The move to working-from-home may have correlated with a rise in comfortable fashion, but as the work pants came off and sweatpants on, the desire for luxury brands did not falter. “Jewelry and accessories were favored because so many people were on Zoom all day long, [and] the only thing that you could [use to] accessorize were earrings," said Ippolita Rostagno, co-founder and CEO of Ippolita, on the Glossy Podcast. In addition, for Ippolita, the timelessness of the brand aligned with consumer desire for jewelry that can last beyond the pandemic. Rostagno, who founded the brand 20 years ago, said she focuses on “designing things that are relevant at this moment, but that, at the same time, have a classic enough feel that you know at the time of purchase you’ll love it 10 years from now.” Whether it can be attributed to Zoom or Ippolita’s philosophy or both, the brand’s recent success cannot be denied. Ippolita saw a “very steep increase” in online sales to 10% of total sales, up from 2% before Covid-19. “People have become much more comfortable with learning and making up their own minds, and therefore purchasing online,” said Rostagno. However, she said, "when you're in a store, you have that opportunity to think you're looking for something and find something else. And that is part of the retail experience that needs to be nurtured and come back.” As for Ippolita’s retail presence, while the brand will continue to team up with retailers, like Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s, "owning our own retail is the direction that we'd like to take the business,” said Rostagno. Ippolita has seen success with trunk shows, which Rostagno attributes to the tangible experience that customers can have with the jewelry. “[That] was the motivating factor for completely redesigning the customer experience in my store that I opened in the middle of the pandemic, in Chicago,” said Rostagno. Rostagno was inspired by the concept of a physical jewelry box when designing Ippolita's Chicago Store. “You’re walking into a felt box, and then all the walls are magnetic and the jewelry is out; there are no cases,” she said, of the store’s layout. “The idea is that a customer can walk up to the jewelry, try it on, look at it, feel it … ahead of having a conversation with a salesperson.” In regard to Ippolita’s virtual presence, while many brands have chosen to use social media platforms like TikTok to spread brand awareness, Ippolita hasn't followed suit. “This is what women buy for themselves. This is not occasional jewelry, this is not what husbands buy for a woman’s birthday,” said Rostagno. “This state of mind, this sense of self-possession, is not something that is targeted to a young audience, so TikTok is not the right place to be telling this story.” Instead, Rostagno sees places like Milan as the right setting in which to grow Ippolita. Montenapoleone, where Ippolita's next store will open, is “the street for luxury in Milan, and also in Europe,” according to Rostagno. She added that she feels “very confident” about the future success of the store.

The bridal industry, one of the many markets that rely on in-person customer experiences, was not spared by Covid-19. However, “snowmageddons, hurricanes, Covid, murder hornets -- nothing can cancel love,” said Kelly Cook, chief marketing and IT officer at David’s Bridal, on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast. “It’s a fun time to be in our business,” said Cook, who spent a year facilitating virtual wedding gown and bridal face mask shopping. She expects a 25-40% increase in weddings in 2021, “now that vaccines are out and the country’s opening up.” The height of the pandemic last year did not equate to a full stop in the bridal industry, however. While “about 10% of the brides just canceled their weddings,” according to Cook, “out of the remaining 90%, about half of them already moved their weddings into this year. The remaining half moved their weddings into fall of [2020].” For the brides that did get married during the pandemic, David’s Bridal was quick to adapt to their needs with solutions, like the production of “70,000 [face] masks in all colors," as well as improvements to its technology, according to Cook. “We've modernized and digitized our company,” said Cook. “Within a two-week period, we implemented curbside pickup and we implemented virtual stylists.” The latter was possible through partnerships with augmented reality-focused company Vertebrae, as well as Zoey, an automated concierge system, she said. “We sold $1 million in gowns just through text,” said Cook. “We wouldn't have been able to do any of that if we had not had a culture here of serving her and being relentless about solving problems.” Additionally, David’s Bridal hosted its first virtual fashion show in May 2020. It also found success with a YouTube Live channel “of nothing but wedding videos,” as well as with new TikTok and Instagram Reels accounts. Customers have benefitted from the changes, as well -- particularly those who have signed up for the company's new Diamond Loyalty Program. “It’s not a loyalty program for the number of times you get married. It’s a loyalty program around everybody at your wedding,” said Cook. “We launched it on December 8 of last year and have had 55 people earn enough for a honeymoon.” As for the future of David’s Bridal, “the power of our store [is] in making everyone feel absolutely stunning and beautiful in whatever they're wearing,” said Cook. “The trend is that people are going to want more human interaction and want to see more humanity in brands because we are becoming so digital.” The human touch of the bridal shopping experience is not fully replicable via digital. Until life returns to normal, Cook emphasized the importance of David's Bridal “partnering with people that make the [wedding] process easier,” such as WeightWatchers, Black Tux, popular venue Rustic Wedding Chic and micro-influencers. “We partner with the right micro-influencer, and we give her the product, and all of the content is in her own voice and style,” said Cook. She called out that David's Bridal has featured “employees, friends, and family” in shoots, in place of models, since last year. “It’s authentic and real, and it’s representative of who we are as a brand,” said Cook.