prima ballerina. "But I realized at around ten that, coming from Mobridge, that probably wasn't going to happen."

FIRST PAYING JOB.

Painting fences on the family ranch. "I used my money to buy clothes." (A habit that's definitely stayed with her, especially now that Pamela's office is just an elevator ride away from Manhattan's biggest Dior boutique.) EDUCATION.

After her father died in a hunting accident when Pamela was eighteen, her dreams of attending Stevens College in Columbia, Missouri, and studying dance were dashed. Instead, she attended the University of South Dakota, in Vermillion (hitchhiking into Sioux City on the weekends for excitement). Years later, Pamela completed a business degree at UCLA.

FIRST BEAUTY JOB.

By hanging out with the cosmetic girls on her breaks decorating the windows of the original Eddie Bauer store, Pamela was able to nab a temporary job working behind the Revlon counter at Bon Marche in Seattle, while the other girl took time off to go to Greece. When that girl stayed in Greece, the job was Pamela's. "I went from counter manager to makeup artist, and the rest is history."

IN HER STABLE.

In fas.h.i.+on, the Christian Dior label and boutiques. Her beauty brands include Dior, Givenchy, Guerlain, and Acqua di Parma as well as the independent brands Fresh and Benefit.

GLANCING INTO HER CRYSTAL BALL.

Pamela intends to significantly increase the U.S. market share of Dior's worldwide business and make her mark on the fas.h.i.+on business.

WORST JOB EVER.

Waitressing in college. "I was so bad they made me stay in the kitchen and peel potatoes."

EARLY CAREER HIGHLIGHTS.

National Makeup Artist Program, then West Coast training director for Charles of the Ritz, Borghese account executive in Los Angeles, then regional sales director for Aramis.

CAREER RISK TAKING.

At the age of forty, with a successful career in sales, Pamela took the risk to move to New York City and try her hand at marketing.

THE NEXT BIG RISK: ON MEETING M. ARNAULT.

Fighting off complacency after twenty-five years at the Estee Lauder companies and looking to do something new for the last decade of her career, Pamela spoke to a headhunter acquaintance about the possibility of finding a spot at a fas.h.i.+on brand. The headhunter said fine, she'd think about it, if Pamela would agree to meet these guys from LVMH beauty first. Soon after, the headhunter asked one last favor: Would Pamela agree to meet M. Arnault? Pamela was never serious about taking on the job of heading the troubled, overdistributed, and gray-marketed stable of French luxury beauty brands of Dior, Guerlain, and Givenchy. But she was totally intrigued to meet the big fromage, Bernard Arnault.

PAMELA GAVE IT TO THE SKINNY FRENCH GUY STRAIGHT AS A SOUTH DAKOTA HIGHWAY.

Thinking he'd never take the drastic measures Pamela saw as essential, "I gave it to him straight. I said that I came here just to meet him and that I didn't want the job. That things did not look good to me. That to fix his business, he would need to shut down at least one-third of his distribution, and that that would cost him $30 million to $40 million. The concept was to downsize before we could grow in the right luxury markets. He didn't bat an eye."

WHY SHE TOOK THE JOB.