Title

Bergdorf Goodman Oral History Series: Andrew Goodman

Contributor Names

Goodman, Andrew

Reilly, Bob

Date

1977-12-13

Date Digitized

2020

Description

This interview by Robert Riley of Andrew Goodman, son of the founder of Bergdorf Goodman, took place on December 13th, 1977. The discussion starts out and keeps a consistent theme of development of departments within Bergdorf's as well as the evolution of the store from 1900. Goodman spoke of the 'family affair' at the office after Goodman bought out Voight and partnered with Bergdorf in 1901. Goodman spoke of his early life, dropping out college and moving to Paris to work for Patou before New York. There is an emphasis in the interview on Adolfo and Halston. There are a few mentions of FIT including trustee Jerry Silverman and other fashion employee Shannon Rogers, who were the first to bring European luxury fashion to America. Departments like fur and the custom salon are discussed, as well as Miss Bergdorf's in the 30s and the union system. A portion of the conversation discusses luxury customers and tactics when dealing with high profile and high maintenance clientele. The conversation is cut short when discussing Goodman's belief in young talent in the retail industry and the importance of incoming college graduates in the industry.

Andrew Goodman was interviewed by Bob Reilly in the executive offices of Bergdorf Goodman.

Andrew Goodman passed away in 1993.

Type

Moving Image

Oral histories

Sound

Subject

Fashion

Business

Department stores

Clothing trade

Labor unions

Men's clothing

Fur garments

Advertising--Fashion

Product counterfeiting

Bergdorf Goodman (New York, N.Y.)

Goodman, Andrew

Related Materials

Finding Aid

Rights

In Copyright

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT. This video has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for content in this video and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].

Identifier

FIT Repository ID: aod_000083

SPARC reference code: US.NNFIT.SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.2.1