It all began with hoop skirts.

Determined to bring European fashions to the women of New York, brothers Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale took a chance in the 1860s, starting out with bell-shaped skirts and slowly adding other garments to the floor. By 1886, this new concept -- the department store -- was such a success the brothers were able to move from the Lower East Side to 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. Bloomingdale's, which has been there ever since, soon became affectionately known as Bloomie's.

On September 24, in an event that is the retail equivalent of the opening of the new M.H. de Young Museum or the Giants moving to PacBell Park, Bloomingdale's finally -- drum roll, please -- [opened] in San Francisco. And, in a bit of irony, volume is back this season; instead of hoop skirts, there are oversize sweaters and bubble-hem dresses and wide pants, along with skinny jeans.

"We've pulled out all the stops for San Francisco," said Bloomingdale's new fashion director, Stephanie Solomon, who visited here from New York shortly before the store opened. "We're bringing our 59th Street sensibility here."

The big fashion news is one of exclusivity: The store will be the only Bloomie's in the country to carry '60s-inspired fashions by a revitalized Biba brand and dozens of styles of sexy shoes by Jimmy Choo in an in-house boutique. New knitwear by longtime designer Sonia Rykiel will be sold only here and on 59th Street.

Biba, the West London label that was at the forefront of the fashion revolution in the '60s and '70s with its floppy hats and mini smock dresses, has been absent from the scene since the mid-'70s. It's a risk. Rykiel, the French knitwear designer, has been making versions of her chunky knit black turtlenecks since the '60s.

"We think San Francisco is a fashion town, and we're going to try out some new things here,'' Solomon said. "Since we're in a sweater-dressing mood this fall, we're excited about Rykiel, and Biba is very exciting because this is the first collection since the mid-'70s.''

From The San Francisco Chronicle

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