This was in contrast to earlier this year, when the Icelandic investors appeared en masse to support their then-fledgling investment at its autumn/winter preview.
Perhaps the publicity-shy Baugur founder, Jón sgeir Jóhannesson, was still enjoying his honeymoon after marrying long-time girlfriend Ingibjorg Palmadottir in Reykjavik. Or maybe Baugur guns are trained over the pond, in Germany and, intriguingly, closer to home – as Retail Week magazine can reveal tomorrow. Or maybe it feels that House of Fraser is making such progress along the path to becoming the Nordstrom of the UK that it need not lend the department store chain its weight.
Either way, changes are undoubtedly afoot at the investor, because there must have been a good reason for it to miss a House of Fraser team exuding positivity last night.
A beaming chief executive John King and chairman Don McCarthy – who did his bit for Iceland as a Baugur board member – revelled in the good news from the year that has passed since House of Fraser was acquired by a Baugur-led consortium.
The buying teams could barely contain their delight as glamorous collections from new own-labels Episode and Kenneth Cole were paraded down the catwalk alongside Untold and Linea.
Episode and Linea provided the most excitement during the evening, with elegant and sophisticated daywear and glam eveningwear from the former and 1970s-inspired safari styling, wide-leg trousers and body-con pieces in block colours and prints from the latter. Linea also wowed with its sexy eveningwear. All met with cheers and applause from the teams.
The House of Fraser management team have clearly injected positive momentum in to their employees, despite having had to grapple with a number of senior changes and streamlining of divisions since the takeover.
But while the retailer is most definitely in its own honeymoon period, it is facing – like everyone else on the high street – an inevitable downturn in consumer spending next year.
Chatter among the fashion retailers points to most having become resigned to the fact that this is inevitable. However, until that time, House of Fraser is well placed to launch its spring collections with a well-deserved spring in its step.
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