WWD Jan 27 - Westwood Regional School District

DAILY EDITION 27 JANUARY 2016 1
Green Shoots
Coach Inc. beat Wall Street
estimates in the second
quarter — and hinted it
might make more
acquisitions. PAGE 2
Coming Back
Costello Tagliapietra plans
to relaunch its collection
with backing from
Resonance Cos. PAGE 6
Fragrance Film
Derek Lam has created a
series of mini-movies for
the launch of his 10 new
fragrances. PAGE 4
FASHION
Eco Chic
Photograph by Stéphane Feugere
At the Grand Palais on Tuesday, guests
were enveloped in a Zen-like calm and Karl
Lagerfeld’s set was an ode to nature’s quiet
gifts. For Chanel’s spring couture outing,
there was an au naturale vibe to the clothes,
with what appeared to be raw cottons and
linens transformed into embroidered lattices
and inventive embellishments. For more
from the couture shows, see pages 8 to 11.
2
27 JANUARY 2016
ACCESSORIES
Coach Hints at Acquisitions
As Results Top Estimates
10 quarters.
BY VICKI M. YOUNG
Seeing success with its Stuart Weitzman acquisition, Coach Inc. is considering more deals to fuel the company’s
growth.
But it won’t happen right away, since
Weitzman is still in integration mode,
according to Victor Luis, Coach’s chief
executive officer.
“The capital allocation strategy at
Coach Inc. is to invest in our current
brands,” Luis said in an interview. “We
will look at acquisitions very selectively,
in areas where we can help create value
either in where we can leverage our
supply chain or leverage our strength in
retail distribution in North America or
internationally.”
That was as close to an explanation as
he would get to specifics on the firm’s
acquisition criteria.
Jane Nielsen, Coach’s chief financial
officer, spoke about the possibility of
an acquisition down the road during
the company’s second-quarter conference call to Wall Street analysts. She
explained that the company wanted to
“have the flexibility to act if and when
it’s in the best interest of Coach and our
shareholders.”
Part of that flexibility would come
from the sale of its interest in its joint
venture investment at Hudson Yards in
Manhattan. Coach said previously that
the $530 million investment in 2013 for a
738,000-square-foot portion in the first
tower built was for its new headquarters.
In November, the company said it was
looking to sell its interest, but would do
a sale-leaseback of its offices as part of
the recapitalization of the investment.
Nielsen said Tuesday morning that the
company had begun discussions with
partner-related firms.
Luis was particularly pleased with the
results in the second quarter, and in the
interview referred to it as the “most significant quarter yet.” That’s because the
three-month period reflected a sales gain
for the first time in 10 quarters, since
the company embarked on its “transformation” into a lifestyle brand. While
Coach executives had been talking about
green shoots and how executive creative director Stuart Vevers’ collections
are gaining traction with consumers,
Tuesday’s report was the first time there
was concrete evidence. Adding to the
positive news was the adjusted earnings
per share results that beat Wall Street
estimates.
The handbag and accessories firm
posted a 7.3 percent decline in net
income to $170.1 million, or 61 cents a
diluted share, from $183.5 million, or
66 cents, a year ago. Sales gained 4.5
percent to $1.27 billion, up from $1.22
billion. On a non-GAAP basis, net income
was $188 million, with EPS at 68 cents.
The company beat Wall Street’s estimates of 66 cents in EPS, but slightly
missed on the revenue estimate of $1.28
billion.
In North America, the company said
Coach brand sales fell 7 percent to $731
million from $785 million, while comparable-store sales slipped 4 percent.
Comps results included the impact of
the Internet, which pressured comps by
1 percent due to the reduction in eOutlet
events.
For the six months, net income fell 11.9
percent to $266.5 million, or 96 cents a
diluted share, on a 2 percent sales gain
to $2.30 billion.
Investors liked the news, sending
shares of Coach up 9.8 percent to close
at $33.33 in Big Board trading. Nearly
16.5 million shares changed hands,
compared with an average three month
volume of 4.8 shares.
In the interview, Luis noted the
sequential improvement in comparable-store sales and said the company
is “still planning for positive comps by
the end of the fourth quarter.” He said
that the quarter’s results were helped by
Weitzman and by double-digit increases
in Europe and Mainland China, as well as
sales gains in Japan.
As for Weitzman, Luis said, “The
brand did well, and in a season with
ridiculously warm weather over the
holidays, it was the only real fashion
retail boot brand that had trend-right
product.”
The ceo added that both Weitzman
and the core Coach brand are able to
recruit younger consumers, noting how
“Millennial consumers are now entering
the Coach franchise.”
Overall, the sweet spot for the Coach
brand is at the $300 level, although Luis
said the level “above the $400 price
point is a promising area of growth.”
He added that from how consumers are
communicating in social media and what
they are tracking, “what we are seeing
most clearly is that consumers want a
unique combination of authenticity and
value [which fits] well with our strategy,
our positioning.”
While the news overall reflected an
improvement for Coach, the women’s
handbags and accessory market was flat
in the quarter, Luis noted during the
conference call.
Jefferies analyst Randal J. Konik has a
“Buy” rating on Coach shares and a price
target of $51, which is among the firm’s
top picks for 2016. According to Konik,
“Total company top-line is up for the
first time in two years, operating margins
remain extremely healthy and the outlook is stable indicating the fundamental
bottom has been reached.” The company
said the operating margin for the quarter
was 20.5 percent, compared with 22.6
percent a year ago. The margin was 22.4
percent on an adjusted basis, compared
with 24.5 percent a year ago.
Nomura analyst Robert Drbul, who
has a “buy” rating on the stock, maintained his third quarter EPS estimate of
43 cents, adding, “We also expect that
Coach will benefit from the continued
secular shift from apparel
to accessories.”
ON WWD.COM
Chanel Couture
Spring 2016
● Karl Lagerfeld’s spring
ecological ruse resulted in an
expression of couture at its
most relevant.
●They Are Wearing:
Paris Collections:
Men¹s Fall 2016
● Ralph and Russo Spring
2016 Couture
●Christian Dior Spring
2016 Couture
● Paris Couture Spring
2016: Street Style
Global Stock Tracker
As of close January 26, 2016
ADVANCERS
Vince Holding Corp.
+18.92%
Iconix Brand Group Inc.
+12.52%
Coach Inc.
+9.82%
Avon Products Inc.
+6.51%
The Men’s Wearhouse Inc.
+6.23%
DECLINERS
Youngor Group Co. Ltd.
-9.27%
Chow Tai Fook
Jewellery Group
-2.40%
Isetan Mitsukoshi
Holdings Ltd.
-4.17%
Shiseido Co. Ltd.
-3.67%
Takashimaya Co. Ltd.
-3.57%
Coach’s first Paris flagship.
Chanel photograph by Stéphane Feugere
● Sales rose for the first time in
TOP 5
TRENDING
4
27 JANUARY 2016
BEAUTY
Coty, Tiffany Ink
Fragrance Licensing Deal
● The company will develop
product and distribute Tiffany
scents for men and women.
BY JULIE NAUGHTON AND PETE BORN
Coty Inc.’s newest partner is Tiffany
& Co.
The two have inked a deal to develop,
produce and distribute Tiffany scents for
men and women, which will be sold in
Tiffany doors and a group of undisclosed
specialty store doors.
The companies have not determined
when the first fruits of the collaboration
will be launched, said spokeswomen
from both Coty and Tiffany. When products are launched, they will join prestige
fragrance brands such as Marc Jacobs,
Chloé and Calvin Klein at Coty.
“Tiffany is among the world’s most
important houses of luxury, and fragrances are an important expression of
the brand,” said Frédéric Cumenal, chief
executive officer of Tiffany & Co. “We are
pleased to work with Coty, an industry
leader in the prestige fragrance category,
on the development of a more meaningful fragrance portfolio through this
licensing agreement.”
“Tiffany’s luxury heritage lends itself
perfectly to Coty’s prestige fragrance
portfolio,” said Bart Becht, chairman and
interim ceo of Coty. “We look forward
to bringing Coty’s unique expertise to
Tiffany by establishing a strong fragrance
business for the brand.”
Tiffany has dabbled in the fragrance
space before. According to market
sources, Chanel developed four or five
men’s and women’s fragrances
for Tiffany from the late Eighties into
the Nineties, when the brand was
handled by its Fragrances Exclusive
division. The Tiffany scents were distributed to major specialty and department
stores, including Macy’s. Chanel closed
the division in 2006. The Ungaro fragrances were also handled by
the division.
BEAUTY
Derek Lam Turns Scents Into Cinema
● His 10 new fragrances will be
Derek Lam
accompanied with their own
little movies.
Fragrance is going to the movies.
In the visually driven age of Instagram,
Derek Lam and marketers at Butterfly
Beauty are experimenting with an unusual
way to promote fragrance across social
media and attract attention in a Millennial-obsessed world. For the launch Thursday
of the Derek Lam 10 Crosby scent collection,
what normally would have been a straightforward product introduction has been
transformed into urban cinema.
For each of Lam’s 10 fragrances, brief
three- to five-minute digital movies have
been written and produced, depicting a
personal encounter or a moment in the life
of the city that has been inspired by the vibe
of each scent. The names of the fragrances
reveal their offbeat nature: “2 AM Kiss,”
“Ellipsis,” “Rain Day,” “Blackout,” “Drunk
on Youth,” “Hi Fi,” “Something Wild,”
“Silent St.,” “Afloat” and “Looking Glass.”
The cinema concept is being played up.
Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, cofounders
of Supermarche/Moxie Pictures Production,
who act as creative directors on the project,
created a 60-second trailer that is going live
Wednesday morning on Lam’s Web site.
Moreover, a fragrance and film premiere
will be held on Feb. 2 at the Angelika
Theater in Manhattan. The fragrances will
be distributed beginning Thursday through
Sephora stores and on sephora.com. The
films will start airing on Feb. 3.
These are not commercials, certainly not
in the traditional mold of glossy magazine
ads or TV spots. The digital revolution has
created challenges along with opportunities,
particularly for products that are nonvisual
in their impact.
Most of the marketing tactics of the past
are now obsolete in terms of effectiveness,
according to Robin Burns-McNeill, chairman
and cofounder of Batallure Beauty and
Butterfly Beauty.
The 10 Crosby collection is aimed at
young women aged 25 to 35 and those who
think like them. “If she is Millennial-minded,
she is actually turned off by being dictated to with an [ad] creative [placed] in a
repeated way,” said Burns-McNeill, whose
expertise dates back to building Calvin
Klein into a fragrance powerhouse in the
mid-Eighties. “So how do you capture their
attention? You have to create something and
place it in a way that they discover it. They
not only discover it but they enjoy it, engage
in it and engage in it with other people. The
story has to be authentic, and the creative
content still has to be always aspirational.”
She dismissed the notion that most
fragrance growth today is coming from
artisanal and niche brands. “It’s not,” she
said. “It’s about doing something that’s
disruptive and innovative in packaging,
in fragrance, in positioning and how you
communicate and capture someone’s heart
and their attention. Because everything is
too similar, too staid, uninspiring, they don’t
need it.”
Lam’s venue for inspiration was looking
out the window of his former office on
SoHo’s Crosby Street and observing people
walking by.
“What it is basically are fragrance interpretations of my feelings about New York,”
Lam said. “My feelings about the women
that I see, especially on Crosby Street — kind
of imagining her moments, her life, her
occasions. Not just how she looks, but emotional occasions, funny situations, romantic
[episodes] — kind of linked together,” Lam
said in an interview. “They are related
through my lens; literally, me looking out
the window.”
The connection between the stories are
“things that have touched me,” he said.
Those glimpses of imagination led to a series
of collaborations, first with four perfumers — Clement Gavarry, Pascal Gaurin, Yves
Cassar and Laurent Le Guernec — at International Flavors & Fragrances in creating
the scents. The bottle was designed with an
architectural feel, complete with a window
in the design, to suggest his view of the
cityscape. The outer carton is a clean white
cylinder.
The cinema project grew out of a
collaboration with Joost and Schulman,
who are well versed in indie filmmaking.
Their first feature, “Catfish,” premiered at
the Sundance Film Festival and went into
national distribution in 2010. That was
followed by “Paranormal Activity 3” in 2011,
a suspense film called “Viral” in 2014 and,
coming this summer, “Nerve,” starring
Emma Roberts and Dave Franco.
In order to create a sense of authenticity, the filmmakers brought in a squad of
New York-based writers, directors, actors,
dancers and musicians. One of the cast
members, Jennifer Westfeldt, broke onto
the indie scene with her role in the 2001 hit,
“Kissing Jessica Stein.”
Lam stressed that he gave Joost and
Schulman the names of the scents and some
ideas to work on, no story boards or scripts.
“It was really important to me that the
the films not be dictated exactly by what I
wanted them to be,” Lam said. “I like having
this conversation with the client and other
creative people and say, ‘What does 2 AM
Kiss represent to you? What does Ellipsis
represent to you?’
“This whole process is about collaborating and allowing different points of entry
into the stories, the fragrances and let them
have their kind of discovery,” he continued.
These stories, meant to be glimpses into
the daily reality of the city’s 20- and 30-yearolds, touch on moments: The crispness
of the first heavy snowfall blanketing New
York, the initial awkwardness of a couple
on their first date before clicking back in
the kitchen of a Chinese noodle shop over
a bowl of dumpling soup, the nervousness
and trepidation of a power blackout and the
anguish of a woman who has been abandoned by her boyfriend.
Schulman noted that commercialism was
shunned as the crew built a fantasy world.
For the filming, part of Mercer Street, near
the Crosby store, was shut down on a Saturday afternoon at the height of the holiday
shopping season. “We brought in hundreds
of pounds of autumn leaves [from upstate],
and there are no trees on Mercer Street,”
Schulman said.
He added that the whole context lies in
telling New York stories: “A woman who
has just been dumped and scorned finding
strength in herself and it’s a solo dance
number [involving a funky romantic maneuver with an abandoned store dummy]. That
same fellow who dumped her is seen later
dancing alone at Coney Island, juxtaposed
with a guy who has just fallen in love dancing alone on the subway.”
Schulman alluded to another episode
“about a doorman at the Crosby Street Hotel
who just got a tip large enough that he can
finally rent a room for himself in the hotel
where he has worked for a decade.”
Lam pointed out that each film was
designed to stand on its own, but there is a
bit of cohesiveness. Every actor appears in
at least two films. “Often the lead character
in one film is in the background of another,”
he said. “We are hoping people will watch
and try to discover the connections.”
Photograph by George Chinsee
BY PETE BORN
5
27 JANUARY 2016 ALBERTA FERRETTI
DEMICOUTURE
tank dresses.
— ALESSANDRA TURRA
NEHERA
ROBERTO CAVALLI
Peter Dundas’ pre-fall collection for Roberto
Cavalli was a marked improvement over his
debut as creative director at the label for
spring. Without abandoning Cavalli’s sexy
signatures, Dundas toned down the
come-hither nature of the collection in favor
of a more youthful, irreverent mood intended
to attract a new generation of customer. He did
so with a sense of humor, choosing a circus
theme as the lineup’s driving motif, an ironic
yet hopeful reference to the turbulent year the
company experienced.
A precious intarsia decorating the back of a
leather perfecto jacket celebrated the theme,
along with a playful pattern of circus posters
worked in a washed palette on a ruffled slipdress
and a silk pajama suit. Bohemian dresses plucked
from Cavalli’s classic vocabulary came in a
graphic star and multicolor fireworks patterns,
while tailored blazers were paired with casual
denim pants. Enhancing the relaxed mood, many
looks were finished with sporty leather
high-tops.
As he did for the men’s collection, Dundas
showed in Milan earlier this month, luxurious
exotics, such as furs and snakeskins, were used
for outerwear infused with a Seventies’ vibe. Of
course, it wouldn’t be Cavalli without animalia: a
leopard-printed velvet suit and leopard-patterned
crystal and sequin embroideries on maxi
Roberto Cavalli
Samuel Drira, the creative director behind the
Slovakia-based label’s resurrection, is doing a
good job constructing a relevant wardrobe based
on serene and sensual clothes. His pre-fall lineup
was a mix-and-match collection divided into
groups by color (gray, camel/beige/ivory); fit (classic versus oversize); and weight and knit gauge.
The potential to create different outfits and looks
depending on one’s taste was quite interesting.
The collection was composed of solid and
tone-on-tone looks with the exception of a kilim
carpet-inspired print. Some of the pieces featured
geometric patterns that created extra volume at
the back of classic white cotton shirts or on the
sides of crushed velvet skirts and dresses for a
graphic draping effect.
— LAURENT FOLCHER
Nehera
With Paris couture shows underway, Alberta Ferretti
presented her fall 2106 demicouture collection in Milan.
Her muse: the aristocratic and eccentric Marchesa
Luisa Casati, a Milanese noblewoman and ante litteram
celebrity, who in the first half of the 20th century stood
out for her unconventional look, as well as her intellectual curiosity and bizarre behavior.
Ferretti developed a collection infused with a sense
of subversive elegance, which marked a departure
from the brand’s signature romantic, delicate aesthetic. Focused on a nocturnal color palette, the lineup
included a dégradé Lurex maxi slipdress worn with an
asymmetric cardigan decorated with fringe and rich
embroideries. The outfit’s Twenties aura returned in
an opulent embroidered minidress embellished with
tassels and sequins. Gowns, crafted from rich brocade
and jacquard fabrics, were cut in more voluminous,
theatrical shapes, while lace floor-length ruffled styles
revealed the softer side of this chic, sophisticated
woman. — A.T.
Alberta Ferretti
Demicouture
FASHION
Claudia Schiffer
Unveils Tse Collection
●
The model is creative director
of a new line that bears her
name.
BY SAMANTHA CONTI
LONDON — Claudia Schiffer has become the
latest model of her generation to launch a
creative fashion venture.
This week she will unveil Claudia Schiffer
Made by Tse, a 40-piece cashmere collection
that stems from her initial collaboration with
the brand in September, WWD has learned.
The collection will bow for fall at trade
shows in Dusseldorf, Germany next month
and in Paris from March 2 to 9.
It will be available from August on
Tsecashmere.com and at selected retailers
globally. Prices start at 124 pounds, or $177.
Schiffer’s title is creative director, and she
oversees the design and artistic direction
of the women’s collection. The supermodel
first collaborated with the brand on a
collection called “Claudia Schiffer for Tse
Cashmere” that launched in September.
“My collaboration with Tse was such a
positive experience that the obvious next
step was to launch my own line, with Tse
producing it,” said Schiffer, who called Tse a
“great partner who understands my passion
for cashmere.”
Schiffer told WWD she’s combined “amazing cashmere yarns with details of multicolor jacquards and Fair Isles, creating a line
of casually chic separates for everyday.”
She said she was inspired by the colors,
scents and textiles from her travels in southern Spain, and the palette includes sunset
red, burnt orange and sky blue. Schiffer
said she’s combined those strong shades
with “soft cream and camel, referencing
motifs from heirloom rugs, ancient tiles and
mosaics.”
The mood is unfussy and the pieces are
meant to be worn with “denim and great
accessories. The sweaters are slouchy with a
boyfriend fit, and the dresses can be belted
or worn loose.”
Christina Peng, chief executive officer of
Tse, said it was natural to take the relationship a step farther, and the new collection
captures Schiffer’s personality.
Peng called the collection “romantic, with
a bohemian aesthetic,” and described it as
fresh, youthful, contemporary and timeless.
“The collection is translated through
traditional artisan techniques, hand-crafted
textures and jacquard patterns in rich tones
to create a point of difference and establish
a new audience,’’ Peng said.
Claudia Schiffer
6
27 JANUARY 2016
FASHION
Resonance Steers
Costello Tagliapietra’s
Relaunch Planned for April
●
Through the firm’s investment,
the brand is back in business
with a focus on shirts.
BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
Unmistakable in their signature plaid
shirts, Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra have relaunched their label as
shirt-centric.
Shortly after last February’s Costello
Tagliapietra runway show, the pair decided
to retreat and regroup after a 10-year run
that included two Uniqlo collaborations and
two CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nominations. Their idea of a breather wasn’t exactly
that, considering many days were spent
toiling on the alpaca farm that belongs to
Tagliapietra’s mother, who was sidelined
with a broken femur having been rammed
by a ram. Unlikely as all of this sounds, it was
in fact true and “actually fun,” according to
the good-natured designers. As it turned out,
being down on the farm helped to clarify
their next incarnation.
“The whole industry is changing so
drastically. Culture in general is changing so
drastically. For a while, we’ve been privately
thinking, ‘What is it that we’re doing? Do we
want to keep speaking to the same customer
or to broaden this?’” Tagliapietra said.
“We’ve always had this duality of fans who
were interested in how we were dressing
and people who were interested in the
dresses we were making.”
Their publicist of 10 years, Kelly Cutrone,
linked them up with Resonance’s Lawrence
Lenihan, who in July exited FirstMark Capital, the venture capital fund he cofounded.
Founded with Joseph Ferrara, Resonance
invests in and provides operational support for an assortment of brands including
Gaby Basora’s Tucker label, Norisol Ferrari,
Robert
Tagliapietra
and Jeffrey
Costello
Tommy John men’s underwear, Lolly Wolly
Doodle children’s wear, Body Labs’ three-dimensional body mapping and an assortment
of start-ups. “A brand isn’t just manufacturing, having a marketing plan and finding the
white spaces. Our job is to find the creators
and to enable them with a business that is
as strong and powerful as their vision is,”
Lenihan said. “What I’m always worried
about with the creators is how genuine their
vision is.”
A little serendipity sold Lenihan on
Costello Tagliapietra’s vision. Out for a Sunday morning run in July in the Westchester
woods, Lenihan spotted two men dressed all
in plaid walking in the distance. “I was like,
‘Wow, I can’t believe it,’ and then, ‘Holy s--t!
It’s these two guys,’” he said with a laugh.
“There was no way they knew I was going
to be there. There was no way I knew they
were going to be there, so it is genuine.”
Seated across from Costello and Tagliapietra in Resonance’s West 28th Street offices,
Lenihan said, “Their brand is them — just
like with Gaby [Basora.] Tucker is Gabby. It
comes from here,” he said, tapping his heart
for effect. “And not from market research.”
In the early stage of building bays for the
individual companies and a communal area
in its 12,000-square-foot space, Resonance
aims to partner with seven to 10 new
companies each year, all of which will be
maintained in its portfolio. “We take equity,
we are a partner, we enable their vision,”
Lenihan said.
Creating a cross section of companies
that assist each other wherever they can,
he pointed to Runthrough, a B2B platform
that enables brands to express who they are
to the media, handle sample requests from
stylists and other services, as an example.
Anticipating this “next wave of industrial disruption,” Lenihan noted that his experience
is in retail and technology, whereas Ferrara
specializes in production and manufacturing. “The idea is you can’t just write a check
and walk away. You’ve got to create capability. This is about the company that learns
the most wins,” he said. “Let’s spend our
time on things we don’t know the answer to
where you bring advantage.”
In this “time of incredible uncertainty,”
Lenihan said, “It’s figuring out how to react
and move these companies fast enough,
but then create companies that are solid
enough to be able to grow and prosper. The
biggest problem that this industry faces is
that all these companies that you think are
successful companies don’t have a business.
Our idea is you have to have a business that
empowers. Is this a $10 billion business?
No, but it doesn’t have to be. This business
should be as big as it should be.”
Both from what they described as
blue-collar families of tailors, Costello and
Tagliapietra wanted to create a more affordable collection, hence the $125 price tag of
the shirts and sizing from small to triple-extra-large. In fact, in 1994, they started out
making shirts for Bruce Springsteen, Nine
Inch Nails and other musicians. “That’s what
we love — patternmaking, crafting clothes —
and that’s what we’re good at,” Tagliapietra
said.
To be more accessible, they will throw a
party instead of a show for their relaunch in
April, and there are plans to sell at more offbeat places like the Cold Spring Flea Market,
as well as more traditional stores.
Their collection includes plenty of plaid
women’s and men’s shirts, which will be
sold initially on the Costello Tagliapietra
site. Nearby, mock-up boards are covered
with designs for plaid bicycles, stash bags,
dog leashes, men’s boxers and a host of
other products, a sign of the brand’s plans
to collaborate with other companies. Kiehl’s
recruited Tagliapietra to design its plaid
gift wrap and in-store illustrations for the
holidays. Shortly thereafter, Art Department
offered to represent him as an illustrator and
he accepted. With 350 proprietary plaids,
Costello Tagliapietra will start with five in
April, and an additional five or six will be
added every couple of months.
With neighbors like Kaufman Franco,
Dsquared2 and an increasing number of
fashion tenants in the building that used to
be home to The Tunnel nightclub, Resonance expects more fashion brands to
descend on the neighborhood. “I do think
this area of New York is going to become the
center of fashion. Hudson Yards is coming
in, the High Line has been extended and
there is the new subway stop [on 34th Street
for the 7 train],” Lenihan said. “If you’re
a creator, it’s open, you can think without
that oppressive feeling you kind of get in the
garment center. It’s also cheaper.”
RETAIL
Sigrid Olsen, Dillard’s Link for Sportswear Line
The bridge-priced collection
includes embellished tunics,
tops, dresses, pants jackets
and knits.
BY LISA LOCKWOOD
Sigrid Olsen is headed back to department stores.
The designer will launch Sigrid Olsen
Signature, a casual bridge sportswear
brand, this spring in a partnership with
Dillard’s Inc.
Initially the brand will roll out next
month across Dillard’s top 100 doors.
Olsen’s collection of embellished tunics
and tops, dresses, pants and knits carry
an average retail price of $130, with the
highest price set in the low $200 range.
With an emphasis on investment dressing, comfort and color, the line will have
monthly deliveries.
“Dillard’s attracts many women from
my customer base. I can reconnect with
them and design beautiful yet versatile
ways to wardrobe with distinctive, uplifting fashion pieces,” said Olsen.
Among the looks are a print dress/
tunic for $149; double-faced linen dress
for $149; button front-pin tick blouse for
$99, and print sateen ankle pants
for $139.
Olsen continues to design her more
moderately priced collection for HSN
and will be back on air Feb. 26 to show
her new spring collection. Last year,
Olsen forged a deal with HSN for a collection called Sigrid Olsen Studio which
launched last April, when Olsen promoted her artisan-inspired designs on air
with HSN and simultaneously online at
hsn.com. She designs three HSN collections a year.
Sigrid Olsen Signature is a collaboration between Olsen’s design team in
New York and Dillard’s merchandising
team. It is being produced by Olsen, who
has a manufacturing company behind
this endeavor, Nation Design, a New
York-based private label knitwear and
sportswear manufacturer. The collection is produced in Asia. Nation Design,
which is headed by Lynne Ronan and her
brother, James Ronan, also does production for Olsen’s HSN line.
“I’m working with the same design
director and I can keep very close tabs
on what’s appropriate for Dillard’s and
what’s appropriate for HSN. It still has a
consistent brand message and DNA, but
a very distinct brand differentiation,”
said Olsen. She said the collection for
Dillard’s uses cotton silks, viscose, linen
blends and cotton sateens, whereas the
HSN line uses fabrics such as cotton
twill, cotton lawn, cotton spandex and
rayon spandex. “[Signature] is more
polished with a lot of beautiful embroideries,” she said.
“Dillard’s has a long relationship with
the Sigrid Olsen brand and we were
excited to bring her fashion to our customers,” said Jim Stockman, vice president for exclusive brands at Dillard’s. He
said the collection will be housed in the
casual bridge department and is aimed
at a customer “who appreciates quality,
design, color and Sigrid’s commitment to
creative well-being.” He anticipates that
the strength of the line will be the fashion knitwear and the inspired wovens.
Asked if Olsen plans to expand her distribution beyond Dillard’s, she replied,
“We’ll start here and see how it goes.
You never know. I’m going to take things
slowly, and do it with excellence.”
An accomplished artist, Olsen began
her company in 1984 as a division of
Segrets Inc., which was eventually sold
to Liz Claiborne in 1999. The business
— which catered to the Baby Boomer —
peaked at $100 million under Claiborne,
but was shuttered in 2008 as part of a
corporate restructuring. In 2014, Olsen
got her name back from the then Fifth &
Sigrid Olsen photographed in Sigrid Olsen
Signature’s floral print jacket and trouser.
Pacific Cos. Inc. (the former Liz Claiborne Inc.). During those six years away
from the business, Olsen reinvented herself, operating creative wellness retreats
around the world, where she runs art
workshops and yoga classes in places
such as Tulum, Mexico.
Costello photograph by Thomas Iannaccone; Olsen by Bryan Kasm
●
8
27 JANUARY 2016
The Reviews
CHANEL
Serenity isn’t a condition normally associated with
Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel. Yet guests entering the Grand
Palais on Tuesday morning felt enveloped in Zenlike
calm, the set an ode to nature’s quiet gifts. A blue sky,
lush green lawn and cedar trees framed a simple-pleasures modernist house, three windowless tiers of
vertical slats, the chic geometry rendered in humble
natural oak.
Without musical warning, a male model in patchwork pants appeared and pressed a button, opening a
center panel of the house. From there exited Chanel’s
parade of fashion, an expression of couture at its most
relevant. “I think it’s the first couture collection done in
the ecological approach. It’s fun to do this after being
high-tech,” Lagerfeld said, referring to his collection last
fall, which featured jackets made on 3-D printers.
For spring, the ruse was ecological, au naturale.
Hence, the base of beige (before she championed the
LBD, Mademoiselle Chanel was known as the Queen of
Beige, Lagerfeld informed during a studio visit) and the
primary embroideries: wood. Every imaginable incarnation of wood-in-miniature became the stuff of couture
craft — flat, rounded, rough-hewn, smooth. So, too, did
other materials — string, straw, raffia, twine and what
appeared to be raw cottons and linens, all transformed
into embroidered tweeds, lattices and inventive embellishment. “It helps to own the houses,” Lagerfeld said,
referring to the network of specialty ateliers Chanel
owns via its Paraffection subsidiary. “Lemarié used to
do just feathers. Now they do everything.”
Paris
Couture
2016
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni
CONTINUED ON PG.9
27 JANUARY 2016
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni
Lagerfeld started with a calm appropriate to his
motif, celebrating the suit — it remains the backbone
— in variations on a long silhouette. His favorite jacket,
short and trim with voluminous sleeves, topped two
skirt shapes, one with controlled volume falling from
tucks at the waist; the other, which dominated, ultraslim,
sometimes made with double tiers. Side or back slits,
some filled in with tulle kick pleats, allowed for ease of
walking.
Those slits spoke to Lagerfeld’s creative ethos.
Again and again, this consummate commercial designer delivers the highest of high fashion designed to be
worn. The work is intense but not superfluous, delivered
with a range essential to the house’s extensive clientele. For every rich lady who likes a suit on the plain side,
such as the show opener with bold seaming its primary
decoration, there’s another who fancies fancier. For
her: the wooden embroideries, some natural in earnest,
others integrating the kind of sparkle that only appears
naturally in the night sky.
Speaking of night — it dazzled. Looks ranged from
angelic (pink tunic over dress with frou-frou fan sleeves)
to soigné (unfettered pajamas under gossamer cape,
aglitter with crystals).
As for accessories, spectator shoes on sculptural
cork wedges spoke to the natural-eco moment, as
did the show’s only jewelry — bees as broaches and
single earrings. “Bees are disappearing,” Lagerfeld said,
connecting the eco dots. As for the latest Chanel bag,
a waist-slung pouch sized to hold one item only, an iPhone 6, even nature-loving ladies want to keep in touch
with friends — and the times. — BRIDGET FOLEY
9
10 27 JANUARY 2016
ARMANI PRIVÉ
Giorgio Armani goes after a theme the way the
Broncos went after Tom Brady — relentlessly. So
the arrival of his stiff-weave, lilac-hued invitation
proved an unsubtle clue. It heralded a mono-pastel Armani Privé collection that would be feminine
and light with a focus on subtle structure.
It was all of the above, its ample fabric flourishes by way of airy organza, gazar and a shot
of crinoline. It also skewed young for Armani,
a mood highlighted by pale purple palette and
the models’ dark, wavy Katy Perry coiffeurs. The
result was an interesting if uneven collection, one
that played provocatively into the discourse of
couture’s role today.
A big question: How to navigate the desire
for youth and the need for newness? Talk to
people involved with couture and they swear
that desirable as they are, Instagrams, likes and
tweets are secondary goals; the primary goal is
to sell clothes. While one can certainly question
the veracity of that priority, selling does matter.
That means having something to say to modern
women with the money, desire and lifestyle to
purchase and wear couture. How much of that already limited market is into the concept of haute
shorts? Among 59 looks, Armani showed 14 pairs,
give or take, upward of 20 percent of his lineup.
Snappy yes, but a snap more sensibly delivered
off the rack.
That peculiarity aside, Armani presented some
strong ideas. He elevated silhouettes of the
street, specifically baseball jackets. A charming
cropped version came in crystal-detailed silk jacquard; a longer one, in lame organza. Armani has
long embraced tricked-out pants. Here, he did
it with ruffles, stiffened via organza and gazar.
While pants with major side cascades frothed
with overkill, those flaunting a deep ankle ruffle
looked wacky at first, but grew on you as the eye
adjusted. Would that some had been shown not
with equally stiffened tops but luxe sweaters.
While daywear remains a holy grail, much
couture business skews toward evening. There,
Armani delivered with his usual panache (never
mind the multiple black, swirling “plexi” pasties
he collaged into a top over a tiered skirt). Except
for a linear look here or there, he went for the
serene princess effect with elegantly decorated,
full-skirted gowns — an embroidered one-shoulder in crinoline gauze with tulle overlay; a twopiece with crystal-embroidered top over lame
organza shadow-striped skirt. With the Oscars
around the corner, let the guessing begin.
Yin recently parted ways with Leonard after
two years as creative director of the French
fashion house in order to focus on her own brand.
As divorces go, this appears to have been an
amicable one, since Leonard managing director
Nathalie Tribouillard-Chassaing was sitting front
row.
The narrative of the collection, titled “Blooming
Ashes,” was steeped in fantasy — think warrior
women in chainmail mesh and leather harnesses — yet it also sounded like a metaphor for the
designer’s own journey. “She is changing, she’s
victorious, she’s a warrior, she’s a fighter, she
goes back to her instincts,” Yin said backstage.
Indeed, Yin was back to creating the kind of
complex handcrafted pieces that are the hallmark of couture, including a corset resembling
a cage of creeping vine branches, or an off-theshoulder sheath dress made from a mosaic of
seven different types of fur.
She balanced the semi-conceptual pieces
— including a little black dress in a cage of fairy
lights — with her off-hand approach to luxury:
draped tops and dresses incorporating panels
of fine silver mesh; jumpsuits in washed silk or
stretchy waxed cotton, and finely woven leather
dresses and tops.
A pale blue silk gown encased in a web of
knotted rope struck the perfect balance between
design and wearability.
— JOELLE DIDERICH
— BRIDGET FOLEY
BOUCHRA JARRAR
“Ample sleeveless peacoat in black boiled
wool with lapels trimmed in badger fur. Victorian
blouse in ivory Chantilly lace. Fluid ivory silk satin
trousers.”
That dry description of look No. 4 in Bouchra
Jarrar’s spring couture show sounded enticing
enough, yet hardly did justice to her mouthwatering blend of military strictness and feminine
grace. In one of her strongest showings yet,
Jarrar took the elegance and dignity of the
French Republican Guard uniform and absorbed
it into her universe of great-fitting pants, killer
peacoats and alterna-tuxedos.
Here was one of the French capital’s smallest couturiers creating fashion thrills with the
puniest of means: 21 looks paraded on flat-soled
shoes and boots in the narrow hallways ringing
the courtyard of a municipal building. Her voiceover on the jazz-tinged soundtrack, reading
excerpts of Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost
Time,” seemed an unnecessary accompaniment
to her riveting clothes.
In the fashion world, Jarrar is something of a
sentry: alert yet impervious to distractions. She
sticks to her guns, turning out handsome, uniform-tinged tailoring with an inimitable feminine
swagger and eye-catching details. Her fetish
perfectos took on new guises: Dressy in fancy
metallic jacquards; heavenly as a long, romantic
mohair coat hand-woven into a hound’s tooth
pattern.
Jarrar has never been a great fan of flou, but
she keeps pushing herself to do it. For once,
her crushed velvet dresses and cowl-neck tops
didn’t feel forced, and added a sensuality to her
ensembles.
There were fewer harnesses, too, just a latch
of braiding holding on backless tuxedo vests.
These were softened further with bits of organza drifting off bare shoulders. Jarrar found
a dreamy name for them in her show notes:
butterfly sleeves.
— MILES SOCHA
YIQING YIN
Bouchra Jarrar
Perhaps it’s no accident that for her first show
since being granted the official haute couture
designation, Yiqing Yin focused on the theme of
rebirth.
Yiqing Yin
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni
Armani Privé
11
27 JANUARY 2016
RAMI KADI
What better source for spring couture could
there be than the goddess of spring herself?
Rami Kadi looked to Chloris, the spring nymph
abducted and later married by Zephyrus, whose
story Sandro Botticelli captured in one of his
most famous paintings: the “Primavera.” The
all-white, all-lace collection, with an abundance
of feathers, bird and angel wing motifs, was a
hopeful one, said Kadi, “given all the change that
is happening in the world right now.”
The theme could have easily gone riot, but
Kadi opted for clean, controlled silhouettes
enhanced by light capes. Impeccably executed
technical embroideries added little pops of color.
The young couturier has a penchant for experiments, here, baking sequins “like chips” in the
oven for a foil effect that was implemented via
hand-stitch work. He also embroidered delicate
jute branches as perches for his birds — swallows, chickadees and orioles — that were braided
out of different knots, raffia, ribbons, metal
threads and tiny beads.
— PAULINA SZMYDKE
AOUADI
Period dressing is becoming somewhat of a
signature for Yacine Aouadi.
Following his Victorian-inspired debut last
season, for spring the young couturier from
Marseille mixed Twenties silhouettes with athletic, modern cuts. Consider a ruffled Charleston
dress boasting racer back, styled over sheer
organza bottoms — part track pants, part sexy
long johns.
Yet the silhouettes were secondary to Aoudi’s
unique craft and talent for embellishment. The
shy newcomer bedecked his corsets, gowns
and negligees with belts and cuffs of handmade
nylon bubbles that were embroidered with tiny
beads before they were stitched to fabrics via
dainty metal threads. Elsewhere, a sensual silk
organza robe was built like a puzzle from separate panels of fabrics held together by some 700
glass beads that served as ornate buttons.
Fortunately, the presentation was held like an
exhibition, allowing viewers to catch the quintessential details. — P.S.
STÉPHANE ROLLAND
Stéphane Rolland staged his couture show oldschool style. The designer assigned each look a
name and number, announced by an MC as the
models sashayed through the couturier’s private
salon on Avenue George V: “Number 1. La Damnation de Faust. Black silk crepe jumpsuit and
pleated organza sleeves…” and so on.
Yes, Rolland drew inspiration from the opera
and the ballet, the first exit co-opting the title of
Hector Berlioz’ famous work. And yes, the silhouettes at times assumed theatrical proportions,
as seen on a maxi tutu gown or a wildly pleated
skirt rendered in multiple layers of lipstick red.
But overall, the designer toned the drama down
a notch versus previous seasons. A bare-back
jumpsuit with a long trail was a humble and
modern compared to Rolland’s habitual knack for
XXL-embellishments and walking sculptures.
Novelty came via a collaboration with textile
designer Marta Mantovani, who thought up a
jagged, 3-D textured suede fabric encrusted with
little crystals. It skewed futuristic, an interesting foil to the collection’s luscious silk and tulle
bottoms.
— P.S.
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni and Dominique Maître
Aouadi
Rami Kadi
Stéphane Rolland
12 27 JANUARY 2016
MEDIA
Fashion GPS, Augure
Combine as Launchmetrics
Fashion GPS has merged
with the Paris-based firm
that specializes in influencer
marketing.
Michael Jais and
Eddie Mullon.
BY RACHEL STRUGATZ
Fashion GPS has merged with marketing
firm Augure, creating a new high-tech
player at New York Fashion Week that
will not only help manage RSVPs and
seating charts, but will analyze the reach
of social media influencers in the front
row.
The combined company will be based
in New York and rebranded as Launchmetrics, with 1,700 clients spanning 70
countries. Altogether, it will have about
200 employees and offices in Los Angeles, Paris, London, Madrid, Girona and
Hong Kong. A Milan office will open in
March and the company will enter Japan
later this year.
Augure, which collects data on social
influencers and helps brands put it to
work, will be integrated into the Fashion GPS product line as GPS Publisher,
according to Michael Jais, chief executive officer of Augure, who will lead the
merged company as ceo. This product
will be part of Fashion GPS’ existing
offerings that include GPS Sample, GPS
Events, GPS Styles and GPS Radar — all
of which are designed to streamline the
process of sample trafficking, overseeing an online showroom and managing
events and fashion shows (from sending
out invitations to manning the guest list
to seating). Rates vary, with some services costing as little as $5,ooo per year
and going up to $500,000 depending on
the size of the business and how many of
Fashion GPS’ services are used.
Jais and Fashion GPS founder Eddie
Mullon, who will serve as president
of the combined firm, can pool their
resources and coordinate fashion show
logistics and follow through by tracking the social reach of attendees. Such
data can help brands better bring their
products to market, whether this means
accelerating the production cycle,
activating relevant influencers during a
launch or increasing internal efficiency.
“It is now critical for brands to stay
ahead of trends, quickly bring product
A visual from Christopher Kane’s spring 2016 ad campaign.
ON BOARD
Joanna Coles is upping her tech cred.
The editor in chief of Cosmopolitan, who also
serves as editorial director of Seventeen, joined
the board of directors of Snapchat in early
December. Snapchat confirmed the news but
would not reveal more details about other members or the editor’s powers on its board.
Asked about the publishing company’s policy
regarding editors serving on boards of media
partners, and whether it poses a conflict of interest, Hearst president David Carey said: “Here
at Hearst, potential board roles are reviewed
on a case-by-case basis. I’m very pleased that
Joanna is on the board of directors of such an
important and ascendant technology company.”
Coles has played a central role in building
Hearst’s relationship with Snapchat.
Cosmopolitan was one of the original properties on the social media site’s Discover platform
when it launched a year ago. Over the summer
the editor in chief hinted at the special project
on a panel at Cannes Lions where she interviewed Snapchat cofounder and chief executive
officer Evan Spiegel. That project turned out to
be Hearst’s recently launched channel “Sweet,”
which lives in Snapchat’s Discover panel and
is run by Luke Crisell, a former editor in chief of
Aritzia.
Coles has also been in talks to develop a
magazine with Airbnb, and she is in the process
of developing a TV show with NBC based on
the “real life” of an editor and her colleagues
at Cosmopolitan magazine. The show, which
is penned by “Parenthood” executive producer
Sarah Watson, is said to be in contention for the
2016-17 season. — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD
FRINGE FACTOR
Christopher Kane has unveiled his brand’s first
ad campaign, shot by Harley Weir and styled by
Joe McKenna.
The ads show the British model Alice Buckingham wearing a multicolored fringed dress
from the designer’s spring 2016 collection. It
also shows a detail of the model’s hand inside a
transparent patch pocket, like a
scientific sample.
The ads were shot on a minimalist indoor set
in London, a fitting backdrop for a collection that
was full of graphic impact, graffitilike shapes,
and lace dresses done in Stabilo colors.
“I look forward to experimenting and building
my brand image through this medium; it’s an
exciting time for us,” Kane told WWD.
The campaign will break in the March editions
of U.K. and international publications, including
Vogue.
It’s the start of a big year for Kane: Next up is
the launch of his first e-commerce site.
— SAMANTHA CONTI
MODEL CITIZEN
Bill Wackermann, the former publisher of
Condé Nast Traveler, has been named chief
executive officer of Wilhelmina International Inc.
A Condé Nast veteran who spent more than
20 years at the company in various publisher
roles at Glamour, Traveler, W, Details, Bon Appétit
and Brides, Wackermann joined Wilhelmina on
Tuesday.
He succeeds former ceo Alex Vaickus, who
has stepped down.
Wackermann told WWD that his background
working in fashion, luxury and beauty make him
a natural fit for the job even though he has never
held a ceo role.
“If you think about the worlds that models live
in, it’s editorial and working with editors,” he said.
“And advertising plays an important role. Who
books the campaigns?”
Wackermann pointed to his connections with
editors, advertisers, marketers, photographers
and stylists, offering: “It’s all symbiotic. This
industry is all about relationships.”
“There’s an opportunity at Wilhelmina to create opportunity for our talent,” he said, explaining
that the agency is in the “business of fulfilling
dreams” for young models and entertainers.
Mark Schwarz, executive chairman of Wilhelmina International, agreed, touting Wackermann’s fashion and beauty expertise, adding:
“We have a shared vision for the future of the
agency. Bill’s proven track record and drive will
bring fresh perspective to our growth initiatives.”
Joanna Coles
When asked what his biggest challenge may
be, the new ceo said: “Wilhelmina is a publicly-traded company. Coming from a privately-held
company, there will be a learning curve.”
He was of course referring to Securities and
Exchange Commission fillings and
Bill Wackermann
public disclosures.
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, Wilhelmina posted total revenues of $21.8 million, up 9.4
percent over last year. Net income for the quarter rose 98.5 percent to $6.7 million, or 11 cents a
diluted share. — A.S.
Coles photograph by Thomas Iannaccone
●
to market, create exposure with the right
timing and be able to measure how it
impacts their business,” Mullon said.
“Through this product, you can see the
impact to the consumer. These people
sat in the room, and not only do they
have an audience, but we can tell you
who the audience is and how they’re
engaging.”
Mullon said the overwhelming majority of brands that participate in New York
Fashion Week are using his company’s
technology “in some way as part of their
show process.” The firm, which has
more than 300 clients, partnered with
Mercedes-Benz in 2010 to simplify and
connect all elements of fashion week.
Fashion GPS also helps brands launch
their products and manage their supply
chain.
The six-year-old Augure business
tracks 200 million people and helps
brands identify relevant influencers. Jais
said the firm analyzes “influence” by
three key metrics: exposure, or audience; echo, or how much an individual
has been retweeted (or linked to) and
share of voice, or the area they
speak to.
“Data enables brands to accelerate
their launch to market products and
enables them to maximize their exposure
thanks to influencers,” Jais said. “It’s
not about who is an influencer — it’s the
value of them and how a brand can identify their value. To understand the value
and measure it, you have to consolidate
the channels.”
Fashion GPS has raised $4.8 million
and Augure, which declined to say how
much it’s raised overall, closed a round
of $16 million in March. Additional
fund-raising under the Launchmetrics
umbrella is planned for next year.
14 27 JANUARY 2016
Long-Lost Sisters Bond Over Wine
The siblings launched EcoLove in 2010 and followed up with their Truvée label in 2015.
The reunion story of long-lost sisters
Andrea and Robin McBride stems from
exactly the person you’d imagine would
be involved in such a tearjerker: Oprah.
“We grew up on opposite sides of the
world, not knowing about each other,
thinking that we were only children,” says
Andrea, the younger sibling at 33.
It wasn’t until their shared father
— they have different mothers — was
close to passing away that he told family
members of his daughters. Then the
hunt began. “This is ‘94, so no Google,
no Facebook,” Andrea says. “One of [my
dad’s] brothers came home from work
one day and sat down to watch TV and
an Oprah episode came on. She was featuring private detectives who knew how
to find people who owe you money or
how to find misplaced loved ones. So he
took pen to paper and wrote down these
instructions. It took about five years, and
then Robin received a letter in the mail.”
The first time they met was at LaGuardia Airport in New York. “I thought I was
looking in a mirror,” recalls Robin, who
at the time lived in Atlanta and worked
in marketing. “Then I realized it was my
sister.”
In an effort to make up for lost time,
Robin relocated to Marin County in
California and Andrea attended the
University of Southern California, where
she could spend every other weekend
with Robin — often over a glass of wine.
“Coincidentally, we both grew up in wine
regions,” says Andrea, who was raised in
Marlborough, New Zealand, working on
her uncle’s vineyard, while Robin, 42, grew
up in Monterey, Calif.
“For me, wine was just part of the
culture where I grew up, and as I got older,
I started enjoying it like everybody enjoys
wine,” says the elder McBride sister.
“My experience of being out in the
elements — you know, super cold in the
morning, super hot in the middle of the
day, basically just laboring out there — it
wasn’t enjoyable but I think definitely
gave me a real appreciation for what
goes into making wine,” Andrea says. “We
would grow the grapes and harvest them,
but then the winery would buy the grapes
from us so you never really got to see
the actual finished product. It wasn’t until
later that I started drinking with my sister
that it kind of came full circle.”
When Andrea was still a junior at USC,
the entrepreneurial sisters started their
first business — an import company
bringing boutique New Zealand wines
to the states. “We were super naive. We
had really good products, but we didn’t
know not to just walk into Wolfgang Puck
and be like, ‘Hey! Buy this wine,’” Robin
says. “We were pretty brazen, but we had
super high-quality products.” Within three
years, they were supplying more than 100
restaurants in California.
“It gave us great insight into the business of selling wine,” Andrea says. “People think about starting wine companies
as quite a romantic idea, but you need to
build a business plan, and that business
plan has to filter back to what you’re
going to grow, how you’re going to make
the wine, how much you’re going to spend
on barrels, different things like that.”
It also gave them access to consumers. “We could see who was being
ignored — and it was definitely women
and people of color,” Andrea continues.
With that in mind, they started
EcoLove in 2010, a sustainable wine company sourcing grapes from vineyards
within the Wairau, Waihopai and Nelson
Valleys in New Zealand. They describe
their wine, which under EcoLove includes
a riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir,
as food-friendly, meaning they’re not
overly tannic or extracted (which happens when the grapes are left on the vine
for a long period of time so the sugar and
alcohol contents are high). “It’s kind of a
Robin and Andrea
McBride
derogatory term with sommeliers, but we
make cocktail wines,” Andrea says. “Our
philosophy is that we’re all about balance,
structure and elegance.”
Not wanting to be pigeonholed to the
Pacific Southwest, in early 2015 they
launched their second label, Truvée,
using vineyards along the Central Coast
of California. “Our generation is pretty
promiscuous when it comes to wine
drinking — you’re not going to stick to just
one brand — and so our hope is when you
want your New Zealand fix you come to
us, and if you want the Central Coast of
California, you can come to us for that,
too,” Andrea says. This month, they’re
introducing a rosé to the chardonnay
and red blend they’re producing under
Truvée (retail price hovers around $15
for all three). The pink fizzy beverage —
easy, approachable, and much-loved by
women — is representative of their overall
view on winemaking.
“It’s an old boys club, for sure,” Robin
says. “We definitely got second-guessed
a lot,” adds Andrea. “You have to prove
yourself more, I think, than you would if
there was a guy sitting next to you. We
have had to go above and beyond, but it
hasn’t been a bad thing because I think
with most makers, there’s a natural obsession that comes with what you make.
It’s cool because we can sit back and
people are like, ‘Oh, wow we’re surprised
at the quality of your wines.’ Which is kind
of a backhanded compliment.”
The McBride sisters aren’t bothered.
Beginning this year, they’ll be offering
wine seminars at various speaking
engagements to educate fellow imbibers — without any of that “pretentious
bulls--t,” Andrea says. “The initial attraction to wine for both of us was, if there’s
wine around, it’s usually a fun, happy time.
There’s no drama, just a good vibe.”
Styled by Sherri McMullen, Owner/
Buyer of McMullen Boutique in Oakland,
California.
— ALLY BETKER
Anna Cleveland
unleashed.
David Koma and
Virginie
Courtin-Clarins
Lucky Blue Smith
Rita Ora, Noomi Rapace and Olivia Palermo were among
attendees at the dinner on Sunday night in Paris’ Caviar Kaspia.
Rita Ora, Noomi Rapace and Olivia
Palermo were among attendees at the
dinner thrown by Stylebop and Next on
Sunday night at Paris’ Caviar Kaspia.
The hosts were Leila Yavari, fashion
editor and buying director of the luxury
fashion Web site, and the talent agency’s
president of Europe, Saif Mahdi. The pair
held the first such event last year.
“We made it despite the storm,” said
Palermo after arriving with her husband
Johannes Huebl, referring to the massive
snowstorm that had snarled the East
Coast of the U.S. “I am looking forward to
the shows — Schiaparelli, Giambattista
Valli, Elie Saab and Valentino.”
Back in New York before fashion
week kicks off there, Palermo, who was
sporting a Tibi top and Proenza Schouler
skirt, is to launch her first collection with
Nordstrom.
Other guests at the Paris event
included Anthony Vaccarello, Roland
Mouret, Alexandre Mattiussi, Olympia
Le-Tan, Ellen von Unwerth, Cécile Cassel, Caroline Vreeland and Caroline de
Maigret.
“Tonight we want to celebrate Paris.
We want to celebrate my jacket, as well,”
Mahdi told guests, referring to his striking, glittery Saint Laurent number.
“Saif and I work with incredible
talents,” Yavari added, thanking the
agency president. “There are so many
people in this room who owe their career
to you. You’re a champion of diversity in
the fashion industry. That’s desperately
needed.”
Over Caviar Kaspia’s smoked salmon,
Vreeland said she just shot for three
days in Los Angeles with Von Unwerth for
Leica’s S magazine.
“It was wild: Marilyn Manson spit in
the mouth of a 16-year-old girl — Meredith
Mickelson. He’s wilder than me for sure,”
she said.
Meanwhile, Ora shared confidences
with Palermo.
“We’ve seen each other a few times,”
said the singer, sporting a Versace
minidress.
“Girls have to support girls,” added
Palermo.
Would Ora like to become an actress
like some other attendees at the dinner?
“That would be amazing one day,”
she said.
Speaking of actresses, hair stylist
John Nollet said he’ll be busy over the
next few days working with Uma Thurman, who went to the Ralph & Russo
show on Monday.
Meanwhile, rising French actor Jesse
Rémond Lacroix said his contract as an
ambassador for Viktor & Rolf has just
been renewed.
Géraldine Nakache is busy promoting her new film “Et ta soeur,” a French
Rita Ora and
Olivia Palermo
remake of “Your Sister’s Sister.”
She plays the same role Emily Blunt
did in the other version. The actress
is also working on her third film as a
director starring Leïla Bekhti, who is also
a L’Oréal Paris face.
“It’s about sorority,” she said. “Leïla is
like my younger sister.”
Rapace, wearing Moschino, showed
Polaroid photos that she took while in
Paris.
“I don’t post them. I stopped doing
Instagram,” noted Rapace.
After Caviar Kaspia’s signature potato
and raspberries paired with vodka,
everyone took to their feet — dancing.
— LAURE GUILBAULT
McBride photograph by Patrick MacLeod; Stylebop by Stéphane Feugère
Stylebop and Next’s Paris Bash
15
27 JANUARY 2016
BEAUTY
BUSINESS
Data Security Impacts
Consumers’ Decisions
● More than a third of shoppers
have chosen not to buy from
a company over concerns
about privacy in the last year.
Further, more educated, higher-earning consumers are more likely to stop
buying from a business because of a data
breach. Among respondents, about 22
percent reported that they no longer
purchased products or services from
a company because of a reported data
breach. A deeper dive reveals that the
key demographic of better educated,
higher-earning consumers react most
negatively to this scenario, with 33
percent of people at an “upper income”
level (defined as $100,000-plus) and 28
percent with an undergraduate or postgraduate education stopping to buy from
a business because of a data breach.
According to the study, identity
theft remains consumers’ number-one
RETAIL
Duty-Free Store
Opens in Tokyo’s Ginza
● The new shop, which bows
Wednesday, is located on the
eighth floor of Mitsukoshi
Ginza, which is already a
consumer destination for
many international tourists.
Photograph by Shutterstock/Creativa Images; Procter & Gamble Co. by George Chinsee
BY KELLY WETHERILLE
TOKYO — Duty-free shoppers are
no longer relegated to last-minute
purchases at the airport.
Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, Japan’s
largest department store operator, is
opening a duty-free store in the heart of
Tokyo’s busiest shopping districts. The
new store, which opens Wednesday,
is located on the eighth floor of the
Mitsukoshi Ginza department store,
which is already a shopping destination
for many international tourists. Isetan
is teaming up with the city’s airport
authorities and NAA Retailing Corp. for
the project.
The 35,500-square-foot floor includes
sections for cosmetics, alcohol and
tobacco, and artisanal Japanese
products, as well as individual stores for
nine luxury brands including Tiffany,
● The SK-II skin-care brand fared
well, offsetting declines for
Olay.
BY ALLISON COLLINS
BY LISA LOCKWOOD
Americans are rethinking their buying
decisions as a result of threats over identity theft, credit card hacks and other
cyber assaults, according to a new study
by law firm Morrison & Foerster.
In recent years it has become increasingly evident that privacy presents real
business risks that have the potential to
negatively impact a company’s bottom
line, from the legal fees associated with
a data breach to a decline in revenue
stemming from a loss in consumer trust.
Last November, Morrison & Foerster
conducted an online survey of more
than 900 consumers across the U.S. to
gauge their attitudes and concerns about
various privacy issues. The results were
released two days before Data Privacy
Day on Thursday.
Over the last few years, heightened
concerns over cyber attacks have
followed major breaches at stores such
as Target, Neiman Marcus and Home
Depot, as well as breaches at federal
government agencies.
Among the key findings of the study
are that more than a third of consumers
have chosen not to buy from a company
because they are concerned about data
privacy in the past year. Among those
identifying themselves as vigilant on
privacy issues, 82 percent boycotted a
company over such concerns, up from
54 percent when the survey was conducted in 2011.
P&G Beauty
Sales Drop
10% in Quarter
Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta and
Balenciaga. It houses the first Boucheron
duty-free store in the world, as well as
the first Valentino and Saint Laurent
duty-free stores in Japan.
Customers to the store will be asked
to present their passports and air tickets
or itineraries at the central reception
counter. Anyone flying out of Japan from
one of Tokyo’s two airports (Narita and
Haneda) within one month will be able
to shop at the store, and they can pick
up their purchases from the duty-free
counter at the airport after checking in
for their flight.
Products available for purchase at
the store range from Japanese whiskey
and cigarettes to handmade teapots and
top-of-the-line watches by brands such
as Citizen and Seiko. Some brands, such
as Origins, are not currently available
elsewhere in Japan, while brands
including Albion are not available at
other duty-free stores in the country.
Yasuhide Yonemoto, senior managing
director of Japan Airport Terminal, said
the store is targeting 2,000 customers
per day, roughly 80 percent of whom are
expected to be non-Japanese.
The number of overseas visitors
anxiety, with more than 50 percent
of the respondents calling it their top
concern, far overshadowing fears over
right to privacy and other issues. This
compares to 20 percent who responded
this way when the survey was conducted
in 2011. But some 24 percent of consumers believe that no business is perfect in
safeguarding their information.
As difficult as the private sector has
had it on cyber-trust issues, the government may be faring worse, with nearly
three times as many respondents (37
percent versus 13 percent) saying they
trust private business on data security
more than the government, with the
remaining 50 percent trusting
them equally.
to Japan increased 47 percent last
year, according to preliminary figures
released by the Japan National Tourism
Organization. This drastic increase in
tourism in the country has helped to
boost sales at department stores, which
have been stagnant in recent years
due to the changing buying patterns of
Japanese consumers. Chinese tourists
are flocking to countries like Japan and
South Korea for shopping.
Nomura research analysts Daisuke
Fukushima and Kentaro Maekawa said
the increase in international visitors to
Japan is “having a positive impact on
the Japanese economy by increasing
consumption at commercial facilities
and tourist sites frequented by overseas
visitors and raising hotel occupancy and
room rates,” in a recent research report.
While the duty-free store at Mitsukoshi
Ginza is the first of its kind in Tokyo, it
will not be alone for long. The Tokyu
Plaza Ginza Building, a development
with 5.8 million square feet of floor
space that is due to open on Mar. 31,
will house a Lotte duty-free store, which
will be the largest airport-style duty-free
store in Japan’s capital.
Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings reported
net profit for the six months ended
Sept. 30 jumped 78.1 percent, thanks to
increased sales and lower tax payments.
Both profit and sales exceeded the
retailer’s own forecasts.
The retailer has been diversifying
into new, smaller retail formats. Last
year it opened a multibrand boutique
called Isetan Salone in Tokyo’s Roppongi
district.
Proctor & Gamble Co. reported $16.9
billion in net sales for the second quarter
of fiscal 2016, a 9 percent decrease yearover-year. Foreign currency exchange
rates are negatively affecting P&G’s
numbers, the company says.
“We’re operating in a more volatile
environment than we ever have,” chief
financial officer Jon Moeller said. P&G
estimated that its 2015 net sales were
negatively impacted by about $4.8
billion in “unfavorable foreign exchange
fluctuation compared to 2014.”
For the quarter, net sales for beauty
were down 10 percent, to just under $3
billion. Organic beauty sales increased 1
percent. In beauty, lower organic sales
volume was offset by price increases.
“Organic sales increase in personal care
and the super premium SK-II skin-care
brand were partially offset by organic
sales declines of the Olay brand,” the
company said.
P&G is in the process of selling 41
beauty brands to Coty in a deal that
should close in the second half of this
year, Moeller said. The company is
shedding non-core assets to simplify its
product portfolio and holding on to highgrowth and high-margin brands. P&G
acknowledged portfolio “cleanup” as a
driver of lower sales volumes.
Grooming sales for the quarter
decreased 10 percent year-over-year to
$1.8 billion; health care net sales were
down 5 percent to less than $2 billion;
fabric care and home care net sales
were down 7 percent to $5.3 billion, and
baby, feminine and family-care sales
decreased 10 percent to $4.7 billion,
the company reported. P&G said it has
increased prices to make up for lower
sales volumes.
P&G said net earnings of continuing
operations for the quarter rose 35
percent to $3.2 billion from $2.4 billion
a year earlier. In the six-month period,
net earnings from continuing operations
rose 33 percent to $5.8 billion from $4.4
billion. The company’s stock price rose
2.6 percent to $78.81 Tuesday.
Core earnings per share were $1.04,
a 9 percent increase year-over-year
from 95 cents. Excluding the impact
of foreign exchange, currency-neutral
core earnings per share increased 21
percent in the first quarter. Reported
gross margin increased 170 basis points.
Reported operating profit margin was
up 340 basis points, and core operating
profit margin was up 350 basis points,
including a net 40 basis points of
negative foreign exchange impacts.
P&G is expecting full-year organic sales
growth in the low single-digits. Core
earnings per share are expected to be
down 3 to 8 percent because of foreign
exchange impacts.
Procter & Gamble Co. (hair, skin
and body care, makeup, fragrance).
17
27 JANUARY 2016 Blanca Li
Cara Delevingne
Iggy Azalea
Delevigne and Azalea photographs by Stéphane Feugère; Li by David Fisher; Rowe/Banhart by Franck Mura
PET CAUSE
Move over, Choupette. There’s a new celebrity
pet in town.
Cara Delevingne caused a stir at the Chanel
couture show in Paris on Tuesday by showing
up with her dog, Leo. The start of the show was
held up by a few minutes as handlers took the
excitable puppy backstage (the sight of the set,
featuring a lawn made of real grass, was apparently too tempting).
No word so far on how Leo gets on with
Chanel supremo Karl Lagerfeld’s cat Choupette.
Also at the show were Diane Kruger, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Monica Bellucci, G-Dragon, Inès de la
Fressange and Clémence Poésy.
Kruger will be seen later this year in “The Infiltrator,” a crime drama based on the real story
of the federal agent who busted drug kingpin
Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering operation.
The movie is set in the Eighties, which meant
the actress — who plays a cop — had to sport a
winged haircut and some dubious outfits.
“I want to say they’re gorgeous, but they’re
pretty hideous,” Kruger said. Nothing to do with
Michelle Pfeiffer’s iconic look in “Scarface”
then? “There’s a little bit of that, because we go
undercover, so I dress up. There’s some glamorous gowns, but my wedding dress is not what I
would choose to get married in,” she said.
Kruger has a full slate for 2016. She will star
opposite Ellen Page in a movie based on the real
story of Sylvia Beach, the founder of legendary
Paris bookstore Shakespeare and Company,
and her lifelong partner Adrienne Monnier.
After that, Kruger will play Catherine Deneuve’s
daughter in a French-language movie.
Meanwhile, G-Dragon is branching out as a
businessman. The Korean pop star and his Big
Bang bandmate Taeyang have reportedly invested more than $2 million in two subsidiaries of
their management company, YG Entertainment:
YG Plus and Code Cosme International, also
known as Moonshot Cosmetics.
So does he see himself becoming a designer? “If I’m going to be the designer, I just want
to make a new culture, kind of like young generation,” he said in English, before going on to
expound in Korean, relayed by a translator.
“In the past, I saw music and fashion and art
as a little bit separate. Nowadays, you see a lot
of musicians coming together with artists, or
fashion coming together with artists. They’re all
three coming together. So moving forward, I see
that happening a lot more and for me personally,
I really enjoy bringing those three together and
experiencing new things this way,” he said.
Bellucci also has a busy year ahead. She
is set to hit the small screen stateside soon,
appearing in an American TV series, although
she was keeping mum on the details.
“It’s a first for me,” the “Spectre” star admitted.
Also on the cards is wrapping up Emir Kusturica’s “On the Milky Road,” due out this May.
“Shooting with him has [taken] three years,”
she said of working on the movie, a love story
set during war in which Kusturica also stars,
marking the first time he has acted in one of his
own movies. “I have to be ready for everything
with him, because he’s like a painter when he
works.”
Mélanie Laurent described her upcoming
movie, the third she will direct, as more “ambitious” than her previous work. Starring Gilles
Lelouche and Maria Valverde, the film will be
shot in Oman, France and Spain starting in late
March.
“The subject is too complicated to sum up,
but I can tell you it will be filmed under water,”
she said.
Sitting demurely next to Paltrow, British actress Ellie Bamber is a rising talent. The redhead
has just wrapped Tom Ford’s latest feature,
“Nocturnal Animals,” in which she plays the
daughter of Jake Gyllenhaal and Isla Fisher.
Bamber also had a lot of fun filming “Pride
and Prejudice and Zombies,” out next month, in
which the classic novel is given a supernatural
spin.
“It’s like a regeneration of the text and makes
it new for a younger audience,” said Bamber,
who studied Jane Austen’s famous novel at
school and plays the character of Lydia Bennett. “A new generation is going to enjoy it, and
hopefully they will go back and read the original
book.”
French actress and singer Alma Jodorowsky,
who stars in “Kids in Love” alongside Delevingne,
had music on her mind, namely the impending
album of her pop duo Burning Peacocks.
“I just finished recording my album yesterday.
Now I have to do the mixing and all that,” she
said.
The disc, due out later this year, is a collaboration with Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît
Dunckel of Air.
“It was great to have a third element participating in the creative process. They added
color,” she said.
— JOELLE DIDERICH AND ALEX WYNNE
TIME OUT
Iggy Azalea had popped over to Paris especially for the Armani Privé show on Tuesday before
heading home to put the finishing touches on
her new album, due out later this year. “I’ll see a
few more shows tomorrow,” she said. “I though
I’d better stay another day because that would
be insane otherwise.”
For the first single off the album, Azalea will
be heading to Croatia soon to shoot the video. “I
like Croatia for its landscapes, so we’ll see some
of that. It’s atmospheric,” she said. “I have lots of
big crazy ideas for music videos.”
Other guests at the show included Juliette
Binoche, Charlotte Rampling, Isabelle Huppert
and Olga Kurylenko.
Binoche was taking some time out after a
busy year, which included 100 performances in
classic play “Antigone.” “I’ve been working an
awful lot, so my next project is to get some
rest,” she said, although she admitted she is
also reading some scripts for potential future
projects. During her downtime, Binoche revealed
she enjoys “simple things” like going shopping
and cooking for her kids. What’s on the menu?
“Last night I made them monkfish curry,” she
said.
Rampling is also looking toward what’s next
after her appearance in “45 Years,” for which
she is nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.
“Projects are coming up but I haven’t decided
yet,” she said. “Inspiration comes like a form of
magic; you don’t know what package something
is going to have when you see something or you
read something, and quite often it’s not the one
you think was going to attract you, it’s another
one.” — ALEX WYNNE
ALL THE RIGHT MOVES
It’s a good thing there were no leather bags
on the runway at the Giambattista Valli couture
show on Monday night, or they might have come
under the scrutiny of front-row guest Livia Firth.
The eco campaigner, whose brand consultancy Eco-Age developed the Green Carpet Challenge seal, is heading to Brazil on a mission.
“I’m going to the slaughterhouses and the
tanneries to look at the supply chain,” she said,
declining to say which brands source skins
there.
Choreographer Blanca Li said her latest
show, “Goddesses and Demonesses,” which premiered in Paris over the holidays, is to move on
to Madrid soon, and eventually Italy, Russia and
New York. In it, she wears costumes by Azzedine
Alaïa, Jean Paul Gaultier, Stella McCartney and
Sophie Theallet. — MILES SOCHA
“Oh, mine would be Camille,” he exclaimed.
The singer is about to finish an album, which
will probably be released this summer.
“It has no name. I need help!” he said. “Do you
have any ideas?”
Les Bains pulsed with revelers, many of whom
opted to enclose themselves in a cage-like
structure (think warehouse elevator) in the center of the room, where their images were taken
against a New York cityscape that serves as the
backdrop of the new Poison Girl ad. The pictures,
in turn, were transmitted to social networks and
could be printed out, as well.
Among attendees at the bash was designer
Hugo Matha, who just launched his men’s accessories line and said he would be introducing a
women’s ready-to-wear collection in September.
Ali Mahdavi is also juggling numerous projects simultaneously, including work on the
next Dita Von Teese show at the Crazy Horse,
where she is to appear for the third time. For
Von Teese’s “Undress to Kill” number, he said
they’re using technology such as mapping “to do
what we hope will be the striptease of the 21st
century.”
Mahdavi shared his poison pick.
“Oh, with no doubt: opium,” he said.
For Blanca Li, it’s a tamer evil – chocolate.
Other guests at the Dior party included
Nicolas Ouchenir, Aymeline Valade and Catherine Baba.
The new floral gourmet scent, concocted by
François Demachy, director of olfactive development at LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton,
targets a younger audience than the original
Poison from 1985.
Poison Girl’s notes include Sicilian bitter
orange, Rose of May from Grasse, Damascena
rose, Venezuelan tonka bean, vanilla and Sri
Lankan sandalwood.
The perfume was just released in the Middle
East, prior to its launch in Europe and South
America in early February. — JENNIFER WEIL
PICK YOUR POISON
Dior took over Paris nightclub Les Bains on
Monday night to celebrate the launch of its new
fragrance, Poison Girl.
Flanking each side of the ground floor were
giant projected images of the advertising film
lensed by So Me – and its making-of – starring
Camille Rowe.
“It was shot all at night, and I go to bed so
early that it was very difficult for me to stay up.
There was a lot of crazy caffeine nights,” Rowe
said with a laugh, explaining that often she gets
into bed at 9:30 p.m., reads for an hour and then
is fast asleep.
The model to start filming a French movie on
Feb. 1, but remained mum on further details.
If she had to pick a poison, what would it be?
“I picked it already,” she said with a smile. “It’s
nicotine – and love.”
For his part, Rowe’s beau Devendra Banhart,
who was chatting with her folks, offered up his
preferred poison without skipping a beat.
Camille Rowe and
Devendra Banhart