Bloomingdale’s was the first retailer to sell the Sean John collection when rap entrepreneur Sean Combs launched his men’s wear line two decades ago. Now, the two companies have reconnected to celebrate the anniversary.
For the month of October, the store is converting the former David Burke restaurant space at the 59th Street flagship into a Sean John pop-up. The shop, which will have a separate entrance from the street as well as access through the men’s store, will sell a capsule collection of reworked pieces from the brand’s previous collections including the velour tracksuit, fur snorkel jackets, suede coveralls and leather track jackets.
One of the reworked velour tracksuits.
“You won’t see all baggy clothes,” said Jeff Tweedy, president of Sean John. “We’re taking iconic pieces and tuning them to current fashion.” He said the velour tracksuit, for example, hasn’t been produced for more than a decade, but is being reinvented in five colors for the shop.
Everything will be for sale but there will also be some original pieces on display in the space, Tweedy said.
“Bloomingdale’s was our original launch partner 20 years ago, so it is incredibly gratifying to come full circle with the launch of this pop-up shop,” he added. “This is truly a homecoming for us and we look forward to celebrating throughout the month of October with special drops and activations.”
The shop will be christened on Tuesday with a “conversation” between Tweedy, Kevin Harter, Bloomingdale’s group vice president of integrated marketing, and celebrity stylist June Ambrose.
After that, Tweedy said special events will happen each week including activations with Cîroc vodka, a brand co-owned by Combs; Mitchell & Ness, which Sean John collaborated with on a special 20th anniversary varsity jacket, and an event with Hypebeast that revolves around the tracksuit.
Harter said that while Bloomingdale’s hasn’t carried the collection for some time, he has kept in touch with Tweedy and one of their conversations centered around doing something for the 20th anniversary. “We wanted it to feel organic and very special at the same time,” he said. Because the restaurant space was vacant — work on another eatery will begin in November — they came up with the idea to use the space for a Sean John shop.
“We wanted to do something outside the box,” Harter said, adding that a lot of the styles that were popular 20 years ago are having a resurgence. “Part of our mission is to make fashion fun and aspirational.”
Smaller iterations of the shop will be installed in several branch stores including Lenox Square in Atlanta, Beverly Center in L.A., North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and Roosevelt Field on Long Island for the month of October.