W Hotels Hires Fashion Director to Grow Clothing Line

Starwood's upscale W hotel chain has hired a fashion director to help grow the hotel's clothing line.

Amanda Ross, a veteran of the fashion business, will work on directing and expanding W's Global Glam Collection, a line that includes a wide range of designer clothing and accessories, from bikini beachwear to high-end handbags.

"If you look at W's target audience, it's people who are interested in the latest, hippest, coolest. They are fashion forward and have a credible, authentic approach to fashion," W brand chief Eva Ziegler told USA Today. "We needed to have an expert, so we came up with the idea of a fashion director to help identify the future of the collections and where trends are going."

Ross has more than 20 years of real-world fashion experience under her belt. She has previously worked for Condé Nast and Harpers Bazaar. More recently she has worked as a consultant for television and film, with stylist credits on projects like "It's Complicated" -- starring Meryl Streep and Steve Martin -- and TV's "Lipstick Jungle."

Ross' influence will extend beyond the fashion line and into the hotels, where she will help to style individual locations as well as hotel staff uniforms. Ross will also work on publishing W's new Insider Guides -- a series of trendy travel guides that outline spots to eat, shop, and relax like a local.

Hiring Ross isn't the hotel's first venture into the fashion world. For years W has hosted a VIP-only club inside the big tent at New York's Fashion Week, and last year the chain hired former Gucci-runway music programmer Michaelangelo L'Acqua to organize trendy hotel-branded compilation CDs.