Department stores can be daunting. With endless clothing racks, sections ranging from ball gowns to kitchenware and a monstrosity of a building to navigate through, it’s no wonder why a trip to the mall is infamously overwhelming to many. Not to mention, the most serious fashionistas dare not enter the all-too-common department store lest they wish to sport an outfit that thousands of others may have purchased – a major fashion faux pas.  But Nordstrom has recently announced a temporary solution to quell the angst of those who fear entering the notorious “double-d.” Beginning in February 2013 and lasting through May, Nordstrom will open six “pop-up” shops that will feature clothes from the latest and greatest rising designers and artistes through a partnership deal with The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and Vogue Fashion Fund. 

   Only a select few of cities will be graced with the temporary shops.  The six include Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles (at The Grove), Chicago, Dallas (at Northpark) and New York’s Treasure & Bond in SOHO. The pop-up shops will feature apparel, accessories, foot ware and jewelry from the collections of the ten 2012 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists. The collaboration between Nordstrom and the not-for-profit trade association will help boost the designers’ brand, give them unprecedented exposure and in turn, spur their first bout of nation-wide sales. The ten CFDA/Vogue finalists are A.L.C., Assembly New York, The Elder Statesman, Giulietta, Illesteva, Jennifer Fisher Jewelry, Jennifer Meyer, Suno, Tabitha Simmons and Wes Gordon. The program has made head for designers like Derek Lam, Pamela Love, Proenza Schouler and Joseph Altuzarra, all who were CFDA/Vogue participants. 

   Out of the ten CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, only the winner and two runners-up will receive money for their fashion design endeavors – the winner, $300,000 and the runners-up $100,000 each. But this unique partnership aims to give all ten designers the opportunity to display their collections on an entirely inventive and exclusive platform. 

   "We think that our customers will be excited to have access to the collections of these talented designers," Jeffrey Kalinksy, Nordstrom's executive vice president of design, said in a statement.

   It’s hard to say what part of this business endeavor is more trendy – the ten designers’ collections that Nordstrom will accommodate or the fact that Nordstrom Inc. has jumped on the pop-up shop bandwagon. Intermix Clothing’s Facebook page recently announced a pop-up that will be located on the coveted Worth Ave. in Palm Beach, Florida. Scoop NYC is opening a pop-up boutique on Thursday Nov. 15 on N. Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills that will last through 2013. Nonetheless, Nordstrom’s pop-up shops are in vogue – literally. 

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