Power Player

Elizabeth von der Goltz has shaped how women dress the world over. The Browns and Farfetch executive talks to Jeffrey Yan about how the industry can move forward

Elizabeth von der Goltz is one of those people whose names you might not know, but whose impact you have definitely felt. She is the woman responsible for many of the trends and designers in our wardrobes today. She currently holds dual roles at Browns, the pioneering British multilabel boutique, and Farfetch, the world’s biggest fashion e-commerce marketplace, as CEO and chief fashion & merchandising officer, respectively. On her journey there, she has led the buying teams at Matchesfashion, Net-a-Porter and Bergdorf Goodman’s. Von der Goltz describes her job today as “bringing together teams to create a really beautiful, curated destination for the luxury shopper.” She came up in the era of the destination store, but as she says, “so many of the stores that we loved in the world—the Colette’s and the Barney’s—have closed” and so, her goal is to have Browns “be that experience, and to have that experience translate onto our website and app.” In this exclusive interview, von der Goltz tells us why she does what she does, and shares her hard-won wisdom for the next generation looking to break into the industry.

What is the most satisfying part of what you do?