WWD Jan 13 - Wwrsd.org

DAILY EDITION 13 JANUARY 2016 1
Prize Package
Karlie Kloss and Glenda
Bailey join the judging
panel for the LVMH Prize.
Page 8
Fashion. Beauty. Business.
Macy’s Mops Up
Joy Mangano lands at
Herald Square with her
Miracle Mop. Page 10
London Wrap
Buyers find bankable looks
at the latest round of men’s
shows. Page 6
FASHION
Krazy
Kat
PARIS — Karl Lagerfeld’s
ridiculously pampered
pet cat assumes a more
fearsome, cartoon guise
— Monster Choupette — in
a new capsule collection
destined for Brazilian fastfashion giant Riachuelo.
Here, a leather tote that’s
part of the 75-piece range
slated for April delivery to
144 doors. For more on the
project, see page 9.
FASHION
Hedi Exiting YSL?
● Anthony Vaccarello is in the
wings and may succeed Hedi
Slimane at Saint Laurent.
Vaccarello photograph by Getty Images
BY MILES SOCHA
LONDON —­Speculation is mounting that
Hedi Slimane may be poised to make his
second exit from Yves Saint Laurent.
According to sources, the designer has
so far failed to reach an agreement on the
renewal of his initial contract with the
Kering-owned fashion house and is preparing to part ways with a brand he revved
up with his rock ‘n’ roll-inspired fashions
and a top-to-bottom reform of the storied
house.
What’s more, Saint Laurent is said to
have identified a frontrunner to succeed
Slimane and has held extensive talks with
Anthony Vaccarello, a Belgian designer
partial to the racy, fast-paced side of fashion, having been recruited by Donatella
Versace for her reboot of the Versus brand.
He was named its creative director last
Hedi Slimane
September.
Reached for comment, a Saint Laurent
spokeswoman said the house “does not
comment on rumors.”
Vaccarello could not immediately be
reached for comment.
Anthony Vaccarello
The possibility of a Slimane exit and
designer change adds an extra dash of
intrigue to the Saint Laurent men’s show
scheduled for Jan. 24 at the tail end of
men’s fashion week in Paris, typically a
megaproduction akin to a rock concert,
complete with a front row packed with
musicians and Slimane groupies.
According to one source, Saint Laurent
recently canceled its usual venue, the Carreau du Temple, which Slimane secured
for a multiseason exclusive after the
Marais location underwent an extensive
renovation.
It is understood the show will go on at a
different place, and Slimane is also said to
be working on the fall women’s collection,
to be paraded here in early March. On
Tuesday, Saint Laurent launched teaser
videos featuring musicians and touting an
event in Los Angeles on Feb. 10.
Should it come to pass, a Slimane exit
would deliver another shock to the French
fashion scene, wracked late last year by
the exit of Raf Simons from Dior and the
ousting of Alber Elbaz from Lanvin. Successors for those two houses have yet to be
named.
Those dramatic changes seem to signal a
seismic shift in the fashion industry, as star
designers buckle under the pressures ­and/
or restrictions of an accelerating and highstakes industry.
Slimane, who ushered in more than a
decade of skinny tailoring with his overhaul of Dior Homme, exited that brand in
2007 and pursued a photography and art
career before returning to the fashion fold
in 2012 at the creative helm of YSL, which
CONTINUED ON PG.4
3
13 JANUARY 2016 BUSINESS
Charney Objects Motion
By American Apparel
● The objection argues against
the Los Angeles firm’s request
to extend the time it has to file
its reorganization plan.
A protest, one of several that took place
throughout 2015, at American Apparel
headquarters in Los Angeles.
BY KARI HAMANAKA
Dov Charney may have already gotten his
way in successfully slowing American Apparel
Inc.’s aims to expedite its bankruptcy.
Whether he succeeds in getting back into
the company now comes down to a judge.
The former American Apparel chief executive officer managed to slip in an objection
Monday evening in a Delaware bankruptcy
court on the company’s bid to secure its
reorganization plan. American Apparel in
late December asked the court to extend its
period of exclusivity to give it the sole right to
file a reorganization plan, a move that would
block any competing strategies from coming
into play. Charney, Tuesday, sought approval
for an expedited teleconference hearing on
the matter, according to court documents.
At stake is the future of American Apparel
and who will ultimately control it.
“The bankruptcy court might consider it
because at the end of the day the bankruptcy
court is a court of equity, meaning there are
obviously rules and deadlines, but there are
times when the bankruptcy court will be flexible if it appears there is a credible objection
out there,” said Caroline Djang, a partner
in the Costa Mesa, Calif., office of Rutan &
Tucker.
Djang, who is not involved in the American
Apparel case, added the judge’s responsibility is to do what’s equitable for the most
creditors.
A $300 million deal for American Apparel,
announced Monday, could derail the company’s plans for exiting bankruptcy. The
bid involves Hagan Capital Group and Silver
Creek Partners in collaboration with Charney.
BUSINESS
Retailers
Optimistic at
ICR Conference
American Apparel photograph by Kari Hamanaka; Holiday shoppers by George Chinsee; Street style by Kuba Dabrowski
● All spoke of the “challenging”
environment, but also
stressed positives for 2016.
BY DEBRA BORCHARDT
“Challenging” was the word for the
day among retailers at the ICR Retail and
Consumer Conference in Orlando, Fla. Mall
traffic, warm weather and an unmotivated
shopper seemed to plague all the retailers no
matter the brand.
And if mall traffic was weak during the
holidays, it’s even worse in the post-Christmas season. “A” malls weren’t great and “B”
and “C” malls were even worse. Retailers said
mall traffic is not improving, and they are
adjusting to this new reality as they realize
they have to take matters into their own
hands. Ascena Retail Group said slow mall
traffic was its biggest challenge and seemed
relieved that only 31 percent of its locations
are in malls. Many retailers are also using
those quiet brick stores to fulfill online shopping orders.
American Eagle Outfitters has created a
clothing reserve option. They offered shoppers the option and then reserve a product
online to buy in person at the store. Forty
percent of those reserved orders resulted in
The group said their bid is better for creditors
by offering “a recovery of 10 times that under
the debtor’s plan.” The bid, revised from
a Dec. 29 $200 million offering, assigns a
15-times purchase multiple based on the last
publicly disclosed adjusted earnings before
interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization
figure from American Apparel.
“Will it be successful? It’s in the hands
of the gods but it might be a compromise,”
Charney told WWD. “Will we be able to delay
confirmation? We’ll see…this is a little bit of a
sword fight.”
Charney in his objection alleged the company and its adviser have gone out of their
way to block alternative restructuring plans
from entering the mix in what he alleged to
be a distaste for him.
Charney was dismissed from American
Apparel in late 2014 following an internal
investigation that found him to be in violation
of his employment agreement, according to
the company. Charney has heavily criticized
the investigation and called it out as part of
an elaborate scheme to rid the company of
him — accusations he’s alleged now in numerous lawsuits flung at the company, New York
hedge fund Standard General and current
and former executives.
Holiday shoppers in
Midtown.
the customer following through and coming
into the store to pick up the item. Additionally, shoppers ended up buying three more
units for every one they reserved. American
Eagle Outfitters plans to leverage this up-selling trend moving forward. And stores that get
stuck with a random pair of returned shoes
will now ship it out if the item is sold online,
which results in recaptured sales.
American Eagle Outfitters also plan to
launch a newly designed mobile site for
shopping this year. The company found that
creating a desktop online store, didn’t necessarily translate into a good mobile shopping
experience. Ascena Retail Group also noted it
has worked on an improved mobile shopping
site design.
Regarding winter’s slow arrival, GIII’s
Wilson Leather chain suffered from negative
4 percent comps as a result of the unseasonably warm weather in November and December. However, the company said a new cold
snap has quickly driven shoppers back to the
stores. GIII said it reduced its dependency on
outerwear so it doesn’t have to hang onto the
weatherman’s report. The company also said
shoppers are responding well to its Calvin
Klein and Eliza J dresses as these brands are
top sellers in department stores.
GIII was equally optimistic about the
“At virtually every turn in the process, it
has been evident that the company’s hostility
toward…Mr. Charney renders it incapable
as a practical matter of genuinely exploring
a Charney-involved transaction,” Monday’s
objection said. “It is probably also the case
that current management is conflicted [by]
the old-fashioned way: the alternative offer
poses risks of some management shake-up.”
It is expected Charney would come back
to lead American Apparel if the Hagan-Silver
Creek deal is accepted. Whether that is as ceo
is yet to be determined.
Charney’s also been in talks with multiple industry executives who would join
the senior management team should the
offer be accepted. While the names of those
individuals have not been disclosed, they
are described in the offer letter as “senior
industry veterans who are highly regarded
and credible in the industry with exceptional
track records.” Details about the rest of the
strategy to improve the business were not
outlined in the latest offer letter, other than to
say manufacturing is expected to remain in
the Los Angeles area.
Meanwhile, American Apparel continues
moving towards an exit from bankruptcy proceedings, disclosing Monday that a proposed
amended reorganization plan received the
OK from all voting classes in a deal that sets
aside $2.5 million to unsecured creditors. The
company said it “remains focused on pursuing the completion of its financial restructuring following its planned bankruptcy court
hearing at the end of this month.”
A hearing has been set for Jan. 20, although
Charney’s motion Tuesday asks the court to
postpone that date and push up the scheduling of a teleconference to review his requests.
Separately, a judge Tuesday approved the
sale of Oak NYC, the more fashion-forward
brand acquired by American Apparel in 2013,
back to founders Jeff Madalena and
Louis Terline.
coming year. They have had a strong start
to its Karl Lagerfeld products, and will be
launching the Lagerfeld shoes his year. The
company said it will be looking for acquisitions to make this year in the range of
$100 million to $1 billion. Although the high
yield market has been choppy, they said the
company can still borrow at good rates. The
preference is for a domestic woman’s brand.
Some retailers are capitalizing on the bad
winter like Gordman’s department stores,
which plans on buying lots of unsold winter
merchandise and “hoteling” it until next
year. They are also transitioning seasonal
goods earlier this year. Gordman’s operates
102 stores in mostly upper Midwest states
and while many similar chains like Kohl’s are
closing stores, this value brand plans to add
six more stores in 2016.
Others have put the warm winter in their
rearview mirror, setting their sights on spring
instead. American Eagle Outfitters said it was
seeing a nice sell-through for its transitional
spring clothes. The company said it bounced
back from Christmas, and are very optimistic
moving forward. Retailers said the comparison between this year’s warm winter to last
year’s sales (where an extraordinarily bad
winter pushed people to buy lots of winterwear) is apples to oranges.
And this challenging retail environment
has prompted many companies to leave their
“open-to-buy” unused. They are preferring
to wait and see how shoppers respond before
committing funds to inventory.
One positive for the industry has been
the raw cost of cotton. American Eagle said
it would use this cost benefit to improve
product quality. The retailer thinks other
companies will probably use the savings as a
promotional effort to pass on to the shoppers.
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As of close January 12, 2016
ADVANCERS
Debenhams Plc
+15.55%
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+8.47%
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The Men’s Wearhouse Inc.
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4
13 JANUARY 2016
Hedi Exiting YSL?
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
he rechristened Saint Laurent to return
to the initial impulses in the Sixties that
drove the late, legendary couturier to
introduce ready-to-wear.
From his home base in Los Angeles,
Slimane overhauled the house with a
new collection architecture and graphic
identity; a widely copied store concept involving acres of veiny marble
and gleaming shelves; and influential,
mostly black-and-white campaigns
lensed by the designer himself featuring
a cast of music personalities and edgy
models.
While he received some barbs from
critics for repetitive collections inspired
by grunge and other music subcultures,
Saint Laurent under Slimane charted
rapid growth, outpacing most other
designer brands as the luxury sector
entered a period of more moderate
expansion.
In the third quarter, revenues at
Saint Laurent vaulted by 26.6 percent
on a comparable basis to 243.4 million
euros, or $270.8 million. Retail sales
were up 32 percent in the quarter,
with even mainland China recording a
sharp increase, a testament to ongoing customer demand for the brand’s
$5,000 biker jackets and $2,000 leather
satchels.
By contrast, organic sales at Gucci,
which accounts for more than a third
of total revenues at Kering, fell 0.4
percent during the three-month period
while revenues at Bottega Veneta were
up 4.3 percent on a comparable basis.
Reflecting the increasing role of
Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta in
the group’s growth, Kering appointed
Saint Laurent chief executive officer
A look from
Saint Laurent
fall 2013.
Francesca Bellettini and Bottega Veneta
ceo Carlo Alberto Beretta as new members of its executive committee. Kering
is scheduled to report fourth-quarter
and full-year results on Feb. 19.
Saint Laurent revealed in March 2012
that Slimane would rejoin the house
as its creative director, a dozen years
after he exited YSL Rive Gauche Pour
Homme to heat up Dior Homme. At that
time, Elbaz helmed YSL Rive Gauche
for women in the wake of the founder’s
retirement from rtw.
Slimane was granted total creative
responsibility for the brand image and
all its collections, succeeding Stefano
Pilati after a fruitful, if turbulent, eightyear tenure for the Italian designer,
who would go on to join Ermenegildo
Zegna.
“As one of the most important French
fashion houses, Yves Saint Laurent
today possesses formidable potential,
which I am confident will be successfully harnessed and revealed through
the vision of Hedi Slimane,” FrançoisHenri Pinault, chairman and ceo of YSL
parent Kering, stated at the time of the
appointment.
Slimane’s return to the fashion
spotlight — and foray into women’s
wear — generated much excitement in
the French capital, especially as Raf
Simons, another men’s wear power
player and proponent of minimalism,
was shortly after named the couturier
at Dior, succeeding John Galliano.
An art history graduate from the
Ecole du Louvre, Slimane emerged
from fashion’s shadows during his first
stint at YSL. Hired as an assistant in
fashion marketing at YSL in 1997 and
A look from
Saint Laurent
spring 2016.
then quickly promoted to designer,
Slimane successfully revved up the
label’s Rive Gauche Homme collection
with sleek, androgynous tailoring:
leather trenchcoats, pinch-waist suits
and plunging shirts. He was a pioneer
in inviting contemporary artists like
Ugo Rondinone to put works in YSL
stores, positing his clothes in a broader
cultural context.
Slimane resigned from YSL in 2000
to pursue exclusive negotiations with its
parent, then known as Gucci Group, for
the launch of his own label. He ended
up signing on with luxury rival Dior,
embarking on an ambitious project
that electrified men’s wear with his
Slimane is said to covet control over
YSL’s beauty business, but he does
not hold any sway with the operation,
controlled by L’Oréal, which acquired
the business in 2008. As a result, he has
distanced himself from its products and
marketing messages.
Born in Brussels, Vaccarello studied
sculpture at La Cambre, and came onto
the international fashion radar in 2006
when he won first place at the Hyères
International Festival of Fashion and
Photography for his collection inspired
by Italian porn star La Cicciolina.
He subsequently went on to work
at Fendi and in 2009 launched his
namesake collection in Paris, where he
The possibility of a Slimane exit and
designer change adds an extra dash of
intrigue to the Saint Laurent men’s show
scheduled for Jan. 24 at the tail end of
men’s fashion week in Paris, typically a
megaproduction akin to a rock concert,
complete with a front row packed with
musicians and Slimane groupies.
glitzy fashion shows and minimalist
boutiques.
Slimane has been floated as a possible
successor to Simons at Dior, although
sources close to the house describe
such an appointment as unlikely, given
his penchant for demanding a wide
creative birth. At present, Dior has
Kris Van Assche designing men’s wear,
Victoire de Castellane in charge of high
jewelry, Peter Marino masterminding
the store architecture — and a host of
famous ambassadors, including Jennifer
Lawrence and Marion Cotillard.
A look from Anthony
Vaccarrello fall 2012.
continues to show. Two years later, he
scooped the ANDAM fashion award.
Impressed by his provocatively sexy
and audacious styles, Donatella Versace
in 2013 tapped him as a guest designer
for her revamped Versus brand. Last
September, she named him the creative director of Versus, putting him in
charge of the men’s and women’s collections under her supervision. His first
full collection was for fall 2015 retailing.
Like Slimane, he has a penchant for
severe, razor-sharp designs that look
best on a thin figure.
A look from
Anthony
Vaccarrello
spring 2016.
5
13 JANUARY 2016 RETAIL
Barneys Returns to Chelsea
With an Exclusive Package
● Opening is set for mid-
February.
BY DAVID MOIN
With the return of Barneys New York to its
original site in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, there’s nostalgia and sentiment, and
most expect the usual Barneys irreverent wit
and style embedded in the windows and the
merchandising.
But at the core of the project is a major
effort to give the city a different take on luxury.
Exclusive designer offerings and introductions in men’s and women’s wear will be
sprinkled across the 55,000-square-foot space,
WWD has learned. And that means a range of
products across categories that Barneys has
exclusively on either a global, U.S. or local
basis.
The new Barneys will open in the second or
third week of February, but there’s no specific
date yet given the uncertainties of construction and last-minute tweaking.
Merchandise is another story. The mix has
been in the works for months and is set.
Products to be sold only in Barneys downtown as “global exclusives” include women’s
capsule collections by Irene Neuwirth, Feathered Soul, Elder Statesman and Sidney Garber;
the Douglas Little fragrance collection called
Heretic and the Bergamot fragrance from
Malin and Goetz. Barneys is also relaunching its own Route du Thé fragrance for men
and women and introducing a Route du Thé
candle.
On the men’s side, Barneys will sell an allblack collection from Greg Lauren, a capsule
collection from Fear of God, and items from
R13.
Regarding U.S. exclusives, Barneys
downtown will carry capsule collections
by Alexander Wang in ready-to-wear and
Proenza Schouler in handbags. In jewelry,
Irene, Feathered Soul and Tate are providing
capsule collections. Barneys also has the U.S.
exclusive on bags and clutches in python and
crocodile from Baraboux; embroidered white
tunic shirts from a new French brand called
Kilometer, and capsule shoe collections from
Aquazzura, Valentino, Gianvito Rossi and
Sarah Flint.
In men’s wear for the U.S., Barneys in Chelsea will carry some exclusive runway looks
from Lanvin, Givenchy, Balmain, Rick Owens
and Alexander Wang, and a collection by
Sulvam, a former assistant to Yohji Yamamoto.
The store is also introducing to New York a
range of constructed jackets by Shiro Sakai,
who worked with Rei Kawakubo for more than
a dozen years.
Exclusives are what every retailer tries
to score, regardless of whether they target
affluent or low income customers. And in
luxury, it’s more important than ever, given
the sector’s widening distribution [some say
overdistribution] through off-price and outlet
stores, Web sites and designers’ own boutiques. In addition, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman
Marcus and other luxury stores have been
seeing a decline in tourist spending by international travelers, particularly those from China,
Russia and Brazil. Generally, last year luxury
traffic and sales were down in the U.S. Given
the scorched landscape, purveyors of designer
merchandise must come up with innovative,
differentiated product and new services and
experiences to entice shoppers back.
Barneys in Chelsea will have its fair share
of amenities and services. For example, the
lower level, called the foundation level, will
house cosmetics, skin care and fragrances, as
well as a men’s barbershop by Blind Barber.
The third floor will showcase men’s designer
rtw and footwear, as well as a Freds restaurant
but with a menu of its own [unlike Freds at
Barneys on Madison Avenue] that emphasizes
drinks and small plates. Personal shopping
suites will be on the fourth level for a more private experience, and there will be treatment
rooms on the foundation floor. The second
level will house women’s designer rtw and
footwear, and the ground level will sell men’s
and women’s leather goods and accessories, as
well as women’s fine jewelry.
Right upon entering the store, located at 101
Seventh Avenue on the corner of 16th Street,
visitors will be drawn to a large spiral staircase
connecting the selling floors. Grand staircases
as a central focal point have become a Barneys
signature. The store is being designed by the
New York-based architectural firm Steven
Harris Architects.
As previously reported in WWD, Barneys
in Chelsea will have 200 feet of frontage along
most of the stretch of Seventh Avenue between
16th and 17th Streets and wrapping the corner
of 16th Street. At 55,000 square feet, the
downtown unit will be about half the size of
the original Barneys flagship on the site, which
at its peak measured 120,000 square feet
and encompassed the entire Seventh Avenue
frontage from 16th to 17th Streets. Barneys is
leasing the site.
In recent years, Barneys has closed more
stores than it has opened, and converted some
of its Co-Op stores into regular Barneys sites.
But the business was stabilized in 2012 with the
arrival of Richard Perry, who took a majority
stake in the business by extinguishing virtually
all of the $600 million in long-term debt that
Barneys had. Barneys operates flagships on
Madison Avenue; in Beverly Hills; Chicago;
Seattle; Boston; San Francisco; Las Vegas;
Los Angeles, and Scottsdale, Ariz., as well as
barneys.com and 25 other smaller stores and
outlets across the U.S.
Barneys was first opened in 1923 by Barney
Pressman. The site was vacated in 1997 after
Barneys opened its Madison Avenue flagship,
and it was converted into a Loehmann’s that
shut down in February 2014.
Besides Chelsea, Barneys has another big
expansion move in the works — becoming a
third anchor inside Bal Harbour Shops in Bal
Halbour, Fla., near Miami. Saks and Neiman’s
are already there. A Barneys lease depends
on an expansion of Bal Harbour Shops being
green-lighted. That Barneys would also include
a Freds restaurant.
Two years ago, Mark Lee, the chief executive officer of Barneys, told WWD that when
Barneys left Chelsea, it created a void in the
market. It’s never been filled, though there is
greater competition nearby in the Meatpacking District where many monobrands have
opened shop. There is also Scoop, which carries several designer brands, as well as Jeffrey
New York, both in the vicinity, and several offprice big-box stores on Sixth Avenue. The addition of the High Line, the Whitney Museum
and the influx of residential properties and
retail stores have brought greater traffic to the
area. Business among fashion retailers in the
Meatpacking District and Chelsea is said to be
mixed.
The old Barneys was as much a style hub
and a place to see and be seen. But the new
Barneys isn’t simply about restoring the past.
“We didn’t do this just for nostalgic reasons,”
Lee once told WWD. “The store is really being
built and strategized as a modern investment
for a modern downtown.”
Barneys downtown will carry capsule collections by Alexander Wang in ready-towear and Proenza Schouler in handbags. In jewelry, Irene, Feathered Soul and Tate
are providing capsule collections. Barneys also has the U.S. exclusive on bags and
clutches in python and crocodile from Baraboux; embroidered white tunic shirts
from a new French brand called Kilometer, and capsule shoe collections from
Aquazzura, Valentino, Gianvito Rossi and Sarah Flint.
A rendering of the Barneys Chelsea store.
6
13 JANUARY 2016
London Men’s Touted
For Planning, Fashions
● Retailers point to Burberry,
Alexander McQueen, Coach
and Wales Bonner as season’s
standouts.
BY SAMANTHA CONTI WITH CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM JULIA NEEL AND LORELEI MARFIL
LONDON — The city’s men’s wear outing
for fall 2016 won kudos from buyers on both
sides of the Atlantic for its polish, professionalism and skill in blending the old with
the new.
The four-day London Collections: Men
wrapped earlier this week, with buyers
pointing to bankable looks from established
and young brands, and collections loaded
with workwear and military influences,
sharp tailoring, street influence and
cross-gender styles.
Among the standout collections that
buyers pointed to were Burberry, Alexander
McQueen, Coach, Craig Green, J.W. Anderson and the MAN showcase that featured
labels Wales Bonner, Charles Jeffrey and
Rory Parnell Mooney.
“London is full of clever dichotomies: A
strong utility/workwear influence on the
one hand and a whimsical gender-fluid influence on the other; an energetic, colorful
street vibe, and a traditional classic tailored
vibe on the other,” said Eric Jennings, vice
president and men’s fashion director at Saks
Fifth Avenue.
He said Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s
chief creative and chief executive officer,
did a “stellar job of combining all of this
by seamlessly, intertwining classic vintage
trenchcoats with colorful sequined track
suits and sportive trainers.”
He added that it was “poignant” to be
in London with so many David Bowie
Alexander
McQueen
references from the Seventies and Eighties,
“well before we learned of his passing. His
indelible influence on fashion will most certainly be felt this season,” added Jennings.
Bruce Pask, men’s fashion director at
Bergdorf Goodman, called London “a fascinating market” given the country’s tradition
and importance in the continuing history of
men’s wear.
“It’s exciting to see proven heritage
brands evolve while also watching the emergence of new, vibrant labels with points of
view that derive from the street and youth
culture. Made in England still means a lot to
a Goodman’s customer, and we are glad to
be in business with some very gifted local
talent.”
He pointed to Gieves & Hawkes and
its “very relaxed weekend wardrobe of
luxurious pieces, like great shearlings and
chunky cashmere sweaters,” and to Alexander McQueen’s “opulent, regal collection
that touched on the very vibrant evening
wear category in an original way while also
delivering some fantastic regimental jackets
and coats.”
As for the young talent, Pask credited
Craig Green for creating a “very singular
vision in a very short time” and pointed to
Thom Sweeney’s “very relaxed, modern
take on British tailoring with a younger, sexy
feel that was very fresh.”
He added that the showcase, overall,
was a success: “The organization of LC:M,
in the care of the BFC, sets a very high bar
with venues that are convenient and well
designed, on a schedule that is well thought
out. It’s a great platform for the country’s
varied men’s wear resources and there was
a bounty of inspiration,” Pask said.
Jo Harris, general merchandising manager
of men’s wear at Harrods, said the big
brands in particular delivered this season.
Burberry
Coach
She pointed to Alexander McQueen’s
“drama and the reinvention of styles that
are iconic to the brand,” and to Coach “for
the incredibly wearable designs that have
a fun, novel spin — dinosaur knit, rocket
motifs.”
She said it was interesting to see Burberry “pull back and create a show that was
more stripped back and intimate.” She said,
overall, there was often less of a distinction
between formal wear and casual wear, with
brands blurring the lines between both,
most notably at Burberry.
Harris said among the big trends to
emerge were Nineties nostalgia at Burberry,
Moschino and Paul Smith; checks and plaid
at Coach and Gieves & Hawkes; novelty at
Christopher Kane and Christopher Raeburn,
and florals at McQueen and Moschino.
At Selfridges, men’s designer and
contemporary buyer Jack Cassidy said his
top picks included the young talent Wales
Bonner, part of the MAN showcase, and J.W.
Anderson.
“I think that Grace Wales Bonner set a
beautiful mood via the music, and really
pushed her designs in a way that meant they
had a lot of catwalk presence and you could
really appreciate all of the detail,” he said,
adding that J.W. Anderson also delivered a
stellar show.
“It was unexpected, fresh and further
showcased the uniqueness of Jonathan’s
vision. Over the past few seasons the
commercial collection has also grown from
strength to strength so I’m really looking
forward to seeing how the core ideas translate into non-runway pieces when in the
showroom,” Cassidy said.
He also noticed the London designers
distancing themselves from shorter lengths
and embracing longer ones. “It seems that
designers moved away in general from
Gieves
& Hawkes
bomber jackets, and that overcoats and
parkas were more popular.”
Darren Skey, head of men’s wear buying
at Harvey Nichols, said the biggest trends
that emerged were wide-leg pants/flares;
tactile materials such as velvet and corduroy, and a move away from structured into
soft tailoring, as seen at Richard James.
He also pointed to patchwork, placement
pockets and less streetwear, “which has
been so strong in previous seasons.” He said
the 1205 collection by Paula Gerbase was the
most cohesive at LC:M. “The fabrication and
silhouettes were bang on trend,” he said.
Dean Cook, the new buying manager for
men’s wear at Browns, which is now owned
by Farfetch.com, said he liked Craig Green,
Wales Bonner, and Agi & Sam. “Agi & Sam’s
collection was super wearable, and Grace’s
casting, music, setting and clothes were very
strong. I really liked the power of Charles
Jeffrey.”
Cook had confirmed even before the
shows that budgets would be up for fall —
and he did not change his mind. “Browns
has always supported British designers. I
increased the budget for the London men’s
designers last season, and I’ll be doing so
again this season. I do think that we need
to be offering British designers and need to
add more into the mix,” he said.
Damien Paul, head of men’s wear at
Matchesfashion.com, also pointed to Wales
Bonner and Charles Jeffrey as standouts.
“I thought the MAN show this season was
exceptional — particularly Wales Bonner
and Charles Jeffrey, who had two of the
most impactful shows of the week. They are
exactly what we want from London — bold,
dynamic and idiosyncratic,” he said.
Some of the biggest trends, he said, were
retro zip-tops, which he “loved at Burberry;” and wider trousers, “which continue
to feel like the most modern cut.” He
believes “there’s still a grungier, more bohemian spirit in the air. We saw the influence
of Alessandro Michele’s Gucci at many of
the shows.”
While he would not comment specifically
on budgets, he did say the store “continues
to see a really encouraging response to our
London designers, and our men’s department on the whole continues to grow at a
very strong rate. I’m leaving London feeling
optimistic — it’s always reassuring to see
so much creativity and energy and it was a
great start to the show marathon,” he said.
Moschino
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni and James Mason
RETAIL
7
13 JANUARY 2016 Alberta
Ferretti
ALBERTA FERRETTI
Daywear trumped Alberta Ferretti’s signature
ethereal evening frills for pre-fall. Lest anyone assume
daytime gear and its inherent practicality come off as
boring in comparison to the drama of gowns — not so
in Ferretti’s world. She infused tailored separates with
dramatic animalia, embroidering a camel-and-black
coat with snake and panther motifs, working furs in
feral stripes and anchoring looks in wildcat motif boots.
A bold statement for sure, the exotica was controlled
by sharp silhouettes, and segued into dreamier fare
including delicate silk dresses with lace details and a
jewel-toned group of dresses, coat and shifts.
— JESSICA IREDALE
PHILOSOPHY DI
LORENZO SERAFINI
A Nineties-tinged take on Edwardian romance fueled
Lorenzo Serafini’s pre-fall Philosophy collection, which
is building momentum. Serafini has shown a keen eye
for cool femininity that’s romantic while avoiding the
precious. Prints are one of his strong suits, rendered
here in a delicate tea rose set against black and a
softly exotic bird and bamboo motif inspired by something he found on Chinese cushions. Dress silhouettes
included long-sleeved, floor-length styles in crochet
lace and Seventies midi styles, a period echoed in
button-front A-line skirts, tie-neck blouses and robust,
tweed tailoring, such as slouchy, mannish trousers and
jackets.
— J.I.
SELF-PORTRAIT
Self-Portrait has quickly become a cool girl go-to in
the special occasion category. For pre-fall, designer
Han Chong explored more relaxed, romantic silhouettes than he had in previous collections. Done in soft
blues and creamy whites, dresses with high necklines
Alberta Ferretti and Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini photographs by George Chinsee
Self-Portrait
and bell sleeves channeled a prim, Victorian mood,
while tiered ruffles, pleating and off-the-shoulder
detailing kept things sensual and current. Chong also
worked with print for the first time: a delicate, vintage-inspired floral on a pair of red and white dresses.
The best group in the feminine lineup juxtaposed
sporty, patterned guipure lace silhouettes with sheer,
floral-embroidered overlays that resulted in a novel
3-D effect.
— KRISTI GARCED
JOSEPH
Inspired by Perry Ogden’s “Pony Kids,” Louise Trotter
reinterpreted traditional men’s wear into a luxe and
feminine pre-fall lineup for Joseph. She wanted to
give heirlooms an “aristocratic edge.” She worked in
cashmere, Shetland wool, Prince of Wales donegals,
tweeds, traditional felts and flannel. Strong, borrowed-from-the-boys outerwear included a cream
wool cashmere trench with oversize pockets and a
felt melton underneath the collar, a nubby oversize
Tuscana coat and a soft gray leather shearling coat.
The tension between masculine and feminine also
played well in cashmere cardigan sweaters, roll neck
sweaters and cream silk blouses, some with a bow
at the neck. Sturdier camel corduroy trousers and
high-waisted skirts and pinstripe button-down shirts
balanced the assortment. — LORELEI MARFIL
THEORY
In pursuit of unconstructed ease, Lisa Kulson
focused on the fluid and feminine with soft suiting,
washed silk blouses with lace insets and bodycon
knit dresses with bare shoulders or ruffled hems for
Theory pre-fall. Navy and red plaid trousers with a
matching car coat in a lightweight wool blend offered
a cool, tomboyish take on transitional dressing. All of
it was stylishly versatile and safe — no big statements
here. — K.G.
Joseph
Theory
Philosophy
de Lorenzo
Serafini
8
13 JANUARY 2016
FASHION
Karlie Kloss, Glenda
Bailey Join LVMH Prize
● They are among new
members of the expert
committee who will help
narrow the field to 10 finalists.
BY MILES SOCHA
PARIS — Here’s another hyphen for model-entrepreneur-coder-Instagram-sensation
Karlie Kloss: Fashion judge.
She has been asked to join the expert
committee for the third edition of the LVMH
Prize for Young Fashion Designers, which
today opens its site to applications for anyone under age 40 who has produced and
sold at least two women’s or men’s ready-towear collections.
Up for grabs is a grand prize of 300,000
euros, or $325,000 at current exchange,
plus a year of coaching from experts at
luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis
Vuitton, parent of fashion houses including
Fendi, Givenchy, Berluti, Loro Piana and
Kenzo.
Also joining the committee, charged with
narrowing a pre-selected list of 30 contenders to 10 finalists, are Glenda Bailey, editor
in chief of Harper’s Bazaar in New York;
Miroslava Duma, founder of the Russian
fashion site Buro 24/7; makeup artist Peter
Philips, creative and image director of Christian Dior makeup in Paris, and Katherine
Ross, a fashion and art consultant based in
Los Angeles.
They are to join 35 other journalists,
stylists, buyers, photographers and other
fashion professionals, among them photographer Juergen Teller and editors Emmanuelle Alt and Suzy Menkes.
Unique in its online-only application
process — and a jury stacked with LVMH
fashion stars including Karl Lagerfeld, Marc
Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquière — the prize is
expected to attract about 1,000 applicants,
as it has for its first two editions, according
to Delphine Arnault, the force behind the
initiative and a key talent scout at family
controlled LVMH.
Applicants and interested parties will
discover a refreshed prize Web site designed
to offer formerly shortlisted designers more
dedicated online space.
“It’s available for everyone to be able
to consult the designers that have been
selected by our experts and the jury, to
give exposure to these young talents. It’s
an exciting tool,” Arnault told WWD in an
interview.
The executive, second-in-command at
Louis Vuitton, LVMH’s largest and most
profitable brand, noted that the group’s
experts are at the disposal of all shortlisted
designers to answer questions, while the
ultimate victor receives a full year of dedicated attention.
“We’re really there to help,” she stressed,
noting that staffers continue to guide
Thomas Tait, winner of the inaugural 2014
edition, “in the different decisions that he’s
taking in his company.”
Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida, the
Portuguese duo behind the London-based
Marques’Almeida label, have seen their company grow “a lot” since bagging the grand
prize in 2015, according to Arnault.
“We work with them on strategy, making
sure they have the right collections plan,
the right pricing for the products. They’re
very proactive, very entrepreneurial,” she
enthused.
French designer Simon Porte Jacquemus,
who scooped a special jury prize of 100,000
euros, or $108,400, during his second
attempt at the prize, is relying on LVMH
experts to help him find a new space in
Paris and to assemble the right team for his
fledgling company.
As in past editions, LVMH plans to fly
semifinalists to the French capital during
Paris Fashion Week where they can display
their wares at the firm’s Avenue Montaigne
headquarters for the 40 members of the
expert committee to inspect. Arnault also
invites a broad slice of the fashion pack to
a cocktail event, offering the young talents
additional exposure and more networking
possibilities.
“It’s a great opportunity to see so many
people in the fashion industry that otherwise might take years to meet,” she said,
noting department store executives, famous
photographers, top editors, models and
makeup artists stream through the designers’ booths.
“They get a lot of exposure to different
aspects of the industry and they get more
awareness for their brands. I think it’s a
great opportunity for them,” she explained.
“The idea is really to connect them with
important people in the industry — people
who can make a difference in their career.
“We are a leader in our industry and it’s
our responsibility to help identify young
talents and to help them grow,” she added.
To date, LVMH has hosted 55 young
designers in Paris and handed out five
awards. Applicants have come from 100
countries and included relatively established talents such as Simone Rocha and
Demna Gvasalia of Vetements, who stage
runway shows in Europe, to more obscure
names such as Kiev-based Anton Belinskiy
and Shangguan Zhe of Sankuanz, Xiamen,
China.
In mid-June, the 10 finalists for the 2015
edition are to face the all-star jury. Besides
Arnault, Lagerfeld, Jacobs and Ghesquière,
the other members of the jury are Loewe
artistic director Jonathan Anderson; Céline’s
Phoebe Philo; Givenchy’s couturier Riccardo
Tisci; Kenzo designers Humberto Leon and
Carol Lim of Kenzo; Jean-Paul Claverie, an
advisor to LVMH chairman and chief executive Bernard Arnault and the groups director
of sponsorships, and Pierre-Yves Roussel,
chairman and ceo of LVMH Fashion Group.
Also today, LVMH opens up applications
for fashion graduates through May 15. Each
year, LVMH awards three winners the
chance to join the creative team of one of
the group’s houses for a year, as well as a
grant of 10,000 euros, or $10,830.
Prizes for young designers have multiplied in recent years as fashion’s biggest
players jockey to do good and forge relations with potential future recruits.
LVMH also supports the ANDAM Fashion Awards; the International Fashion and
Photography Festival in Hyères, France, and
Central Saint Martins College of Arts and
Design in London.
“It’s a great
opportunity to see
so many people in
the fashion industry
that otherwise
might take years
to meet….The
idea is to connect
[designers] with…
people who can
make a difference
in their career. We
are a leader in our
industry and it’s
our responsibility
to help identify
young talents and
to help them grow.”
— Delphine Arnault,
LVMH
9
13 JANUARY 2016 FASHION
Karl Lagerfeld Readies
Collection With Riachuelo
● The capsule range is to be sold
in 144 of the Brazilian retailers’
stores starting in April.
BY MILES SOCHA
wallets, small leather goods, iPhone
cases and collectible items are
totes bearing a cartoon likeness of
Choupette, the designer’s pet cat, who
has become a celebrity in her own
right — and an engine of the Lagerfeld
business, her likeness plastered over all
manner of Lagerfeld products.
Apparel looks in the Riachuelo collection include a black jersey jumpsuit
and graphic T-shirts, some depicting
Chopuette.
Prices are to range from 50 to 400
Brazilian real, or about $12 to $100 at
current exchange rates.
Riachuelo boasts 23 million
PARIS — Karl Lagerfeld, with his Olympian work ethic, is sweeping into Brazil
this spring with a special 75-piece collection for fast-fashion chain Riachuelo.
Disclosing the project exclusively
to WWD, Lagerfeld has designed a
range of ready-to-wear and accessories
for women slated to debut in April at
roughly half of its 285 doors.
The collaboration comes more than
a decade after the German designer
helped pioneer “masstige” with Sweden’s Hennes & Mauritz, igniting a craze
for high-low collaborations.
The Lagerfeld company is plotting a
launch event during São Paulo Fashion
Week, scheduled for April 13-17, along
with a national advertising campaign,
window animations and special
displays.
Brazil, despite its economic challenges, will be in the international spotlight this year as it gears up for the Rio
2016 Summer Olympic Games, prompting some fashion firms to capitalize on
the attention. Louis Vuitton will parade
its next cruise collection on May 28 in
Rio de Janeiro, as reported.
According to Pier Paolo Righi, chief
executive officer of Karl Lagerfeld,
Brazil boasts a “customer base with
a strong passion for fashion and who
resonates incredibly well with Karl
Lagerfeld.”
Among the handbags, clutches,
credit-card holders and welcomes up
to one million customers per day. It
markets clothes and accessories for
women, men and children, along with
homewares.
The Brazil venture is the latest volley
in an international push for Lagerfeld’s
signature brand, which last fall dove
into e-commerce in 97 countries in
partnership with Italy’s Yoox Net-a-porter Group. Lagerfeld initiated its retail
rollout in 2013 and initially focused
mainly on Western Europe, particularly
France and Germany. It counts about
20 directly operated stores and about
20 franchise locations, including eight
locations in China and six in the Middle
East.
In 2013, Lagerfeld embarked on a
multiseason collaboration with Melissa,
the Brazilian maker of colorful
jelly shoes.
A Karl Lagerfeld jacket for Riachuelo.
Totes bearing
a likeness of
Choupette, the
designer’s cat,
will be among
the 75-piece
collection.
BUSINESS
Chinese E-commerce Players Merge
● Mogujie will take over rival
Meilishuo and form a new
company.
BY CASEY HALL
Chinese social e-commerce player
Mogujie said Tuesday it will take over rival
Meilishuo and form a new company with
annual sales of about $3 billion.
Both Mogujie — Mushroom Street in
English — and Meilishuo — Beauty Talk —
are female-focused platforms that visually
bear a striking resemblance to Pinterest,
but with a much more direct e-commerce
component, with easy click-through from
posted images to points of purchase.
The deal will see Mogujie acquire
Meilishuo — which is backed by Chinese
internet giant Tencent — through a 2:1
share swap and Tencent will increase
its shareholdings of the new company,
according to a statement from Mogujie.
Mogujie’s cofounder and chief executive
Qi Chen — a former “Ali Ren,” as Alibaba
employees are colloquially known — will
helm the new enterprise, Mogujie said.
The two companies registered combined annual sales of 20 billion yuan, or
a little more than $3 billion at current
exchange, last year.
Hangzhou-based Mogujie completed its
latest round of fund-raising last November,
raising $200 million from investors led by
Ping An Ventures, according to statements
from the company at the time.
The takeover comes at a time when
consolidation is becoming the norm for
China’s tech start-ups. A proliferation of
competition and a scarcity of funding
as China’s unsettled economic situation
weighs on investor sentiment is making
mergers and acquisitions a common
occurrence.
10 13 JANUARY 2016
RETAIL
Joy Mangano Pushes
Mops at Macy’s in N.Y.
● The Miracle Mop founder will
partner with the retailer to
develop products.
BY SHARON EDELSON
Macy’s doesn’t sell mops, but there was
Joy Mangano on the eighth floor of the Herald Square flagship watching demonstrators
in purple “Joy” shirts pushing the vehicle
she’s ridden to fame and fortune across the
floor.
Mangano may be the only woman in
America who can make a mop sound sexy.
The story of her invention, the Miracle Mop,
was seductive enough to entice Hollywood
director David O. Russell to make a movie
about her life, in which the mop plays a
leading role.
On Sunday night, Jennifer Lawrence, who
plays Mangano in the film, “Joy,” won a
Golden Globe for best actress.
Mangano typically sells her products on
HSN, which bought her company, Ingenious
Designs LLC, in 1999, and where her hourly
sales regularly exceed $1 million. During the
course of her career, she’s sold $3 billion
worth of products.
This time, Mangano’s new and improved
Miracle Mop launched on HSN on June 3,
but she’s also adding brick-and-mortar to
her distribution. “I believe in the circle of
commerce,” she said. “This is very strategic. I know how to choose partners that are
creative.”
In addition to Macy’s, the Joy collection
will be sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond and
Target.
Mangano arrives at Macy’s at a time
Joy Mangano and Terry J. Lundgren
at Macy’s Herald Square.
when the core department store business
— anchored by women’s fashion, which
represents about a quarter of the total volume — seems to be a limited or no-growth
proposition.
Tourism and Macy’s stock price are
down, and the forecast for 2016 is for
reduced earnings. It’s no wonder chairman
and chief executive officer Terry J. Lundgren
is looking for the unconventional and a little
of Mangano’s fairy dust.
“Macy’s is an absolute institution,”
Mangano said. Of the retailer’s troubles, she
added, “The entire economy is a pendulum.
I’m here because it’s the discovery of Macy’s
and all those customers I’ve never reached
before. I’ve been shopping at Macy’s
for decades.”
Mangano said she’ll partner with Macy’s
on exclusive products, adding, “With a
partnership with Macy’s, we could do so
much together. I cross all categories. This is
so exciting.
“When I design something it’s not from
a category point of view but where I see a
need,” said Mangano, who holds more than
100 patents. “The Macy’s customer is going
to be in for some fun when you see the
beautiful Joy brand get bigger.”
Mangano met Lundgren at an industry
function several years ago, but it wasn’t
until March that she and the ceo sat down
to discuss her products and the possibilities
at Macy’s.
“I was talking and he said, ‘This is very
exciting. This is really very exciting,”
Mangano said of the meeting.
When Lundgren sat down with Mangano in March, he said,“It took about three
minutes for me to think, ‘This woman has
something. Ten minutes later, I said, ‘I want
to buy something for you.’”
“Later, I nonchalantly said, ‘They’re making this movie about me,’” Mangano said.
“Terry said, ‘Is that really true? But I believe
you, I really believe you.’”
“We’re excited to see what the possibilities of this partnership between Macy’s
and Joy will bring to both of our national
brands,” Lundgren said. “With her innovative designs, she has been at the forefront
in the home category and she brings with
her a new audience and expanded product
options to Macy’s Home Store.
“As we cater to an omnichannel customer,
we are very excited to have her product line
enhance our Macy’s Home Store offerings for our online and bricks-and-mortar
shopper,” Lundgren added. “Joy’s appeal is
extensive and her story inspirational. Having
Joy here with us at Macy’s Herald Square to
launch her collection that’s available for the
first time in stores is a great moment for not
only Macy’s and the Joy brand, but for our
customers and her TV audience who shop
with us, too.”
Macy’s created a shop-in-shop for the Joy
collection, which includes beauty cases,
Huggable hangers, steamers, Single Touch
hair dryers, home fragrance, Memory Cloud
pillows in purple, turquoise, red, white and
black.
Mangano told the Macy’s customers gathered how over dinner, several years ago, a
producer vowed to write her life story. She
thought nothing of it until Russell called.
While the director told Mangano that “Joy”
would be “half-fiction” and not a biopic, she
completely recognized it as her own story.
“I severely inspired that movie,” she said.
“David captured so many emotional touch
points. David O. Russell actually created
a tribute to an industry — television home
shopping — which made my path possible.
“There were several ‘A-ha’ moments [in
developing the Miracle Mop],” Mangano
said. “But, it was quite a task to get that mop
to market.
“Go find that mop,” she told the customers congregated on Macy’s eighth floor. “It’s
a movie star.”
BUSINESS
Ermenegildo Zegna
Wins Trademark Case
powerhouse will be paid
damages of $309,000.
BY LUISA ZARGANI
The Ermenegildo Zegna Group has
secured a trademark victory in China.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s
Court has determined that the Guangzhou Fuyin Co. should cease infringing
the trademarks of the Italian men’s wear
powerhouse and should pay damages
of two million yuan, or about $309,000
at current exchange. This was delivered
through the issuance of 21 verdicts.
The court has thus “supported the protection of Zegna’s legitimate rights and
interests, reenforced appropriate market
order, and confirmed once again Zegna’s
longstanding confidence in China’s legal
environment,” said the Italian firm.
Guangzhou Fuyin Co. was using labels
that were similar to Zegna’s trademarks,
such as the Zsnoi collection, ZZsnoi and
Zsnoisport. The Zsnoi men’s wear brand
was established by Guangzhou Fuyin
Trading Co. Ltd.
A pioneer in China, Ermenegildo
Zegna opened its first boutique in Beijing
in 1991 and has been developing its
brands, Ermenegildo Zegna, Z Zegna and
Agnona, throughout the region with its
network of banners.
The first “Zegna” trademark was
granted registration in China in 1973.
Since then, the company has worked
to build “a comprehensive intellectual
property rights protection system,
thereby ensuring Zegna’s legal rights
and interests are well protected under
Chinese law.”
This is the latest signal that Western
brands can successfully argue their cases
in China. In November, Moncler won a
landmark battle against Beijing Nuoyakate Gourmet Co. Ltd. After discovering
in 2013 that the Chinese company was
manufacturing and selling jackets with
counterfeit Moncler logos and that it also
tried to register several fake trademarks
in China and other markets, the Italian
luxury firm sued the Chinese company in
December 2014 in the newly established
Intellectual Property Court of Beijing.
Moncler was granted the payment of
around $452,000 in damages in the case.
In 2014, Dsquared2 secured the rights
to distribute its collections in China — a
cornerstone for the Italian firm that
helped overturn its prospects in the area
and fully develop its business there. A
court in Hangzhou ruled it was “legitimately allowed” to do so — despite the
fact that another company has trademarked the Dsquared label (without
the 2 figure) and was selling counterfeit
products under that moniker.
Guangzhou Fuyin
Co. was using labels
that were similar to
Zegna’s trademarks.
Z Zegna’s trans-seasonal spring collection.
Macy’s photograph by Patrick MacLeod
● The Italian men’s wear
11
13 JANUARY 2016 ACCESSORIES
Miansai Names CEO,
Outlines Growth Plans
● The brand, which has a strong
e-commerce business and
is carried in more than 300
doors worldwide, is expecting
to double its business
this year.
BY RACHEL STRUGATZ
Barbara Cook is taking the reins as
chief executive officer of Miansai, eight
years after the company first broke onto
the accessories scene with a series of
leather hook and anchor bracelets.
Michael Saiger, founder and creative
director, said business has doubled
nearly every year since inception and
that Cook was brought on board to
help manage that growth. In addition
to its e-commerce site at miansai.com
and a flagship on Crosby Street in SoHo
here, Miansai is carried in more than
300 doors in 37 countries, including
Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Le Bon
Marché. Industry sources estimate that
sales this year could hit $25 million.
Cook is the company’s first ceo and
was formerly president of Hudson Jeans
and head of operations for Gap Stores
North America. Her primary focus is to
double the business in 2016, largely by
way of an aggressive e-commerce push,
international expansion — 25 percent of
all sales come from outside the U.S. —
and growing the women’s sector of the
business.
Miansai’s digital flagship is responsible for 27 percent of overall sales, but
this portion is expected to jump to 36
Michael Saiger
and Barbara Cook
RETAIL
Money 20/20 Creators
Launching Shoptalk
● The conference will gather
retailers, disruptors and
investors for a three-day event
in Las Vegas.
BY ARTHUR ZACZKIEWICZ
After taking Money 20/20 from a conference of few hundred tech industry
stakeholders to 10,000-plus attendees,
cofounders Anil Aggarwal and Jonathan
Weiner have pulled together Shoptalk
— which will gather retailers, disruptors
and investors for a three-day event in
Las Vegas from May 16 to 18.
Aggarwal told WWD that the event,
to be held at the Aria, is not a trade
show, or even a traditional convention. Instead, Shoptalk — as the name
implies — is a gathering of retail
industry stakeholders who gather,
share, network, collaborate and discuss
how they can work to evolve the retail
industry through technology and with
investments.
The initial lineup of confirmed speakers includes about 125 retailers and
brand executives from retailers such
as Neiman Marcus, Target and Under
Armour. They will be joined by what
Aggarwal described as “disruptive commerce companies and prolific investors.” Aggarwal, who is former global
head of payments and wallet business
development at Google, said he expects
to have close to 300 speakers by the
time of the event.
The confirmed speakers include:
Affirm founder and chief executive
officer Max Levchin; Ashley Stewart ceo
James Rhee; Curbside cofounder and
ceo Jaron Waldman; Dollar Shave Club
founder and ceo Michael Dubin; House
of Fraser ceo Nigel Oddy; Jet.com ceo
Marc Lore; Kohl’s executive vice president of digital technology and innovation Ratnakar Lavu; Macy’s senior vice
president of strategy and innovation
Michael Tobin, and John Koryl, Neiman
Marcus group president of stores and
online.
Pinterest general manager of monetization Tim Kendall, Target Corp.’s chief
strategy officer Casey Carl and Bain
Capital Ventures managing director
Scott Friend will also speak, among
many others.
Aggarwal said in a statement that the
speakers “comprise an unparalleled
grouping of key figures in commerce
ranging from early stage innovators to
recognized and established pioneers of
retail and e-commerce. These are the
minds reshaping how products, services
percent by year’s end. An entirely new
site is in the works and slated to go live
this summer.
While the Web site is the brand’s
biggest store and will soon drive over
a third of all sales, retail still remains a
priority. Following the opening of the
brand’s first free-standing door in late
2013, a second store is slated to open in
Los Angeles in March. A 1,000-squarefoot store on Abbott Kinney will have an
outdoor area and a Kombucha bar.
“When I first started, there were no
other men’s accessories brands out
there that had great quality, design and
price points,” Saiger said of Miansai,
which has received no outside funding
to date. He noted that the men’s accessories category was rife with opportunity when he started out in 2008.
Cook added: “It’s the number-one
brand in many of the key retailers
around the world for men’s accessories.
Men’s is well-established and has the
lion’s share of our business today.”
But as the brand rolls out additional
women’s styles and starts to sell at key
wholesale accounts, she predicts that
women’s will soon comprise 30 percent
of the overall business, men’s 60 percent and leather goods and timepieces
the remaining 10 percent.
Both a women’s line and timepieces
launched in 2013, five years after the
initial men’s line bowed. Saiger said that
although many of the early pieces were
considered unisex — 80 percent of the
core collection could be worn by either
gender — the women’s line contains
slimmer and more feminine metals,
sizes and colorways. The emphasis is on
rose gold metal.
and experiences are created, curated
and consumed.”
Some of the topics include how startups are driving product innovation;
reinventing the consumer selling experience; venture capital perspectives
on commerce technology; reinventing
product returns; the state of drone
delivery; collaborative consumption
and the sharing economy; new retail
rental models, and virtual reality experiences in retail. But the underpinning
goal of the event is to gather a community of industry stakeholders to engage
in a meaningful discussion about the
evolution of retail.
Aggarwal said retailers “will have
the opportunity to network with some
of the most innovative leaders shaping commerce, learn about the most
important technologies, and collaborate
on what’s coming next.”
The organizers are also holding a
“Start-Up Pitch Contest” for early-stage
companies to “have the chance to
present their business plans to a panel
of judges from leading venture capital
firms for a $25,000 prize,” the organizers said.
Aggarwal told WWD that ultimately,
Shoptalk “creates a narrative and a
framework for a conversation” around
how disruptive innovation can improve
retail commerce. “And it is being done
with a holistic view of the retail commerce ecosystem,” he added.
12 13 JANUARY 2016
FASHION
Ala Isham Launching Resortwear
nonprofits she cofounded in
honor of her mother Sunny
von Bulow, Ala Isham has
started a signature fashion line
to help stop violence against
women on college campuses.
BY ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
For Ala Isham, Wednesday night’s debut of
her signature resortwear completes a circle
that was decades in the making.
A classically trained artist who has studied
under the New York Studio School’s Ophrah
Shemesh for the past eight years, Isham first
asked the designer Antonio Gual to design
a dress for her nearly 40 years ago. The
pair became fast friends and continued to
collaborate here and there, while Isham was
busy raising four children. During that time
she cofounded two nonprofits in honor of
her mother Sunny von Bulow, the American
heiress who died in 2008 after being in a
coma for nearly 28 years.
Those unfamiliar with the details of her
adult life may be inclined to associate her
with the much publicized-trials of her stepfather Claus von Bulow, who was convicted
and twice acquitted of attempted murder.
During a Monday morning interview, such
shadows seemed worlds away from Isham,
who spoke excitedly about her new business
venture and the lasting beauty that her
mother has cast on her life.
The Munich-born Isham spent her childhood in Kitzbühel, Austria and her adolescence in Newport, R.I. where the family lived
at Clarendon Court, which years before had
been used as a set for Grace Kelly’s last film
“High Society.” Isham graciously confirmed
such details, but was not about to offer
them. After graduating from Barnard, she
herself created films about the photographer
Alfred Eisenstaedt, Wagnerian tenor Peter
Hofman and “Surviving Coma: The Journey
Back” in the Eighties.
Art has been of interest for years, with
Caravaggio, da Vinci and Van Gogh being her
personal favorites. And her frequent gallery
and museum outings are all “part of learning,” she said. Gual suggested they use some
of Isham’s figurative artwork as prints for the
customized pieces he designed for her. After
friends and even strangers started asking her
where she bought those creations, Isham
decided to pursue fashion as a business.
Describing herself as someone who is
always looking at clothes, silhouettes, store
windows and magazines, Isham singled
out Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera
and custom-made Vera Wang — from the
time when she lived a more formal life —
as favorite resources. “I love beautifully
executed clothes — the way that most people
don’t mix clothes any more. I’ve always
appreciated a beautiful lining, piece or seam.
That comes from being exposed to couture
as a young person and appreciating the
difference between a piece of workmanship,
and something that is really functional and
wonderful. It is not the same.” she said. “I
feel really strongly about the feel of beautiful
fabrics and I really care about how it feels
on the skin. And I care about how a piece of
clothing makes you feel.”
Reminded of “the wonderful caftans her
mother, grandmother and aunt used to wear
at home or poolside,” Isham used that as
a starting point, adding an assortment of
“transparent, floating” pieces that can be
just as easily packed as they can be layered.
“You can wear them with a bathing suit or
layer two dresses to wear out at night. I like
that they fold up. It’s sort of like a New-World
trousseau. The Old World trousseau was
that you had to have a big trunk. But now
the idea is you have to pack small — we want
everything to be very transportable,”
she said.
In fact, Isham hails from a family of inveterate travelers — Von Bulow even mused
about becoming an astronaut. And Isham’s
maternal grandmother Annie-Laurie Aitken,
whose father Robert Warmack founded the
International Shoe Company,”came from
an era” where a three-month stay in Paris
was customary. More unusual was the fact
that select pieces from her exquisite French
furniture collection would be temporarily
moved into her suite at Le Meurice. Some of
her pieces can now be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Annie Laurie Aitken
Galleries for English furniture and decorative
arts.
Terrified of flying, Warmack preferred to
take the SS United States ocean liner, and
Isham and her brother joined her a few
times including once in a hurricane. Isham’s
mother also had an affinity for Paris. “From
an early age, I can remember my mother
going to Saint Laurent or Givenchy. When I
was about 16, she took me to a fashion show
at Givenchy. I remember her saying before
a fitting with [Hubert de] Givenchy, ‘Ala, the
best-looking man in the world is about to
walk into the room.’” Isham said.
With homes of her own in Antigua,
Newport, the Hamptons and Manhattan,
Isham has always loved doing interiors. “We
grew up surrounded by beautiful things.
My mother was really elegant and she loved
beauty. Her collection of clothes became one
of the initial collections of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art.” Isham said.
Interestingly, she said her appreciation
for beauty and intent to design clothes
that make women feel good also led her to
consider women who aren’t feeling good.
Having cofounded the Sunny von Bülow
Coma and Head Trauma Research Foundation and the National Center for Victims of
Crime, Isham will donate a percentage of the
proceeds from her 22-piece resortwear to
benefit the latter to help survivors of campus
sexual assault.
Chief operating officer Larry Black is
overseeing the West 38th Street-based label,
which retails from $400 to $1,300. Trunk
shows will be held in Antigua, Newport,
Palm Beach, Southampton and Los Angeles
in the next three months. Isham’s collection
is also geared for select e-tailers, resort
stores and specialty stores in resort communities. Swimwear will be added for fall
so that shoppers can swim in them or wear
bikini tops as underpinnings as her friends in
Antigua like to do.
Isham said of her new venture, “In life,
you have to be able to do at a certain age
something that you really love. I’m really
having so much fun with this. And I really
love that it has a circle in that I can talk about
things that I’m interested in.”
As for how she overcame her own pain
without bitterness, Isham said, “We were
very young. That was many, many years ago
so we’ve had a long time to, I don’t mean to
denigrate it, but we’ve had a whole lifetime.
I’ve raised four children since then. I miss
my mother, I missed my family and it was
a hard time growing up. It was terrible. But
it’s nice to be able to do something like this
where I can look back and have been influenced by something and to be able to bring
that back into something that I’m doing.”
“People go through terrible things.
Everybody does. People used to say, ‘Oh my
God, how do you do it?’ I would say, ‘You
wait.’ You know, you’re going to lose a parent. Some people lose children. There are
terrible things that happen in life and people
move through them. That’s just the human
condition.” Isham said. “I’ve been lucky in
my life that I’ve been given the opportunity
to do things. There is nothing more humbling than working with victims of crime or
people who have had brain injuries…And I
have a great family, a great husband and I’m
very close to my brother and my sister.”
Ala Isham
A look from Ala Isham’s
resort collection.
Isham photograph by Thomas Iannaccone
● After focusing on the two
13
13 JANUARY 2016 A still from “Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies.”
Millie Brady
Millie Brady Breaks Out
The 21-year-old actress, who stars in Miu Miu’s latest campaign,
discusses her role in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
Millie Brady in the Miu Miu
spring 2016 campaign.
Brady portrait by Thomas Iannaccone; Stills by Jay Maidment/CTMG
A still from “Pride and
Prejudice and Zombies.”
As it tends to go for a
breakout actor, this past
year has been full of firsts
for 21-year-old Millie Brady.
There was her first fashion
show (front row at — and
decked in — Miu Miu), her
first brand campaign (Miu
Miu again, naturally) and,
coming Feb. 5, the release
of her first feature film,
“Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies.” The latter has
the English actress feeling
nostalgic. “It’s my first
project, so I’m just very
sentimental about it,” she
says. “That sounds weird to
say about a zombie film!”
“Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies” is, as the
title suggests, is based on
the beloved Jane Austen
tale, with the added twist
of a zombie apocalypse. “I
don’t know how, but it does
work,” Brady says.
Brady landed the role
after an adolescence
spent pining for her big
break. “I’ve had a lot of
knockbacks,” she says on a
recent chilly morning over
English breakfast tea at
Locanda Verde in TriBeCa.
“But I know what I want to
do and I know that I can
do it.”
As a child, her family
moved around a lot in
England “just because we
got bored easily,” but she
credits most of her growing
up to a boarding school
in Ascot, where she was
from ages 11 to 18. Nowadays she shares a flat in
Hampstead, North London,
with her older sister, who
works in finance. “When
we get back in the evening
there’s no talk about work
or anything like that,” Brady
says. “Just sisters catching
up.”
She began acting at a
young age, and by the time
she was a teenager she
was holing up in her room,
penning letters to agents.
“My mum couldn’t work
out what I was doing in my
room,” she says.
This was — shockingly —
met with success, and she
was signed while she was
still in school. “At that age
you’re so naive — I never
thought for a second, ‘Oh,
I’m not going to get signed,’”
she says. “So I went in and
sent all these DVDs of me
acting. It’s so funny now
looking back on it — I’m like
‘God, you were a cocky
15-year-old.”
“Pride and Prejudice and
Zombies” is a cheeky adaptation of the prim literary
classic and is chock-full of
English heartthrobs: Lily
James, Suki Waterhouse,
Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote,
Douglas Booth and Jack
Huston.
“The girls are all trained
in martial arts, and they are
basically the heroines of
the book,” Brady explains
of the reimagined Bennett
sisters. She plays Mary, the
middle of the five girls and
one who has “always been
the kind of nerdy, bookworm sister,” she says. But
in the “Zombies” iteration,
“she gets to come into her
own a bit. She’s not shying
away into the corner, she’s
getting down and fighting
these zombies.”
After “Zombies” she’ll
head back further in time,
to another retelling of a
literary classic, for Guy
Ritchie’s “Knights of the
Roundtable: King Arthur”
epic, out in July. She stars
as Jude Law’s daughter, a
character she describes
as “off-the-chain nuts.” It
was only her second film
and her first big-budget
blockbuster. “They built
this life-sized castle in nine
months,” she says. “I went
on set and was just like, ‘Oh
my gosh, this is ridiculous.’”
She recently took a
break from film sets and
spent a week in New York
shooting Miu Miu’s latest
campaign, after the brand
had invited her to sit front
row at its show in September. “They were like, ‘Does
Millie fancy going to Paris?’”
It was, one would imagine,
an easy “yes.”
Brady has some experience with modeling. During
summer holidays from
school, she worked a bit as
a model to save money for
acting. “I knew that in the
long run what I wanted to
do was act, but in order to
do that I was going to have
to be living in London, if I
wanted do it full force,” she
says. “I couldn’t be living in
the middle of Hampshire
with my mum.”
Though she is no longer
working as a model — save
for when Miu Miu calls —
she found it beneficial to
her career, “because it
did make me comfortable
in front of the camera
from a young age and it
means that now I can live in
London from the savings I
made from being a 16-yearold and having been a bit
savvy.”
Fashion is still part
of her life, and comes in
handy when prepping for
roles. “For auditions, if it’s
a period piece, I’ll always
make a nod to the era,”
she says, noting that she
frequently goes up for such
roles due to her “Old English face.” “I’ll put my hair
up on the sides and wear a
lace blouse or something.”
The Miu Miu gig, then, is not
a complete departure from
the creative process as an
actor. “I think fashion does
come a lot into what I do,”
she says. “So it’s nice to be
doing both of them.”
Case in point: her Old
English face looks quite
at home mugging for the
brand one minute and
zombie-slaying the next.
Contemplating the movie,
Brady sets her tea down.
“Well,” she smiles. “Jane
Austen’s probably tossing
in her grave.”
— LEIGH NORDSTROM
15
13 JANUARY 2016 Kendall Jenner
in Mango’s
“Tribal
Spirit”spring
campaign shot
by David Sims.
KALLING KENDALL
Mango is on a mission to match its marketing plans
with the pace of its fast-fashion business and it’s
tapped Kendall Jenner as part of the plan, WWD has
learned.
Jenner will star in “Tribal Spirit,” the first of the four
separate themes that make up the spring 2016 campaign. She will model the collection, which is inspired
by the African savanna, and includes a tribal print
dress with a high slit, and a leather fringe minidress.
The campaign was photographed by David Sims
in a London-based studio last month.
The brand is seeking to align its marketing efforts
with the pace of fast-fashion, and it plans to unveil
a new mini-campaign — with a different face — each
month for the spring season. A new ad will drop in
the months of February, March, April and May.
“We are organizing our marketing strategy to be
as close as possible to the strategy of the product,”
said Mango vice president Daniel López in an interview. “We are creating and detecting and launching
trends very quickly on the sales floor. And we’re
also shooting the campaigns with the trends that
we will have in the stores in that relevant month.” He
said the celebrity that will star in each campaign will
reflect “the relevant trend” for that month.
He said Jenner fit in well with the mood of the
savanna. “We thought that she was the best model
to embody this trend. And obviously the upside with
that is that, as a model, she’s very professional, she
works fantastically. As a celebrity she has huge repercussions in the market and among her followers.”
He called Sims “a master of the photography, with
a huge talent, undisputed prestige and experience.
Moreover, we knew his work and we thought he
would be the best to shoot the campaign. We knew
he was going to be able to bring his unique, creative
energy and expertise to Mango.”
Jenner said it’s the first time she worked with the
Spanish brand, and called the experience “unbeatable. I felt very comfortable with the garments and
with the entire Mango team,” she added.
The campaign will run in the March issues of
glossy publications, although the company would
not specify which ones. It will be featured on the
label’s advertising platforms on Feb. 1.
— LORELEI MARFIL
PROJECT RUNWAY
Leave the Kardashian/Jenner clan and Rihanna
to other titles. Fashion editor Carine Roitfeld has
always been a fervent proponent of models, and
Jenner photograph by David Sims/Courtesy of Mango; Calvin Klein by Cass Bird
CHARLOTTE OLYMPIA,
AGENT PROVOCATEUR
A longtime customer of Agent Provocateur,
Charlotte Olympia Dellal has finally got her wish
of creating a capsule collection of lingerie for the
brand as well as a selection of boudoir-inspired
shoes. The founder and designer behind the luxury
footwear brand Charlotte Olympia has channeled
her love of vintage Hollywood glamour into a collection that includes three lingerie sets and three
shoe styles. The styles incorporate the signatures
of both brands, including the Charlotte’s Web motif
and Kitty face, and the signature sexy shapes of
the AP collections.
During a joint interview with AP’s creative
director Sarah Shotton, Dellal said that lingerie and
shoes have a world in common. “They’re both technical. They have to fit, and they have to function.
They’re very personal, and have the power to make
you feel a certain way,” she said.
The collection includes “Get Caught in Charlotte’s Web,” a Fifties-inspired matching set of a
bra, high-waisted big underpants with removable
suspenders, and the lingerie brand’s Trixie G-string.
There is also the “More is More” shoe/stocking hybrid that merges a soft and flexible Lurex stocking
with a stiletto-heeled boot. It’s worn like a thigh-high
stocking.
— SAMANTHA CONTI
99 YEARS IN FLUSHING
In the largest real estate transaction in the history
of Flushing, N.Y., Colliers International arranged a $1
she will soon drop a 48-page volume spotlighting
20 “girls of the moment” with her eighth issue of CR
magazine, slated to hit newsstands on Feb. 25.
“For me, no model was more iconic than Christie
Brinkley with her white teeth and blonde hair, and her
image was so compelling that it set a new beauty
standard,” enthused Roitfeld, who is also global fashion director for Harper’s Bazaar and an in-demand
stylist. “Now suddenly in 2016, we see the comeback
of the American girl, and I find myself so excited by
this new generation of stars.”
Roitfeld dressed her selection of future runways
stars and cover girls in Yeezy Season 2 by Kanye
West clothing and Gianvito Rossi shoes.
“CR Girls 2016” plumps up her namesake
magazine, launched in 2012 as a single magazine
comprising 340 pages, to 500 pages across three
volumes that weigh in at four pounds. The magazine
proper is devoted to Roitfeld’s idea of Americana,
and heralds the return of the American supermodel
with four alternative covers, whose identities are still
under wraps. The second volume, at 128 pages, is
her second devoted to men’s fashion.
Photographers that contributed to the issue
include Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Avedon, Bjorn Iooss,
Sebastian Faena, Felix Cooper and Alex Olson.
CR has a print run of 65,000 and carries a cover
price of $30.
— MILES SOCHA
Jim Rutenberg
RUTENBERG’S MEDIA
TURN AT THE TIMES
The New York Times has moved Jim Rutenberg
back to the media desk, where he will become the
paper’s next media columnist.
Rutenberg, who has held various reporting roles
for The Times during his 15-year tenure, takes over
the column, left open for nearly a year, following
David Carr’s death in February.
Executive editor Dean Baquet and business
editor Dean Murphy released a joint memo on Tues-
billion, 99-year ground lease on behalf of the Benider Company at 136-62 Roosevelt Avenue, a site fully
occupied by Macy’s.
Crown Acquisitions signed the long-term lease
beneath the 250,000-square-foot property. The
ground lease is subject to Macy’s existing lease,
which has 10 years remaining, according to a
spokesman for the retailer. “We plan to operate for
the full term,” he said. “We have no plans to close
the store. It’s business as usual in Flushing.”
Macy’s has been battling weak sales trends
throughout 2015 and the forecast for 2016 is for
reduced earnings. The retailer last week revealed
it’s eliminating 2,100 jobs. Macy’s has said it will
close 40 stores in the spring.
“It’s possible for Macy’s to vacate a part of the
property,” said Robert L. Freedman, co-chairman,
Tri-State of Colliers International, who with Steve
Chasanoff, executive managing director at Colliers,
arranged the ground lease. “Macy’s could reduce
its footprint or effectuate a lesser lease term for a
sum of money. Any time you have a below market
lease there’s always potential....Macy’s has value in
their lease, which they have yet to monetize.”
The Flushing Macy’s is said to be a relatively
robust performer for the last five or six years.
Freedman said the size of the transaction points
to Flushing’s growing importance. “There are a number of mixed-use developments with retail and office components and luxury condominiums” on the
horizon, he said. “The 7 train is the key to connecting
Flushing with Manhattan’s upcoming Hudson Yards.
The 7 train is embedded in the bowels of the Macy’s
building.
— SHARON EDELSON
SIGHTLINE
Marchon Eyewear Inc. has signed an exclusive
global licensing agreement with Columbia Sportswear to manufacture and distribute Columbia sun
and optical eyewear. Product is slated to launch in
September, at Columbia stores, specialty sporting
good retailers and select optical boutiques worldwide. Collections will include eyewear specially
day to staff on their decision to move Rutenberg to
media, noting: “He was among the first reporters to
recognize the ascendance of Fox News, and helped
coin the term ‘the Fox effect’ to describe cable’s
tilt to the right. He helped lead the coverage of
Dan Rather’s role in a report questioning President
[George W.] Bush’s National Guard service that
ended the CBS anchor’s career. And early last year,
well before Megyn Kelly had become a lightning rod
in the Republican debates, he wrote a magazine
profile of the Fox News anchor that captured her
contentious and winning formula.”
Calling the search for Carr’s successor
“exhaustive,” the editors touted Rutenberg’s chops
as The New York Times Magazine’s chief political
correspondent, the paper’s White House
correspondent, City Hall bureau chief, and as a
gossip writer for the Daily News and New YorkPost.
Rutenberg joined the Times in 2000 as a business reporter covering the media beat. Prior to that,
he covered television at The New York Observer.
“Jim cut his teeth in media reporting before
Facebook, Netflix, YouTube and the iPhone revolutionized the industry. Back in those days, much of
the beat was focused on covering the then-mighty
traditional broadcast networks — and Jim crushed
it,” the memo said, noting that Rutenberg nabbed
scoops that had “network and cable news executives scrambling.”
More recently, Rutenberg worked on the paper’s
magazine writing political features, including its
“Disenfranchised” series, which “chronicled the
campaign that led to the Supreme Court’s nullification of the Voting Rights Act’s most powerful
Lisa Bonet and her daughter Zoë Kravitz in
Calvin Klein Watches + Jewelry ad.
provision and the consequences for minority
voters,” the memo said.
Rutenberg will join the media desk in the coming
weeks, and he will continue to contribute to the
magazine.
— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD
COUPLES’ TIME
“Life in the Now” is the theme of Calvin Klein’s new
watches and jewelry campaign that breaks today
on social media. Photographed by Cass Bird in
New York, the ads feature a series of modern and
dynamic couples highlighting the immediacy of time
and the richness of human relationships. Actress
Lisa Bonet is featured with her daughter, musician
and actress Zoë Kravitz; actor Will Peltz appears
alongside his girlfriend, model Kenya Kinski, while
model couple John Hein and Tilda Lindstam are
portrayed together. For the second year in a row,
the campaign includes Korean model and actor Kim
Woo Bin, who this year is accompanied by his friend,
Chinese model and street-style star Ju Xiao Wen.
The campaign continues the brand’s #ckminute
global digital campaign, which launched last year.
This year, the social media initiative has evolved
through the tagline “Life in the now. Share Your #CK
Minute,” encouraging users to capture and share
meaningful moments with Calvin Klein Watches and
Jewelry pieces. The program launches with key influencers around the world. The company declined
to provide the spring budget.
— LISA LOCKWOOD
A campaign image from
Agent Provocateur.
engineered for sport fishermen.
Marchon chief executive officer Claudio Gottardi
said, “Columbia presents exciting opportunities
for Marchon while further enhancing our Sport/
Performance division. With a global reputation for
innovation, quality and performance, Columbia fits
perfectly into Marchon’s brand portfolio.”
Columbia sportswear’s director of licensing
Matt Merriman added: “Our shared goal is to deliver an innovative eyewear line that enhances our
customers’ experiences in the outdoors. Whether
you are on the water, on the trail or cruising around
town, the new line will do just that.”
— MISTY WHITE SIDELL
Columbia Eyewear
Produced by Marchon.