NEW YORK — In the spirit of mixing it all up for an individual style, Bloomingdale’s opened a Rent shop on the second floor of its 59th Street flagship last week.
The 600-square-foot shop draws it’s fashion inspiration from the upcoming movie “Rent,” premiering Nov. 17, and the long-running Broadway show, and pulls together styles from various contemporary resources, including Necessary Objects, French Connection, Vince, Free People, Seven for All Mankind and the store’s Aqua private label; about 50 percent of the items are exclusive to the store.
The Rent look is about the unexpected — outfitting something expensive with something inexpensive, something fancy with something casual. “It’s about using vintage pieces with modern pieces and creating your own look,” said Kal Ruttenstein, Bloomingdale’s senior vice president of fashion direction, at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting for the shop with “Rent” cast members and scores of groupies.
Ruttenstein, kind of a “Rent” groupie himself, said he’s seen the Broadway production 33 times, and that this is actually the store’s second Rent shop. The first was nine years ago when the show opened. The shop takes its cue from the show, Ruttenstein pointed out, which depicts “kids young and poor who put themselves together in unusual combinations of items. It’s a mixture. The first shop was more punk. This is more eclectic.”
Bloomingdale’s has a history of creating shops that tie in with theater and movies, including “Moulin Rouge,” “Mamma Mia!,” “Chariots of Fire,” “Saturday Night Fever” and “Out of Africa.” Ruttenstein said he’s been involved in some 40 or 50 shops and window displays that tie in with Broadway and Hollywood. “We try very hard not to do too many. Only when something is really happening.”