ins and outs

Roopal Patel Secretly Left Moda Operandi a While Ago

Roopal Patel.
Roopal Patel. Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

E-commerce site Moda Operandi,* which allows customers to pre-order luxury clothes straight off the runway and wear them before anyone else (well, before non-celebrities at least), has gotten loads of attention since it started in February 2011. Co-founded by heiress Lauren Santo Domingo and former Gilt Group employee Aslaug Magnúsdóttir, the site quickly snapped up a click-to-buy partnership with Vogue and an additional $10 million in funding within their first few months of existence. They subsequently beefed up their staff in November with high-profile names like former Marie Claire editor Taylor Tomasi Hill, former Net-a-Porter employee Ashley Bryan (who’s also the daughter of Anna Wintour’s longtime boyfriend, Shelby Bryan), and former Neiman Marcus executive Roopal Patel. 

Now it appears the Patel quietly left her fashion director post this spring. Although we know she was still with the company during Paris Fashion Week in March, the exact date of her exit — and whose decision it was — is unknown. WWD reports that “she’s taken much of the summer off and vacationed in Saint-Tropez and Corsica as she considers her next career move,” so things can’t be too bad for her (maybe she was just tired of all that juice cleansing in the workplace). Meanwhile, Moda Operandi recently got another $36 million in a third round of financing and announced a big plan to sell more shoes on the site. That’s right, shoes! See, everything’s going to be fine.

* This post has been changed to show that Moda Operandi is no longer members-only. They dropped the membership requirement last February.

Roopal Patel Left Moda Operandi a While Ago