Visiting with Nili Lotan to review her resort 2024 collection earlier this year, she opened the conversation with a bang: “Navy blue is the new black.” Her reasoning was that her wife doesn’t possess many of the considerate basics for which she comes to Lotan in the shadows; she only owns them in black. Before spring she doubled. The shelving in her showroom was almost entirely devoid of black, except for two eye-catching knitted maxi dresses – a basic that the Lotan aficionado doesn’t have in black yet.
“I’m a very intuitive person,” said the designer. “The truth is that this is a combination of strategy from a business perspective.” That’s Nili Lotan’s no-nonsense pragmatism that keeps the many women who outfit her life with her wardrobe come back season after season.
Take her spring jacket suggestions: “I made so many blazers last spring I thought”Okay, now everyone has a blazer‘ she said with a grin. Of the many jackets Lotan has made this season, not one is a standard blazer. There’s military outerwear, a fabulous bar jacket, and a range of parkas and coat lengths.
Another example: Lotan designs for the weather we experience, not the seasons we theoretically have. “It’s time to adapt,” she said. “It’s still cold in February when spring comes around. She’s still dressing for winter.” And if spring is over before autumn hits stores, she’s already dressing for summer, so Lotan has been working high summer ease on the last delivery of her spring collection. “This is how I work with my DTC,” she explained. Fortunately for her and her customers, direct-to-consumer accounts for more than 50% of her sales. Not a bad place to be.
