Women in Design 2019 - 9

This page: Santa's MAKE Shop Media Event

Photos courtesy of MICHAELS STORES

for I. Magnin in San Francisco. Soon after, a contact she
had made while at the iconic department store invited
Beesley to join her at Club Monaco, which was testing
the American waters. "I've been fortunate that all of the
brands I've worked for have put me in a position to develop
a nonexistent or very nascent visual merchandising
program," she says. "That has meant that I could also create
branding and influence trends."
Following Club Monaco, where she learned the elements
of building a collection, she moved on to help Guess expand
its retail presence. It was the early '90s and Beesley was
handling visual merchandising for the brand's Beverly Hills,
California store, as well as directing the vision for the chain.
"One day, [co-owner] Georges Marciano asked me to come
to the headquarters downtown, then showed me a couple of
racks of clothes in the hallway and said, 'I want you to put
these together and arrange it any way you like,'" she recalls.
"At the time, Guess was primarily a wholesaler and he was
looking to create a collection."
Subsequent positions brought new lessons. At
Disneyland, she honed her skills, remodeling almost 30 new
concepts within the resort, while at Cost Plus World Market,
she moved further into general merchandising, leading
all aspects of creative for the store. When she arrived at
Michaels Stores five years ago, she was charged with putting
together a wayfinding package that eventually was scaled
into 900 stores and has become the basis for a prototype for
all 1,250 existing and future outlets. Just this month, Beesley
was named head of all creative for Michaels, continuing
to marry visual merchandising with brand extensions,
including celebrity videos and more.
"These are not high-design retail spaces," Beesley says,
"So the art is in creating 'wow' moments through product
and signage, and, ultimately, upgrading the customer's
experience."
Women in Design 2019

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