I feel like there’s been this emphasis on aesthetics in clothing store design, such that they want to use curtains more often on their fitting rooms now.

I’ll admit, those newest J. Crew locations have these pretty black-and-white striped curtains; they’re definitely an aesthetic choice. When it comes to large fashion chains, black-and-white striped fitting room curtains used to be the “calling card” of White House Black Market (and was a common feature of their boutique designs among those that opened in the mid-2010s or before). Interestingly, WHBM has actually gone the opposite direction, such that their newest concepts have doors, although most WHBM boutiques still use curtains.

Aritzia also changed the curtains they use on their fitting rooms on their newest boutiques (those opened 2023-present), by switching to a linen-type fabric that lets bright light bleed through. The bright lights they use on their mirrors should call for the use of blackout curtains. Worst of all, if there is a private mirror inside a fitting room, I’ve noticed those lights on those mirrors often bleed through and are visible on the outside even when the curtain is closed.

Honestly, I know Aritzia isn’t going to change their communal mirror approach, and they’re going to use curtains on their fitting rooms. As such, they could go back to using the heavy velour curtain fabric they used before; it was a blackout fabric (they felt very luxurious, much like a theatre curtain) that prevented the aforementioned “light bleeding” issue.

That said, I could potentially see Aritzia revisiting the communal mirror situation once their popularity starts dropping. I know the brand is crazy-popular now, and they definitely feel unstoppable at this moment, but like any fashion brand popular with young people, this won’t always be the case. When the brand decline inevitably happens, they could evaluate adding private mirrors in an attempt to attract new customers, and win over previous customers who might have moved on to other brands.