The Wall Street Journal On HSN Honcho Mindy Grossman, Why Home Shopping Is Hot And ‘Pooh-Poohing’ Designers

Did you realize it’s “The Golden Age of TV Shopping”?

We know, we’ve been telling you that for more than a year now, but The Wall Street Journal made it official Thursday, with a big feature with that “Golden Age” headline.

It looks like Journal reporter Elizabeth Holmes actually plopped her butt onto a plane and made the trek to St. Petersburg, Fla., to find out exactly why the hell upscale designers such as Reem Acra (who is so high-end we had never heard of her), Mark Badgley and James Mischka, and Naeem Khan are now selling their wares on HSN. In the past, they were selling their duds to celebs like Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry.

The Journal story mainly focuses on HSN and its evolution (which has some irate customers wanting to start a revolution) under the helm of CEO Mindy Grossman. But it also references the market’s dominant player, QVC, and its hip vendors such as razor-thin celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe and “Mad Men” costume designer Janie Bryant.

Your's truly with designing team Mark Badgley and James Mischka, who are a big part of The Journal's home shopping story

As usual in one of these home-shopping-networks-are-no-longer-downscale stories, we have the usual quotes from Acra and Khan (who has designed for First Lady Michelle Obama) knocking electronic home — that is before they swallowed the Kool-Aid.

“I never watched it before,” Acra told The Journal, referring to HSN. “I pooh-poohed it. But now look at it. There are items I would want every single day.”

Ah, a true believer now.

Naeem Khan's $870 bag for HSN

Then the story gets to the obvious: High-end designers have gone to HSN because they can move a hell of a lot of product on it, which is pretty crucial when sales for upsale goods have crashed. Mischka told Rupert Murdoch’s financial rag that Badgley Mischka sold 18,000 units of one particular jacket on HSN. It would take a lot of couture gowns to ring up that kind of revenue. Volume, volume, volume.

We did learn a few things from The Journal, like that HSN keeps track of sales by the minutes, and uses that “intel,” as Jack Bauer would say, to guide hosts. The story says that when HSN host Bobbi Ray Carter mentioned the quality of one of Acra’s jackets, it’s sales shot up. So HSN had Ray talk in more detail about the material in the piece.

HSN chief Mindy Grossman

The article talks quite a bit about Nike veteran Grossman, who came on board to HSN in 2006 and began making it more fashion-forward by courting a host of big-name designers.

Grossman did her research, asking people about HSN, and told The Journal she got three responses, “Some who shopped, some who didn’t, some who did but they whispered that they did.””

We never whispered, Mindy! We were always loud and proud about our HSN and QVC purchases, despite being surrounded by snobby Manhattanites (most of whom where transplants from the Midwest).

The Journal story goes on about Grossman, saying, “The new CEO cleaned house, shedding brands that she didn’t think made sense for the network.”

We guess the “shedding” refers to the exits of vendors like Suzanne Somers, Terry Lewis, Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles and a parade of others. The departure of Terry Lewis and her Classic Luxuries line still has some HSN shoppers calling for Grossman to be drawn and quartered.

We did get a kick out of the anecdote in the story about Mischka “falling off the stage” the first time he and his partner Badgley appeared on HSN. But unfortunately for viewers, the camera wasn’t on him when that little mishap took place.

My Big Bad: Miss Tina Is Now At Walmart, Not Kmart

We apologize for getting our “marts” mixed up.

As our vigilant and astute readers quickly noted, Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles, a former HSN vendor, has launched a clothing line at Walmart, not Kmart as we incorrectly posted late last night.

Our only excuse is too much work in the wee hous when we are tired.

Sorry guys, and thanks for correcting me ASAP.

Beyonce’s Mom Miss Tina, A Former HSN Vendor, Has Landed At Kmart

Sorry we’re a month late on this folks, but former HSN vendor Tina Knowles has landed at Kmart.

Knowles, the stylish mother of pop superstar Beyonce, is doing a clothing line for Kmart called Miss Tina for Kmart. The blog Posh On a Budget reported the news in October, when the line debuted.

Miss Tina is now at Kmart

Knowles, co-founder of the House of Dereon, had a line on HSN, Miss Tina by Tina Knowles, that included apparel and accessories. But earlier this year it suddenly disappeared, along with another African-American HSN vendor, Terry Lewis.

HSN CEO Mindy Grossman’s strategy has been to bring name-brand clothing and designers to the home shopping network, and that lead to an exodus of HSN vendors, including Suzanne Somers.

Looking on Knowles, you can see where Beyonce gets her style and class from.

The Miss Tina Kmart line has a lot of soft, drapey knit blouses, which we love, at prices that are just silly, like $15. Everything is under $20 in the collection of 30 pieces. We just may have to venture into our local Kmart to check them out.

Is HSN Bouncing Beyonce’s Mom, Miss Tina, From The Home Shopping Network?

Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mom

It looks like HSN is discontinuing yet another clothing line, and this time the exit door is being given to Tina Knowles, mother of pop superstar Beyonce Knowles.

Mama Knowles, who used to design costumes for Destiny’s Child before Beyonce split off from that group, has been doing a clothing and accessory line for HSN called Miss Tina By Tina Knowles.

The collection included not only clothing but also jewelry, shoes and handbags.

But currently all of Miss Tina’a merchandise on HSN.com, the little of it there is left, is on clearance. The line included some clunkers, like a skirt attached to leggings. But it also had more classic pieces, especially the purses.

We asked HSN for a comment Thursday, and the network said it was getting something together for us. We still don’t have anything from them.

HSN, under new CEO Mindy Grossman, has replaced many of the channel’s veteran vendors, such as Suzanne Somers, with hipper, more upscale and notable designers, such as Badgley Mischka.

Miss Tina would be the second African-American designer to lose her line on HSN. This year Terry Lewis, a former HSN host who did a collection called Classic Luxury for her former employer, also lost her spot on the network’s roster.

Of course, HSN has ended its relationship with many Caucasian vendors, as well, but the exit of Miss Tina might not sit well with some viewers, especially black customers of the No. 2 home shopping network. We heard from fans of Lewis who were not happy about her departure.

That would self-defeating for HSN, which of all the three major electronic retailers seems to have made a real effort to use African-American vendors and court African-American customers. HSN’s black vendors include Iman, Serena Williams, Carol’s Daughter, Sean ‘Puff Daddy” Combs, Antthony Design Originals and Natalie Cole.

And Saturday singer Mary J. Blige will do the exclusive premiere of her perfume, My Life, on HSN.

HSN Is Almost All Serena Williams, All Friday With Tennis Champ Showing Off Her Signature Statement Collection

Tennis champ Serena Williams will be on HSN Friday nearly 24/7, kicking off at midnight with the network’s Today’s Special.

Williams will be on throughout the entire day with her Signature Statement collection, which includes apparel, jewelry, handbags and accessories.

We saw her debut earlier this year, and it mainly featured blingy pave jewelry, pieces that Williams was wearing on her TV appearances. Now it looks like she has a wide range of clothes for this HSN visit,

We especially like her ruched dress at $55.

And of course, we love that bling. Bring it on Serena, with a very pretty crystal flower necklace catching our eye at $80.

HSN has a wide range of African American vendors on the air, not only Williams but also Natalie Cole, Sean Combs, Iman (David Bowie’s wife), Tina Knowles — who is Beyonce’s mom — and Carol’s Daughter.

Beyonce’s Mom ‘Miss Tina’ Tina Knowles Brings Snazzy Boots To HSN

Singer Beyonce’s mom Tina Knowles is in the house at HSN Thursday, offering the Today’s Special Value.

The item is a convertible suede and snakeskin boot, at $89. You unzip the shank of the boot and it transforms from a tall boot to a shootie, or short boot.

Knowles also does clothes, handbags and jewelry for HSN with her Miss Tina by Tina Knowles. line.