where the style things are: Spotlight On: Lauren Pestronk, Fashion Director for HSN

Where The Style Things Are had a chat with Lauren Pestronk, Fashion Director for HSN, about what she does, what HSN really is, and all the best in spring fashion.

What does the Fashion Director of HSN do? What are your main responsibilities?

As the Fashion Director of HSN, I get to see everything that comes through HSN’s “fashion gates.” I work closely with the HSN fashion merchandising team -- Lynne Ronon, Executive Vice President of Merchandising for HSN, Chuck Anderson, Sr Vice President of Fashion Merchandising for HSN, John Bosco, Sr Vice President of Jewelry for HSN, the buyers and designers -- to curate the best of the season. Fortunately, we love almost everything - with some items standing out as big “winners”!

To get to these finds, I work with the most talented design houses in the world from NYC to Milan to Paris and with top designer collections, such as American Glamour Badgley Mischka, Timeless by Naeem Khan, Curations with Stefani Greenfield, Chi by Carlos Falchi, Sam Edelman, Completely Me by Liz Lange, to bring the season’s best in fashion, accessories and jewelry, in the latest colors and fabrics. And, our customers have come to trust they will receive their HSN fashions in a standard and consistent high quality and fit.

I provide our viewers with fashion tips, secrets, must-haves, and all around “goings on” within our closets to make sure that they are the most educated and well dressed women out there!

Describe the HSN shopper.

She is mostly female and more than half are between the 35-54 year old age. She watches television and uses the internet, consumes all types of media really, and, most importantly, loves to shop! She lives in the biggest cities with our top 3 markets being New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. She is well educated and loves HSN not just for the ‘find’ but for the education, information and entertainment which empowers her to make intelligent purchases.

Our customers are obsessed with style and fashion. They look to us to hear about product trends and to hear from designers themselves. We strive to be the customer’s fashion boutique - a trunk show that we deliver to 93 million homes - where we showcase the lifestyle of designers and brands and curate the best-of design.

What are the hottest trends for spring you think your customers will be buying? Any specific product/brands?

We have transformed HSN into a fashion destination, diversified the portfolio and added new brands that customers are responding to!

Especially for Spring…a time when people shake off those winter blues and welcome in fresh new beginnings full of color, life and excitement. We worked with the fashion editors at Elle to bring to them HSN’s Spring 2010 Fashion Series which started mid-February and continues through March. It is hands-down one of HSN’s hottest fashion shows of the year! Expect to see interpretations of the Americana trend with stripes, navy blue and white trench coats, light sweaters and scarves from designers like Curations with Stefani Greenfield; the Globe Trotter trend from Sam Edelman, Loose and Light Trend from Michael Vollbracht and Modern Romantic trend from Carlos Falchi.

What's been the most surprising thing you've learned working at HSN?

Anything is possible here at HSN! We don’t “buy” brands, we partner with visionaries, experts and design authorities to build exclusive labels and products and then bring them to life on our multichannel platform…the network, online, mobile and even in-flight.

And, the customer – she is so fashionable and educated; she inspires me everyday to be the best I can be. She will spend $1000’s if it’s worth it, but won’t spend $10 if it’s not. I have so much respect for that.

Anything new and exciting coming up in spring? Any launches or new collections?

Oh yes! Absolutely! There are constantly exciting new things going on. American Glamour Badgley Mischka launches a full fashion and accessories collection, Liz Lange launches Completely Me™ by Liz Lange her first ready to wear line, Very Vollbracht by Michael Vollbracht, Me Too Shoes, Jeffrey Banks (madras plaid collection), Cabana Life, Rebecca Moses, as well as someone fabulous from across the pond – TBA this spring!

About Lauren: While attending college she focused heavily on fashion and began building her career through various internships. Soon afterwards, she became a Fashion Market Specialist at one of the top fashion trend forecasting agencies in the world. There she covered the Contemporary/Designer market, which basically meant spending all of her days in the best fashion showrooms that New York City has to offer. She learned the ins and the outs of Seventh Avenue, focusing on fashion trends for all ages, budgets, and styles. She worked with every retailer in the country from designer to mainstream and everyone in between.

After covering all of Seventh Avenue, she headed south to Soho, to the offices of Scoop NYC. In this role, she was fortunate to wear many different fashionable hats learning more than anyone could learn in a lifetime. She traveled the globe to some of the most exclusive fashion houses in the world - London, Florence, Milan, Paris, Greece - it was her graduate degree program!

Then, she took her degree and background to HSN, using her experience and knowledge to educate shoppers on fashion. And she’s enjoying every minute!