Retail Site Raids a Big Closet

Since its debut in February, Moda Operandi, the online retailer that sells designer clothes right off the runway, has become a surprise competitor on the lucrative trunk-show circuit. During the September fashion shows, for example, the average transaction on the site reached $1,800, and one customer, on a single visit, spent $42,000 on clothes that won’t be available in other stores until spring.

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　　Taylor Tomasi Hill, now at Moda Operandi.

Now the site is becoming a competitor to traditional department stores and magazines for personnel, as well. Roopal Patel, a longtime executive in the fashion offices of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, will join Moda Operandi this month as its fashion director. And Taylor Tomasi Hill, formerly the style and accessories director of Marie Claire, will become its artistic director.
“We want to continue to build our relationships with major brands,” said Aslaug Magnusdottir, a former Gilt Groupe executive who founded Moda Operandi with Lauren Santo Domingo, a contributing editor at Vogue, who is the creative director of the site. “We plan to increase the number of trunk shows we will show on the site, with more ready-to-wear, accessories and jewelry.”

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　　Roopal Patel.

Ms. Patel and Ms. Tomasi Hill are among the industry insiders who have become broadly known through popular blogs that obsessively track their style. Ms. Patel, who was most recently the senior women’s accessories editor of Neiman Marcus, will oversee merchandising. Ms. Tomasi Hill will focus on the editorial components.
Moda Operandi has been growing rapidly, Ms. Magnusdottir said, and more so since September, when Condé Nast invested in the company, a move that coincided with its deal with Vogue to link some of its sales to runway images on Vogue.com. An increasing number of designers are making their collections available there, making it a further threat to stores like Bergdorf and Barneys. Designers like Diane Von Furstenberg, Derek Lam and Proenza Schouler were among those available this season.
Ms. Magnusdottir said that as the business grows, there will be more magazine-like displays to guide customers, “to identify the items they absolutely can’t miss.”

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