Fashion
An Identity Crisis Is Killing Women's Workwear
Women are trading suits for yoga pants—but can stalwarts like Banana Republic adapt to the new office norms?
A shopper browses merchandise at a Banana Republic LLC store in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergWhen Banana Republic hired a star designer in 2014, it was greeted with a wave of optimism: No longer would the label be the boring, ubiquitous merchant of last-minute suits for job interviews.
Marissa Webb had been J.Crew's head of womenswear and had a successful, trendy fashion line of her own. And Banana Republic had been plodding along, trying to recover after the recession. Its executives were excited to reinvigorate the label with freshness and audacity.