Farfetch’s Elizabeth von der Goltz knows what you’ll wear next summer

Elizabeth von der Goltz, the fashion expert leading luxury retailers Browns Fashion and Farfetch, built a career on predicting what women want to wear. She tells us what is in—and out—in the fashion industry

Nothing gets past Elizabeth von der Goltz. After a waitress took her order at the restaurant where we meet for this interview when she was in Singapore this May, she remarks, “I like how she’s wearing Chanel earrings.”

What women wear has always been Von der Goltz’s business. This year, the 50-year-old was appointed the chief fashion and merchandising officer of online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch. She also became the CEO of Browns Fashion, the influential London-based fashion retailer now owned by Farfetch. Before that, she worked at fashion e-commerce companies MatchesFashion and Net-a-Porter, as well as New York department store, Bergdorf Goodman.

Von der Goltz’s resume reads like a directory of where rich women shop. As for what they buy, she has an eye for that too. Her trend forecasts help retailers navigate fashion’s ever-changing universe and guide them to the next best thing, now. “It’s almost an instinctual feeling as to what’s going to happen next,” she explains. “And it’s a risk; you’re not 100 per cent right all the time.”

She spots trends at fashion week in Paris, Milan, New York and London. But at the pace that fashion is moving, she now looks at more than just runway shows. Social media, she says, is “a massive way of finding talent”. She is also a keen observer.

“I’m a very visual person. I’m able to remember style,” says Von der Goltz, who credits that ability to her art history education. “I had to be able to look at a painting and know who the artist is. [I have] the ability to see something and be like, that’s from this designer, or from that collection.”

Above Elizabeth von der Goltz, chief fashion and merchandising officer of Farfetch and CEO of Browns Fashion (Photo: Browns Fashion)

The future of fashion

Today, as CEO of Browns Fashion, she does more than identify the next It bag. She has to sell it. Whether to do so online or in a physical store—the retail industry’s biggest debate for the last decade—is the wrong question to ask, according to her.

“I spent the beginning of my career at brick-and-mortar stores, and then I moved into a purely e-commerce space,” she says. “Browns has its physical store in Mayfair; an app; and a website. And we have Farfetch running our technology. It’s a combination that I find almost magical in [discovering] the possibilities [of luxury retail]. We have a real opportunity to truly show what omnichannel means.”

Von der Goltz is also eager to tap onto digital tools to realise that vision. Browns Fashion’s store, Browns Brook Street, features smart mirrors where customers can view pieces that are not displayed in-store. Browns Fashion’s personal shoppers also have an app that lets them see a customer’s wish list when they enter the store. They can then prepare the right items for the customer to try, as well as recommendations generated with the help of an algorithm.

“At Browns, we want to empower our customers. It’s a combination of product and experience,” she says. “To me, luxury is about giving someone the joy of choice, discovery and inspiration.” Both Von der Goltz and Browns Fashion are known to bring newness to fashion retail. The latter, which was founded in 1970, famously offered a platform for fledgling British designers Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.

Von der Goltz champions new talent too. At Net-a-Porter, she spearheaded its global mentorship programme, The Vanguard, which nurtures emerging brands and stocks them on the retailer’s website. She now oversees a similar programme at Browns Fashion called Browns Focus.

On the Asian fashion front, she lists Shanghai-based labels Shushu/Tong and Peter Do as some of the names that she is excited about. (The latter was one of the first brands to be included in Net-a- Porter’s The Vanguard.) She is also an ardent supporter of Singaporean fashion designer Andrew Gn, who she was in town to see.

“I was Andrew’s buyer at Bergdorf Goodman,” she shares. “[We stocked] his designs pretty early, since the first collection. And then I’d go into business with him everywhere I went.” Her support opened doors for Gn, whose label is now stocked by major fashion retailers.

“[As a retailer], we’re the gatekeepers, so we can do whatever we want,” explains Von der Goltz. “We want to use our influence positively.”

Above Von der Goltz has ardently supported Singaporean fashion designer Andrew Gn (left) throughout her career (Photo: Tatler Singapore)

Leading with purpose

Making an impact has always been important to Von der Goltz, and more so in the past year. After leaving MatchesFashion in September 2022, she took a break from her high-flying career to go back to school. She enrolled in the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. “I actually had some time off in my career, which I’ve never had. I’ve worked for 30 years straight,” she shares. “And this is something I’ve always wanted to do. [I was inspired by] my mother, [who] got her PhD. in physics from Harvard in the ’60s, and she was the only woman in her class.”

Von der Goltz was the only business leader in the programme to hail from the fashion industry. She had plenty to learn from her classmates, who came from industries such as banking and healthcare, and her professors, some of whom were on the boards of Fortune 500 companies. But the programme was “a lot bigger than just a business degree”, she says.

“A lot of it is about leadership transformation, about your responsibilities—not just to your customer but to your employees, to society,” she says. “It’s really about finding your purpose. What can you also do, beyond transforming your business?”

Throughout her career, Von der Goltz says that she has aimed to “influence something good within the fashion industry, whether it’s championing sustainability, or women leaders”. The latter is a cause that has always mattered to her, because she says she “has very strong women in my family”. That includes her grandmother, who, according to her, was the first female lawyer in southern China.

“I’ve been in the fashion industry since 1996, and we still see so few women CEOs and leaders,” she says. “It’s the same type of person at the head of a company: usually male, worked in Procter & Gamble, has a business degree. And things end up being the same. Are they really innovating? Are they really moving the company forward with the times?”

Von der Goltz believes that women leaders are more likely to align with the values that define the zeitgeist. “Today, the way to move a company forward is about being empathetic and understanding how the new generation works and how you can inspire them,” she says. “I think women are so equipped to do that. The way we lead is very different.”

She remembers how, early on in her career, she was often the only woman sitting in on business meetings. She tried to conform as much as possible. “Over time, I realised that you should just show more differences,” she says. “Differences in the boardroom are way more important than having a culture where everyone just agrees with each other. You grow up thinking that you don’t want to be overpowering or too bossy—all these things you’re told as a woman—and I realised it doesn’t matter. Just be yourself as much as possible.”