“I remember listening to these three Frenchwomen talking on the seventh floor,” says Bergdorf Goodman regular and actress Susan Lucci early on in a film inspired by this very incident. “One of these women said, ‘When I die, I want you to sprinkle my ashes at Bergdorf’s. Just sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle.'”
The anecdote was also depicted in a classic New Yorker cartoon by Victoria Roberts, and eventually led to the book Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf Goodman, published last fall. Friday, May 2, the corresponding documentary film film hits theaters, promising Bergdorf’s enthusiasts a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of the renowned Fifth Avenue storefront. Below, check out nine fascinating things we learned from the film.
1. Michael Kors was first discovered when Bergdorf’s then-Fashion Director Dawn Mellow found him dressing a mannequin in the window of a boutique on 57th Street. When he explained that he was the designer behind the clothing items, Mellow asked that he come and show his line to the buyers at Bergdorf’s. Kors was 23.
2. Bergdorf Goodman was Tory Burch‘s first account.
3. Bobbi Brown launched her makeup line on the floor of Bergdorf’s in February 1991. At the time it consisted of just 10 lipsticks—she sold 100 tubes on the first day.
4. Narciso Rodriguez remembers coming to the Fifth Avenue Bergdorf windows—and sketching them—while he was studying design at Parsons. Now, his line is sold in the store.
5. The store’s location on Fifth Avenue was previously the Vanderbilt Mansion; it spanned the entire city block and had 130 rooms.
6. Edwin Goodman, one of the store’s founders, purchased a portion of the Vanderbilt Mansion in 1928 and allegedly drew his plan for the building on the back of a menu at The Plaza over cocktails.
7. At one time, the Goodman family lived above the store in a luxurious 16-room apartment. It had 10 windows overlooking Central Park and eight windows overlooking Fifth Avenue.
8. The family members who lived in the apartment above the store were all listed as “janitors,” because it was the only way to abide by New York’s fire codes for the building (which was considered a “factory”).
9. Sales associates are rumored to make $450,000 to $500,000 a year.
