WWD Feb 17 - Wwrsd.org

Fashion. Beauty. Business.
SISTER ACT
OH, CANADA
C’EST LA VIE
Ralph Lauren is launching
Tender Romance as part of
Ralph Lauren Fragrances
with L’Oréal. Page 3
Saks Fifth Avenue enters
new territory north of the
border with two Toronto
flagships opening this
month. Page 11
Rebecca Taylor launches
a more casual collection,
La Vie Rebecca Taylor.
Page 3
17 FEBRUARY 2016
Fall
Collections
2016
Good
Goth
Vera Wang worked the fallen side of
angelic for fall, topping skimpy black bras
with sheer tulle dresses, and grounding
them with chunky platform sandals.
Photograph by ANDREA HANKS
For more on the collections, see pages 5 to 8.
BUSINESS
Made in NY Makes
Moves for Growth
●
City Hall built on expansion
of the initiative in 2015 and
is looking to keep up the
momentum this year.
BY ARTHUR FRIEDMAN
Call it serendipity.
With what seems to be a headlong rush
toward transforming New York Fashion
Week into consumer-facing shows, the
ongoing Made in NY initiative to boost New
York City manufacturing in the fashion
sector could be positioned to take off like a
rocket. As more and more designers adopt
a see-now, buy-now, wear-now approach
to their collections, the need for fast delivery and quick-turn production becomes
paramount — and the city aims to take
advantage of it.
“We’re in a really interesting moment
in time,” said New York Deputy Mayor
Alicia Glen. “If the city can support a
more modern manufacturing ecosystem,
whether it’s clothing or furniture or 3-D
printing, then it can really give New York
the ability to get deeper into the convergence of technology and manufacturing
and the focus on local production and
artisanship. There’s probably no stronger
brand in the marketplace right now than
Made in New York, unless it’s Made in
Brooklyn.”
Glen said designers she’s worked with,
such as Rachel Comey and Rebecca
Minkoff, could make their collections
across the street or half a mile away and
get quick, reliable deliveries to their
retailers and not deal with some of the
challenges of manufacturing abroad. “It’s
a huge competitive advantage.”
The city now is out to build on that
advantage and further bolster New
York’s pipeline of creative talent. Glen on
Tuesday revealed the Designers & Agents:
Made in NY Collective, which will directly
support the participation of local designers at trade events taking place during
New York Market Week. The first is set for
September, when a select group of fashion
designers will be offered a series of Made
in NY-branded and fully subsidized exhibition spaces at the Designers & Agents
trade show.
Glen, who oversees economic development in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, said, “We thought to secure
the opportunity for a young designer
to participate in a trade show was more
CONTINUED ON PG.10
3
17 FEBRUARY 2016
THE MARKETS
Rebecca Taylor
Launches Casual Line
●
The collection of weekend
wear will launch with 75
to 80 styles.
BY LISA LOCKWOOD
Rebecca Taylor is introducing a casual
weekend line for fall called La Vie
Rebecca Taylor.
“It’s a more casual lifestyle line,” said
Taylor, cofounder and creative director, in an interview at her 80 West 40th
Street showroom this week. “It’s meant
to be worn, washed, shaken up and worn
again.”
Taylor, whose $75 million contemporary brand is a division of Kellwood Co.,
said the idea for the weekend line came
from many of her customers.
“So many friends of mine will wear
Rebecca Taylor to work or a cocktail
party, but they were telling me they
weren’t wearing it on the weekend,” said
the designer, who was wearing a vintage
poplin blouse and black washed army
pants. She said she wanted to address
“those holes we were missing.”
La Vie Rebecca Taylor offers pieces
BEAUTY
Tender
Romance
Targets
Millennials
●
The new Ralph Lauren
fragrance will launch in April
with a social-media-first
campaign.
Taylor photograph by Tim Kitchen; Street Style by Liz Devine
BY ELLEN THOMAS
And then there were three — Ralph Lauren Romance is getting another sister.
Tender Romance, launching in the
U.S. in April, joins the original Romance
scent, which launched in 1998 and is an
established pillar of the Ralph Lauren Fragrances repertoire, produced by L’Oréal,
and Midnight Romance, an addition that
launched in 2014.
The new scent is an attempt to draw in
a younger — read: Millennial — audience
to the Romance franchise.
“We are seeing today in the fragrance
category some key evolutions — new kinds
of trends in terms of juice, [in] talking to
consumers, and a lot about digital,” said
Guillaume de Lesquen, worldwide president of Ralph Lauren Fragrances. “Our
idea is to strengthen Romance and make
it more appealing to Millennials.”
Considering that The NPD Group
reported that Millennials aged 18-24 were
the heavy users driving the fragrance
category in 2015, it’s not a bad strategy to
have.
The scent, formulated by Honorine
Blanc of Firmenich, is a floriental blend,
comprising top notes of ginger, pear
accord and bergamot, a heart of white
that feature the brand’s signature design
elements such as delicate embroideries,
feminine shapes, unusual prints and
textures, all worked back to denim and
twill bottoms that have a vintage sensibility. There are three different styles of
denim pants (high-rise/straight leg crop;
boyfriend/button-fly relaxed, and skinny
with stretch), military-based chinos,
full-fashion knits, washable linen tops
with feminine detailing, cropped denim
jackets, a washed peacoat and a few
dresses. “These are clothes we live in,”
Taylor said.
As for the French label, the New Zealand-born designer said, “I’m not French,
but I’m always at my best when I’m in
Paris. I love the way French women dress
so simply and chicly.”
The collection is manufactured in
China, Los Angeles and Peru. There are
roughly 75 to 80 styles in the first line.
The plan is to ship about 15 to 20 new
styles a month. The fall collection will
be available at Nordstrom and several specialty stores, as well as Rebecca Taylor’s
eight freestanding stores and online.
Wholesale prices are $85 to $103 for
denim; $55 to $115 for T-shirts; $55 to $75
magnolia, jasmine and ginger lily, and a
drydown of a cashmere woods accord,
benzoin and musk.
Ginger, according to de Lesquen is
“quite unusual in women’s fragrances but
it brings sweetness and softness to the
juice.”
“It goes very well with the idea of
tender,” said de Lesquen, adding that the
cashmere woods accord, which is derived
from woodsy notes, “adds smoothness
and warmth.”
Focus groups conducted before the
new fragrance strategy was determined,
found that sweet — but not cloying — juice
is what Millennials are looking for, de
Lesquen said.
Where Romance is a classic floral and
Midnight Romance is a sensual floriental,
Tender Romance, a stronger floral-oriental blend, was formulated to remain
distinct from its sister fragrances. A new
addition means marketing opportunities
for the entire franchise.
“[Midnight Romance] is not one of
those sisters that came and went for us,
it’s still a pretty solid business. “We’re
presenting these three stories of Romance
together, like in a collection, and glorifying each of their main ingredients,
said Alexandre Choueiri, president of
A visual
for Ralph
Lauren’s
Tender
Romance ad
campaign.
TOP 5
TRENDING
ON WWD.COM
A fall look
from the La Vie
Rebecca Taylor
casual line.
for knits, $45 to $110 for wovens, and $120
to $200 for jackets.
Taylor said she expects La Vie Rebecca
Taylor will be merchandised alongside the
main collection, and “it’s built to complement the Rebecca Taylor collection.” The
company anticipates the new collection
will generate $3 million in 2017.
“The idea is not to turn Rebecca Taylor
into a massive denim brand,” said Janice
Sullivan, president of Rebecca Taylor,
whose previous roles were at Edun Americas, Calvin Klein Jeans and DKNY Jeans.
“This is the whole other side of Rebecca
Taylor.” It will have limited distribution
and will start to grow organically,
she said.
International Designer Collections for
L’Oréal USA.
Tender Romance will be available in
three sizes — 30 ml. for $54, 50 ml. for $76
and 100 ml. for $96. A 10 ml. rollerball
will retail for $24.
It will launch in somewhere between
3,000 and 4,000 department and specialty stores, as well as fashion stores and
on e-commerce, including ralphlauren.
com and the brand’s digital stockists.
Customization options such as bottle-engraving and monogramming will be
available both as part of in-store personalization events. “The more you personalize, the more people feel into it,” de
Lesquen said.
Digital efforts will be the crux of the
Tender Romance promotional plan,
which will appear first on social media.
“This is our most digital Ralph Lauren
launch ever,” Choueiri said.
Teaser videos of the TV commercial
shot by Bruce Weber and set to the music
of Ben Taylor — James Taylor’s son —
singing a rendition of “Love Me Tender”
as an attractive young couple sways in a
tree swing, will be pushed out on social
media in March, before the TV launch for
Mother’s Day in April and May. The videos
are quite short — only seven to 10 seconds
long — but that’s exactly the point, according to de Lesquen. “With a strong, fixed
message, these types of videos can be
extremely successful [on social media].”
There will also be a traditional print
campaign with scented strips.
Industry sources estimate Tender
Romance will bring in $30 million worldwide in its first year at retail ($15 million
at retail in the U.S.), and that the entire
Romance franchise will increase Ralph
Lauren Fragrance sales by 30 percent.
It’s not just young Millennials that Tender Romance is targeting. “What we call
the Millennial phenomenon is threading
throughout the generations, “ Choueiri
said. “Much older people than Millennials
are liking the same thing — customization,
digital [and] shopping on mobile as well.
It’s not longer just the Millennials, [but]
the Millennials have kind of taken
the lead.”
New York
Fashion Week
Fall 2016
Street Style
● WWD went off the runways
and onto the streets and
sidewalks for the best looks
from New York Fashion Week.
● 2016 Grammy Awards
Red Carpet
● Beth Ditto’s
Clothing Range
● Tory Burch RTW Fall 2016
● Carolina Herrera
RTW Fall 2016
Global Stock Tracker
As of close February 16, 2016
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5
17 FEBRUARY 2016
The Reviews
Fall
Collections
Photographs by Amy Sussman, Giovanni Giannoni and George Chinsee
2016
Thom Browne
Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell.
That line from E.Y. Harburg’s Great
Depression anthem “Brother, Can You
Spare a Dime?” refers to World War I military uniforms rather than civilian finery.
Still, it draws historical parallel to the
sartorial sentiment behind the collection
Thom Browne showed on Monday night.
Lyricist and designer made a similar point:
Across a range of life’s circumstances, style
matters.
For fall, Browne looked at the shift from
wealth to want, and the creativity that can
ensue from necessity. “The Depression,”
he said backstage. “It’s about re-appropriating the clothing you loved when you
bought them when you were rich in the
Twenties.”
There’s always poignancy in juxtaposing
haves against have-nots, and, in the context of luxury fashion, potential controversy as well, played out most notoriously
with John Galliano’s homeless couture
collection for Dior Couture. Sixteen years
later, one felt an unmistakable kinship
with Galliano here, in the de- and re-construction and in the idiosyncratic romance.
That’s not to imply creative pickpocketing.
The broad strokes of storytelling, as well as
deconstruction and hyper attention to tailoring craft, are innate to Browne’s work.
The result here was an exquisite collection.
Guests arrived to a set of a city square,
outlined in skrim drawings of what
appeared to be 19th-century residences.
These bordered a dirt walkway around
the perimeter of a small park, its trees
winter-barren but for the occasional evergreen. To open the show, two men slowly
walked the garden paths before settling
onto benches, their clothes reflecting the
Edwardian style that extended into the
Twenties. Then came the women, diverse
of personality yet all stalwart, refusing
to cave to their recent impoverishment.
They believed in dressing well no matter
what, even if it meant turning sacks into
overcoats and old trousers into capes, or
fashioning a coat from two old outerwear
pieces, one long, one short, or covering
holes here and there with denim patches.
Browne’s powerful fashion fiction plays
on our emotion. His corresponding pragmatic story: the craft. Browne is an expert
tailor, an obsessive, risk-taking perfectionist who revels as much in the construction
of a garment as in the story he wants to tell
through it. Here, he offered rich counterpoint: clothes steeped in the exacting rules
of the men’s wear tailoring he loves against
languid knitwear and inventive pannier
dresses that fell from the body with structured grace.
It all made for a beautiful narrative and
great fashion. At a time when others seek
to shock with spectacle, Browne, one of
fashion’s great, most devoted showmen,
sent an important reminder that the
schtick is only as good as the chic.
— Bridget Foley
6
17 FEBRUARY 2016
Tory Burch
Vera Wang
Vera Wang
Tory Burch
Contrary to widespread belief, chronicling street style is not a creation of the
digital age. (Our WWD forebears were
observing, writing about and illustrating
the fashions of the street as far back as the
Twenties, when the “They are Wearing”
logo was copyrighted.) Tory Burch has a
thing for the Seventies sort, inspired by
“L’Amour l’après-midi,” Éric Rohmer’s
exploration of marital love and extracurricular lust, particularly the café scene in
which the protagonist daydreams about
various women, objects of desire, coming
and going. If that’s not a hook for a collection, what is?
Happily, Burch invoked the Seventies’
motif with deft skill, her
silhouettes making clear, but
not excessive, reference.
And to keep it all fresh, she
wove in equestrian elements
for a smart collection that
evoked jet-set days without
cliché.
Burch has a particular knack
for channeling her natural decorative impulses into practical, unfussy
clothes. She opened boldly with a multicolor coat in geometric patterns taken
from jockey silks; the oversize diamond
would prove a recurring motif. The
graphics continued in good-looking,
clean pieces: peacoat; slick eel-skin skirt
paired to white shirt with
mismatched color-blocked
sleeves; racy jacket over
track jacket and white
jodhpurs. (The jacket was
one of several Tory Sport
pieces available immediately at retail.)
Lest the structured graphics
overwhelm, Burch pulled back
on the pattern for versatile outerwear,
including a jacquard trench worn over
a slightly longer chain-print silk dress to
lovely effect. She went otherwise soft with
fluid dresses and a fabulous diamond-pattern evening gown that wore its glamour
with a young, casual attitude. — B.F.
Fall
Collections
2016
Vera Wang is fearless. She refuses to cave
when it comes to expressing her vision that
seldom works the most commercial side of
the fashion street. “I still do believe there
is room for an artistic vision, and craft,”
Wang said during a preview. “Nothing has
truly never been done [before], but whatever you bring to it, what time you do it, is
your statement.” When a guest noted the
moodiness of a series of dark florals, Wang
said, “I’m known for moody.”
At the same time, she is a businesswoman who wants to sell clothes. Sexy
sells, and she’s pushing herself to do sexy
without selling out. Thus, no mermaids
here. Rather, for fall, Wang crossed her artful inclinations with the tropes of fencing,
creating an intensely sensual attitude with
a hint of the perverse. It both compelled
and challenged.
Along the way, Wang worked both
aggressive and gentle elements, as well as
weight and transparency. A key item: the
plastron, integrated into a linear silhouette, exaggerated with monster platform
sandals (thick and high), and worn with
spats of varying height. The long line was
inspired by Giacometti — at least that was
the sound-bite spiel. Really, the compelling
silhouette came, she said, “in reaction
to seeing a lot of minis and a lot of more
obvious silhouettes.”
Nothing obvious here. Wang paired the
protective fencing plastron to floor-sweeping, open-to-there kilts, shown by day over
shirts and by night, over bare skin, the
shield’s leather straps taking a tough turn
with sexy. The palette, sober shades of
olive, dark gold and khaki, in addition to
black, harkened to another artful source:
Modigliani.
The intentional heft of materials that
appeared first in the wool kilts found alternative expression in thick, multicolored
furs, including a pair of long vests worn as
dresses. Wang then pulled a provocative
180 on the texture front while maintaining
the darkly evocative mood. The aforementioned florals blossomed as long, light-asair robes over lighter chiffon aprons and
trousers, while see-through tulle dresses
in blocks of somber shades worked the
Goth side of sheer over microscopic black
wool bras. On the more heavenly front:
whisper-delicate nude tulle gowns with
panels of geometric sequined embroidery.
Both were exquisite and, assuming proper
underpinnings in place, cried out for Oscar
attention. — B.F.
7
17 FEBRUARY 2016
Rag & Bone
Zac Posen
Dennis Basso
Fall
Collections
2016
Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni, Amy Sussman and Robert Mitra
Zac Posen
Zac Posen has always favored a strong
woman. One need only look at his front
rows — Katie Holmes, Jennifer Hudson.
Lucy Liu and Debi Mazar were in attendance Monday night — to know that. The
collection he showed for fall was based
on one specific powerful woman: Ugandan Princess Elizabeth of Toro, the first
East-African female to be admitted the
English bar. She was also a model who
appeared on the covers of top fashion
magazines in the late Sixties.
Posen celebrated all aspects of her
remarkable life, offering his take on
traditional tribal batik wear in a series
of appealing dresses in navy, burgundy
and green floral prints based on a
Forties bouclé that evolved to have an
African-Japanese quality. He riffed on
authentic tribal-wrap silhouettes but
spliced them with his signature swing to
create a modern feel.
The challenge, Posen said backstage
before the show, was to take some of his
silk bias cuts and apply them to cotton —
a fabric he felt his customer would want
when the collection hits sales floors. The
dresses, done in a variety of lengths,
featured tuck-and-fold details as well as
a drapy, one-shoulder cape motif used
throughout the collection.
The princess’s life in England was
explored through a double-faced
cashmere group, which mirrored the
color scheme of the floral dresses. Its
tone was austere and simple, save for
a navy-blue beaded Nehru-collar tunic
jacket; puffed-sleeve waist jackets worn
with cropped trousers, and Edwardian
detailing on a full-length coat and long
sweeping cape that spotlighted Posen’s
tailoring skills. Floor-length wool column dresses with long sleeves melded
both the African and English sides of her
life.
The collection, while a departure for
Posen, showcased his strengths in a way
that was novel but not costumey. Princess Elizabeth of Toro was a bit of an “It”
girl in her heyday, and the exotic flair of
his dresses should resonate with those
who aspire to that status today.
— Roxanne Robinson
Rag & Bone
A raw industrial space set with slick
lighting; a stirring live percussionist
performance by Mauro Refosco and Joey
Waronker from Atoms for Peace; the
scent of free truffle popcorn in the air.
David Neville and Marcus Wainwright
conveyed the atmosphere and energy
they were after with their fall show:
branded, glossy downtown grit with a
fast “f--k you attitude,” as Wainwright
called it backstage before the show.
It’s imperative to a brand positioned
like Rag & Bone, as offering elevated
accessibility, to sample current trends,
remix them in the label’s language and
push forward a degree or two — but
not too much. In that respect, Neville
and Wainwright know their roles. The
look they presented for fall appropriated
skate/street athletic wear, moto racing,
and fashionably rugged outdoorsy-ness,
while a focus on cool, straight-leg denim
and English tailoring brought it home
for Rag & Bone. The styling was carefully
contrived to be casual and unaffected,
even though those are conflicting ideas.
Yet it worked.
One of the best looks was Binx Walton
in a short, beige shearling jacket that
brought to mind a Patagonia fleece
over a red-and-black micro-check wool
shirttail skirt and leather pants. Straightleg, indigo Japanese selvage denim jeans
with a trompe l’oeil cuff was the right
direction for the label’s denim statement. The plethora of track pants with
white stripes made the streetwear point,
if in a rather obvious way. But for some
reason, the tracksuit effect felt less on
the nose on a shiny fleece moto hoodie
over a windowpane-check wool skirt.
The men’s collection was shown at the
same time as the women’s in a setup
that was essentially two simultaneous,
separate runway shows, as the women
filed down one side of the runway and
the men on the other. They weren’t mirror images, but close enough.
The men’s focus was denim, military
references, Harris tweeds — “bonded
things,” as Wainwright said — and tailoring. The new denim was a highlight,
specifically, a carrot-shaped jean and a
trucker jacket in a rigid selvedge denim.
Wainwright and Neville branched into
new territory with the label’s first true
suit, a slim-fit model in Loro Piana fabrics — burgundy or green — with handpick stitching. In addition to moto-inspired T-shirts and pants with articulated
knees, they dabbled in performancewear
for the first time with a technical jacket
that has all the bells and whistles. “I personally wanted that one,” Wainwright
said. — Jessica Iredale and Alex Badia
Dennis Basso
Dennis Basso went wild with his fall
fur collection. But not before he took
a more subdued approach with a lippi
cat flared coat over a lace and silk dress
and a black lace dress, hugged by a wide
crocodile corset.
The designer then followed his more
flamboyant instincts with what he calls,
“untamed boho elegance,” marrying
black ermine and iridescent feathers in
a sable-edged cape — the most elegant,
if not the flashiest of the mixes. He also
combined chinchilla, sable and fox in an
easy wrap overcoat. “I feel this mix is an
evolution,” he said. “By working with
furs in an unorthodox way, they become
more modern.”
Basso may be best known as a fur
designer, but he’s moved effortlessly
over the past few years into eveningwear — often shown under his furs or
given equal emphasis when worn solo.
For instance, floaty or lean gowns in
hand-embroidered gold lace, Champagne tulle or gold-embroidered damask
all stood beautifully on their own. Basso
took the dazzle down a pitch with stark
and slender knee-length dresses in
panne velvet or lace and the unfettered
look of an ivory charmeuse jumpsuit —
dressed up, of course, under a lavish
lynx wrap. — Bobbi Queen
8
17 FEBRUARY 2016
Zero + Maria Cornejo
Coach 1941
Vivienne Tam
Fall
Rodarte
Collections
2016
Maria Cornejo cited nature — and
the freedom she feels being outdoors
— as a source for her fall Zero + Maria
Cornejo collection. And indeed it was
a particularly earthy lineup. “I use
lots of cotton and prefer transitional,
seasonless clothes and fabrics,” said the
designer, whose natural instincts seem
global: belted obi coats and leather
kimonos, and blanket dresses with
a Native American or Berber feel, for
example.
Even with all the easy shapes, splitlevel proportions and layering, Cornejo
kept a light hand. That touch was evident in her slender skirts wrapped over
pants or jumpsuits and a plush shearling shrug worn over a long, wrap skirt.
Among her many relaxed, ankle-grazing
dresses, the pale pink silk crepe version
shown with a matching alpaca and wool
long robe coat was the loveliest.
Once again, Cornejo managed to make
even her simplest silhouettes interesting,
whether via inventive cutting and draping, rich texture and color combinations, or just because her clothes never
look like anyone else’s. — Bobbi Queen
Coach 1941
The Megabus stop on 34th Street on
the way to Coach’s fall runway show
heralds cities as far afield as Cleveland,
Hartford and Baltimore — just the type of
places Stuart Vevers had in mind when
designing Coach 1941. “It’s like
an American quilt,” he said backstage
after the show. “These different
inspirations are more than the sum of
their parts. I like taking things apart
and putting them back together again.”
This season a basketball court,
presumably like one found in every
American high school, was the stage
for a tough, yet sweetly nostalgic
Coach lineup. Vevers’ biggest focus
was the varsity jacket, which he reimagined in oversize and cropped versions
— gussying them up with sport-inspired
logos and Coach insignias. These were
worn over A-line miniskirts in tapestry
prints, felted woolens that coordinated
with the jackets, or leather and suede.
But a girl doesn’t live on varsity jackets alone, so Vevers offered outerwear
options aplenty: parkas, trenches, fur
vests, shearlings, navy peacoats and
leather bikers.
Vevers loves a good quilting motif,
and he worked it on the leather biker
and interspersed it into an oversize
patchwork shearling coat. A navy
wool group with the collection’s sole
trousers picked up on another aspect of
Americana, the military, while ruffled
plaid shirts and multiprint dresses
added a sweet side. A leather duffel
dangling with charms was the main bag
of the season and Vevers grounded the
entire look with metallic midcalf boots
and studded wedge loafers — because
being cool in high school means scoring
fashion points off the field, too.
— Roxanne Robinson
Rodarte
Kate and Laura Mulleavy adhered
to the standard they’ve established for
Rodarte in recent seasons for fall. The
collection was predictably uneven, scattered with moments of genuine beauty
and mishaps, too. This time the balance
fell in favor of the good stuff.
The Mulleavys wanted to tell a San
Francisco story. They attended the
University of California, Berkeley, and
recently revisited their old stomping
grounds, including Caffe Trieste. “They
have these pictures on the wall of Francis Ford Coppola. I think he worked a lot
on ‘The Godfather’ there,” said Laura
backstage. The Corleones celebrated
a couple of weddings (and funerals),
the brides covered in white lace, which
the duo used amply in the collection.
One white, knee-length lace dress with
tiered, pouf sleeves and an asymmetrical
tiered hem was worn with a veil. But the
lineup wasn’t a Coppola tribute; it was
an ode to Art Nouveau romance inspired
by music posters and the genre’s crafty,
gypsy-nymph decoration and witchy
fantasy.
Slim, tea-length dresses sectioned into
collagelike panels of hand-beaded and
hand-painted guipure lace with floral
and bird accents were dreamy examples
of the designers’ imaginative eveningwear with a homespun touch. Perhaps
taking a cue from Scott McKenzie, these
San Francisco nouveau fairies were
sure to wear flowers in their hair. Other
pretty dresses featured a single sleeve
with bodices and skirts traced in pink,
black and burgundy or pink ruffles.
The daydream was interrupted, however, by clunky ruffled leather pieces
( jackets, belts, gloves); garishly colored
long-haired goat jackets, and weird boots
that stretched up the calf in cutouts and
brown ruffles. Many of the fabrics fell
short of the quality needed to pull off
the look. In the end, this San Francisco
story was a tale of two cities. — Jessica Iredale
Vivienne Tam
Vivienne Tam took an imaginative trip
along the Silk Road for fall. Along the
way she collected a range of inspirations, mixing and matching them in her
eclectic collection. From references
to Turkish carpets and Indian decor to
tributes to Chinese iconography and
Japan textiles, the lineup was infused
with a charming exotic vibe tempered by
clean silhouettes.
She topped a shimmering plissé
Lurex skirt trimmed in lace with a
sweater embellished with graphic
leather appliqués that had a tribal feel,
and paired urban suede culottes with
a pretty jacket worked in an opulent
silver-and-gold jacquard fabric echoing
Central Asian traditional costumes.
There were also chic kimonolike jackets,
and an array of maxidress with a folkloric touch.
Walking on the maximalistic wild side,
Tam succeeded in finding a balance
between free-spirited eccentricity and
modern, metropolitan elegance.
— Alessandra Turra
Photographs by Rodin Banica and Andrew H. Walker
Zero + Maria
Cornejo
10
17 FEBRUARY 2016
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
important than to give them $200,000 to
help them pay their bills. For a relatively
small amount of money from the city, we
can open them up to the world.
“This is part of our approach of tackling
the entire fashion ecosystem in New York.
We’re trying to take a look at the industry
from the smallest designer and educational institution to all the work we’re
doing with the CFDA and the large-scale
designers. To grow the industry, particularly on the manufacturing side, is a huge
priority for us.”
Glen also offered an update on the suite
of new Made in NY fashion initiatives that
tripled the city’s overall investment in the
local fashion economy to $15 million since
it was unveiled a year ago.
Over the past 12 months, Made in NY has
connected emerging businesses with more
than 75 industry mentors, showcasing over
150 local fashion brands to an estimated 650
million people, generating nearly $500,000
in sales for New York City-based established
and emerging designers, and awarding
more than $4.5 million in financing and
prizes to emerging and small businesses.
Last week, the New York City Economic
Development Corporation and the Council
of Fashion Designers of America revealed
the third round of winners of the Fashion
Manufacturing Initiative, a $6 million
public-private partnership designed to
support the city’s fashion manufacturing
businesses.
“People in New York always think about
fashion either in a nostalgic way or in a
glamorous way, but when you peel away
the onion, it’s really a fundamental part of
our economy,” Glen said. “We have almost
1,000 fashion companies here and almost
200,000 people work in this industry….
When I see an industry that has $11 billion
in wages, that results in $2 billion in tax
revenue, that’s an industry that not only
needs attention, but at the end of the day
it’s impacting our bottom line.”
Among the other programs in the last
year, the NYCEDC highlighted the Made in
NY expansion to the fashion community
through a citywide, consumer-focused and
awareness-building campaign showcasing
nine local fashion brands, including Prabal
Gurung, Rosie Assoulin, Alexis Bittar,
Chromat and Public School.
In partnership with Barneys New York,
the CFDA and NYCEDC unveiled the Made
in New York Collection. The limited-edition pieces were produced entirely within
the city and designed by seven New Yorkbased brands, including Thom Browne,
Narciso Rodriguez and The Row. The
collection is being sold in 18 Barneys stores
nationwide through May.
In December, NYCEDC partnered with
Not Just A Label and the Waldorf Astoria
hotel to create a temporary retail space
featuring a rotating collection of over 1,000
locally designed and produced apparel, jewelry and accessories items. More than 100
emerging designers participated in the retail
pop-up, which attracted 1,500 visitors.
The Fashion Production Fund awarded
24 loans totaling over $1.5 million in
financing in the last 12 months. To date,
the fund has provided 30 loans totaling
$2.5 million at below-interest rates to
emerging New York designers to manufacture locally.
Glen said the next big issue is to develop
a broad, scalable solution linking manufacturing and showroom, what she called a
“place-based approach to where the industry is going and not where it was.”
“The mayor and I are really pleased to
see the progress to date and there’s going
to be a lot more to come,” she added.
Memo Pad
Making the Cut
Ashley Weatherford.
The Cut’s editorial director
¬ Linda Wells has made a swift
Stella Bugbee said Wells is
comeback to the beauty world.
allowed to write for other places
Wells, who founded Allure magin her role, and that her desire to
azine in 1991, is joining New York’s
check into the office is up to her.
The Cut as beauty editor at large.
Bugbee added that Wells may
appear in videos in the future.
The editor’s return to journalism
comes less than four
Bugbee said of Wells:
months after she was
“We’ve long admired
dismissed by Allure’s
her wit, style and her
parent company Condé
ability to get at exactly
Nast in November.
what readers want
Wells was replaced by
to know about. I can’t
Nylon’s Michelle Lee,
wait for her to bring
who recently cleaned
her sharp, funny takes
house at the beauty
on everything from
Linda Wells
title and named her
eyeliner to outdated
new team.
beauty standards and
which runway trends matter.”
Rumors of Wells’ reentry into
the media landscape had been
“I grew up reading her,” Bugbee
bubbling since she left Allure.
told WWD. “She has real perspecThe editor’s new gig is said to
tive and authority.”
be one of many things she has
The editorial director noted that
in the works. Although she did
she hadn’t had a prior relationship
not address other projects,
with Wells, that she “just e-mailed”
Wells offered: “I’m eager for the
her when she learned of her
adrenalin” rush of writing and
departure from Allure, asking if
commenting quickly on beauty,
she’d write for The Cut.
fashion, fitness, diet, wellness and
This isn’t the first time Bugbee
whatever else pops in my head.”
has tapped a well-known jourAccording to New York, Wells
nalist as an editor at large. Last
will write for The Cut, its fashion
January she added former New
and beauty site, on a weekly basis.
York Times lead fashion critic
Topics will range from beauty and
Cathy Horyn to The Cut’s stable
fashion to wellness and health,
of writers.
and her first item will go up this
Although she wouldn’t go into
week.
details, Bugbee noted that Wells’
Wells joins The Cut’s beauty
deal differs from Horyn’s work as
team, which includes senior
critic at large, noting that Wells is
beauty editor Kathleen Hou and
writing on a weekly basis.
associate beauty editor
— ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD
First Time
¬ Is Kendall Jenner getting her
first cover of American Vogue?
Sources told WWD that Jenner
took a break from stalking the runways of New York Fashion Week
to be shot for the magazine’s
June cover earlier this week. The
cover shoot included a video to
go with the story, which would
be posted in tandem on Vogue.
com when the issue comes out in
early May.
“We aren’t going to comment
beyond the fact that we never
comment on rumors of future
editorial,” a spokeswoman from
Vogue said.
It is believed that Jenner was
accompanied by sister Kim
Kardashian and her daughter
North West. Insiders pointed to
Kardashian’s Instagram, which on
Monday posted a video of North
covered in a fur coat. Reclining in
a chair, North, who sports Uggs,
proclaims, “No pictures,” before
the camera cuts quickly to Jenner.
The brief shot of Jenner
shows the model and reality
star in clothing samples said to
be featured in the Vogue shoot.
On her own Instagram, Jenner
posted a mysterious photo from
the inside of an elevator with
the caption: “Bodyguard chic.”
Sources surmised that the shoot
took place at Milk Studios in New
York’s Meatpacking District.
Booking the cover of U.S. Vogue
would be a first for Jenner. Aside
from sister Kim and brother-inlaw Kanye West, who fronted the
title’s April 2014 cover to much
controversy, Jenner would be the
only Kardashian-Jenner family
member to nab the coveted spot.
“People in New York
always think about
fashion either in a
nostalgic way or in a
glamorous way, but
when you peel away
the onion, it’s really a
fundamental part of
our economy.”
— ALICIA GLEN,
NEW YORK DEPUTY MAYOR
If American Vogue does put
Jenner on the cover, it would
be playing catch-up. Last year
Jenner appeared on the covers
of several of the fashion glossy’s
international editions, including
Vogue Japan, Paris and Brazil.
In the U.S., she appeared on the
March cover of Allure, the March
subscriber cover of Harper’s
Bazaar and on the May cover
of GQ. She was also featured
in a group shot with her sisters
and mother on Cosmopolitan’s
November cover.
Currently, Jenner can be seen
on W Korea’s March cover, which
was shot by Inez & Vinoodh. She
was also recently featured in an
editorial spread in the pages of
Love Magazine’s spring issue.
— A.S.
The Vice of Chanel
¬ Vice Media has signed a multiyear deal with Chanel Fragrance
for a slate of sponsored videos
and original editorial content.
According to the Brooklyn-based media company, the
video content will launch on its
fashion channel, i-D, at some point
this year.
Although few details were
made available, the content will
explore “female creativity and
self-expression through collaborations with remarkable women,”
Vice said. The sponsored series
will feature a range of creative
women, not Chanel employees, it
is understood.
Through the London-headquartered i-D, Vice has made a play for
lucrative luxury advertisers, most
of which are looking to reach
Kendall Jenner on
the cover of Vogue
Paris Oct. issue.
the Millennial audience. In order
to facilitate this, Vice launched
Amuse, i-D’s video channel, last
year.
At the time, i-D managing director Richard Martin said: “The luxury market hasn’t yet adapted to
the new breed of digital-by-default
consumers that has emerged
in recent years. Amuse offers
luxury in their own language and
codes, through an interactive and
beautifully designed platform that
tells global stories.”
Vice, which purchased i-D in
December 2012, has started
investing more heavily in the
fashion site, expanding into Asia
and Europe and slowly building its
team in New York. In September, it launched i-D France and
indicated that it would cover
Paris Fashion Week as well as
the designers and brands whose
ateliers are based in the French
capital.
Original content for the Chanel
Fragrance deal will be created
by Vice and housed on i-D.co, as
well as distributed across Vice’s
network of channels.
The company said the partnership was facilitated by PLUS at
WPP. — A.S.
Glen photograph by Thomas Iannaccone; Wells by Steve Eichner; Jenner by David Sims
Made in NY Makes
Moves for Growth
11
17 FEBRUARY 2016
RETAIL
Saks’ Canadian
Coming Out Party
●
The department store on
Thursday will open two
stores in Toronto, including a
16-,000-square-foot flagship.
Saks' first Canadian store has a version of
the 10022SHOE salon concept that originated
in the Fifth Avenue flagship.
BY SHARON EDELSON WITH CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM CONSTANCE DROGANES
Oh, Canada!
A land of 36 million people with a per
capita income of $50,000, Canada is viewed
as a fertile shopping ground, with retailers
such as Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue
descending on the country.
The latter’s arrival is set for Thursday, with
a 165,000-square-foot flagship bowing at CF
Toronto Eaton Town Centre, the first store
the retailer has opened outside the U.S. since
2008, to be followed by a second Saks unit
at CF Sherway Gardens, also in Toronto, on
Feb. 25.
Both stores will be models of Saks’ new
philosophy, with merchandising innovations and service initiatives to be replicated
at upcoming stores at Brookfield Place in
Lower Manhattan and Brickell City Centre in
Miami. “What’s really exciting is that we’re
opening a flagship as we’re invigorating the
brand,” said Marc Metrick, president of Saks
Fifth Avenue. “We’re looking at Saks in a
very modern and approachable way.”
As for the matter of national pride, Saks
parent Hudson’s Bay Co. has a 350-year
history in Canada to uphold. “We have the
advantage operating in Canada as long as we
have,” Metrick said.
Nevertheless, the luxury field in Canada
is getting increasingly crowded. Nordstrom,
which opened three full-line stores in Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver, has three units
opening in Toronto in the fall at Eaton Town
Centre, Sherwood Gardens and Yorkdale
Centre. And the Seattle-based retailer on
Tuesday revealed that it will open a Nordstrom Rack at One Bloor in Toronto in 2018.
Holt Renfrew, Canada’s de facto luxury
destination, decided to step up its game in
light of the U.S. competition with a series
of expansions and renovations, including enlarging its Bloor Street flagship and
opening its first men’s-only store. Overall
the retailer plans to grow square footage by
more than 40 percent.
Target’s failed Canada expedition — the
retailer exited its short-lived, money-losing business in 2015 — underscored the
complexity of a country that seems so much
like the U.S. that it’s humorously referred to
as the 52nd state. But it’s actually nothing
of the sort and rather a series of unique
markets with different style preferences and
shopping habits.
“Canada, for so many reasons, makes
abundant sense,” Metrick said. “We were
really missing in Canada. As a long-time Saks
executive, I thought it was something we
needed to do. Toronto is the fourth-largest
city in North America.”
The retailer is starting out with the advantage of having 70,000 Saks Fifth Avenue
credit card holders living in Canada; the
country is the second-largest shipping destination for saks.com.
“When you go back to the Saks acquisition
[by HBC] in 2013, one of the key elements of
the deal was to expand Saks into Canada,”
Metrick said. “It was an untapped market
Marc Metrick, president of Saks Fifth Avenue.
The CF Eaton Town Centre
flagship in Toronto.
A view of the flagship’s main
floor, lit by a shower of 8,000
ƽָ’̽žhand-blown glass
bulbs, and the second floor
ready-to-wear area.
and a brand with a tremendous amount of
[recognition]. We feel like there’s space there
to go into that zone.”
Metrick compared Toronto to Boston, noting that there are eight luxury retailers in the
Massachusetts city, which has a population
of 4.5 million. “The greater Toronto area has
5.5 million people,” he said. “It’s serviced by
three Holt Renfrew stores. From an overall
size, there’s actually room. By no means is it
saturated. We’re going in at the right time.”
Saks plans to open five stores in Canada
but Metrick left the door open for additional
units. “We’re looking at this opportunistically,” he said, “from a real estate and
market positioning standpoint.”
As for positioning the new stores, “we’re
not looking at this as a Canadian Saks or
an American Saks,” Metrick said. “These
are our Toronto locations. The customers
are sophisticated and avant-garde and they
definitely like designers. They’re looking for
something very special in terms of readyto-wear and footwear. Fine jewelry is a big
opportunity, with brands such as Pomellato
Piaget, Marco Bicego and H.Stern. People
associate Canada with furs. We’ll have furs
in Canada and we’re expecting big things for
that business.”
Metrick declined to discuss sales volume,
saying only, “Both stores are positioned to
do very well in terms of productivity.”
Design elements at the Eaton Town Centre
flagship were inspired by the Canadian
wilderness and harsh weather. On the first
level, floor to ceiling glass-and-bronze panels
of waves in lakes and rivers depict the country’s rugged landscape. A ceiling sculpture
on the second floor was made from 8,000
pounds of hand-blown Czechoslovakian
glass, while bronze sculptures of trees are
part of the store design by FRCH Design
Worldwide and Saks’ store design and planning team.
Both units will incorporate some “greatest
hits” from the Fifth Avenue flagship, such as
a 10022-SHOE salon; the flagship will have
1,000 pairs on display, with 15,000 pairs in
the storage room.
Dior, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Saint
Laurent, Chloé, Céline, Prada, Alexander
McQueen, Stella McCartney, Givenchy and
Azzedine Alaïa will be part of the mix. “We
wanted an A-plus matrix that will travel,”
Metrick said. “Everything, from the core
elements, the experience, the assortment
and the edit has got to be localized for the
consumer. Nothing is going to be cookie
cutter.”
“The team really came together to create
the true Saks edit for our Toronto customer,”
said Tracy Margolies, chief merchant at
Saks. “You’ll see new and emerging brands,
exclusives and a differentiated edit of our
core resources.”
There are shops-in-shop for leather goods
on the main floor and what Metrick referred
to as “softer icon shops inside ready-towear” — in other words, the emphasis will
be on Saks, not designers’ in-store shops.
“There definitely will be a signed positioning
for brands, but it’s a new concept for us,”
Metrick said. “We want the consumer to
feel she can shop across brands. We want
to be more modern. We’re creating a truer
shopping experience.”
Saks also tinkered with the men’s area.
“We’ve changed flow and adjacencies to
be much more lifestyle-oriented and we’re
featuring footwear just like we’ve done with
women’s shoes,” Metrick said. “Men are the
new women. They’re shopping and they’re
[buying] fashion.”
Beauty is getting a makeover, too, with
lower sight lines and more of an open-sell
environment. Every cosmetics station will
be staffed with makeup artists and on-the-go
facials will be offered along with fragrance
personalization.
On the second floor are plush, personalized private shopping areas for men and
women. The women’s area also offers a
massage room — a first for a Saks store.
Metrick wants the stores to be “more than
just a place to buy things,” so he’s installed
Saks Food Halls by Pusateri’s, measuring
25,000 square feet at Eaton Centre and
18,500 square feet at Sherway Gardens. Each
store will have its own concepts by Oliver
& Bonacini. “Food is a big component,”
Metrick said. “It’s all part of the new way
we approach our environment. We want
[shoppers] to come and spend time at Saks,
not just shop.
“Today, consumers can shop anywhere,”
Metrick said. “But luxury shopping isn’t
just about price. Wherever you move in this
store, we wanted to encourage the feeling
that shopping should be a fun, social experience. We want to do everything we can to
build on this spirit and make Saks accessible
to any shopper who loves beautiful things.”
The Eaton Centre Saks is opening in a
space that was carved out of the massive
Hudson’s Bay store, which now has about
600,000 square feet of space. The two
stores will be entered through a common
lobby entrance — “like a hotel, but not
intimidating,” Metrick said. “From an HBC
perspective, you’ll be able to buy Louis
Vuitton [at Saks] to a Nespresso machine
[at Hudson’s Bay]. The whole end of that
shopping center will be the most powerful
and differentiated. Hudson’s Bay will see the
footfall increase and vice versa for Saks.”
13
17 FEBRUARY 2016
THE MARKETS
Brands Prep
For CurveNY
● Ahead of the trade show, intimate apparel brands
are focused on reviving the once-booming
shapewear category with designs that are less
restrictive and more visually appealing.
Photographs by Josh Filauri; Model: Wanda at Parts Models; Fashion Editor: Mayte Allende
BY ARIA HUGHES
Vendors are busy plotting a comeback
for shapewear at the CurveNY trade show,
which starts Sunday at the Jacob K. Javits
Center.
While overall women’s shapewear sales
have generally been seen on the wane,
brands at the three-day trade show are looking to build momentum by offering retailers
reenergized assortments and new styles.
“As a category, shapewear has experienced a tough period of readjustment after
a burst of new product flooded the market,
which led to a glut,” said Susan Malinowski,
vice president of marketing at Wacoal.
“Now the category is poised for new healthy
growth and we are ready for it.”
At Curve, Wacoal will introduce Zoned
4 Shape, a five-piece shapewear collection
that features innovative knitted fabrications
with four seamless shaping zones. According to Malinowski, the pieces combine
lightness, comfort and performance.
The brand will also launch its Visual
Effects bodysuit, camisole and all-in-one,
which all have moderate to firm control.
Each piece pairs with Wacoal’s new minimizing bra.
Comfort is a key marketing message
for Heather Thomson’s brand Yummie
by Heather Thomson, which was originally named Yummie Tummie. Thomson
launched her shapewear-focused line in
2008 when the category was hot and said
she’s been able to maintain sales and thrive
by providing shoppers with shapewear they
want to wear instead of shapewear they
think they have to wear.
“Our business continues to see healthy
growth in a category that’s down-trending,”
said Thomson. “While everyone else was
focusing on occasion-based pieces that
were geared to ‘suck you in,’ we brought
shapewear out of the closet and offered
comfortable pieces for everyday wear.”
Thomson told WWD that shapewear
sales have remained steady, but she’s seen
growth in her nonshaping items such as
ready-to-wear. At CurveNY, the brand will
showcase intimates and more loungewear,
which Thomson said is an important
category as its holiday sales were up 9
percent.
While other shapewear brands target
comfort with seamless and light control
options, Eric Crawford, national sales manager at shapewear company TC Intimates,
said his brand hasn’t ventured into those
categories and is instead further developing
its cut-and-sew pieces that are known for
their firm control and compression.
Crawford also noted that TC Intimates
has worked to elevate its brand image over
the past two years by injecting new fabrics
and paring down silhouettes so they create
less bulk. “We’ve tried to clean up our
appearance and simplify our message to the
consumer,” said Crawford, who added that
the company has experienced growth.
For CurveNY, the brand will continue to
present its patented Black Magic technology that offers high levels of compression
without using multiple layers of fabric that
can create bulk and get hot during warmer
months.
Crawford said he’s also seeing
Leonisa’s polyamide
and elastane bra and
romper (right); TC Fine
Intimates’ nylon and
spandex bodysuit
(below).
strong performance with TC Intimate’s
waist-cinchers, a corsetry-inspired type
of shapewear that’s gained favor with
curvy women on Instagram, including the
Kardashians.
The waist trainer-cincher category is also
a bright spot for Leonisa, a Colombia-based
intimate apparel brand that entered the U.S.
market 10 years ago. According to Octavio
Quintana, Leonisa’s vice president of North
America, women are wearing the piece
under their clothes and while they
work out.
Leonisa, which Quintana said had its
best year ever in 2015 with a 30 percent
sales increase, offers men’s and women’s
shapewear, activewear and swimwear
that’s integrated with four levels of control
(supercomfy, moderate, firm and extra
firm control) and made from trademarked
materials.
The brand — which lends a dose of sexy
to even its postpartum panties with an
adjustable belly wrap or its back support
control tanks — will launch its 60-year anniversary limited-edition collection and its
first premium swim collection and plus-size
line at CurveNY.
Triumph, a Switzerland-based lingerie
brand that’s been pushing into the U.S.
market, saw declining shapewear sales until
it started to offer sexy lingerie that was
integrated with shaping, said John Gorman,
the general manager of Triumph U.S.
“I’ve heard that shapewear is soft overall, but our shapewear sales continue to
increase very rapidly,” said Gorman.
Triumph’s best-selling shapewear are its
shaping panties and body styles that are
made with lace, sheer panels and underwire cups so the pieces can second as
lingerie.
“We provide shapewear. This is not the
same as selling garments that squash her
to appear smaller and shaped in an uneven
manner,” said Gorman. “Triumph shapewear alters your shape to be more the way
you want it to be.”
15
17 FEBRUARY 2016
Pasquale Jones Opens on Mulberry Street
The team behind SoHo’s beloved Charlie Bird expands with a wood-oven Italian eatery.
Not even three years
after the success that is
New York SoHo’s Charlie
Bird, the team behind
the modern Italian spot
is expanding. Their new
venture, a wood-oven
anchored restaurant on
Mulberry Street called
Pasquale Jones — a
name chosen simply for
its fun — opens Tuesday
to much anticipation. In
the week before opening, the spot already
played host to a number
of private dinners,
including one thrown
by Jo Malone and Paul
Andrew. But owners
Grant Reynolds, Robert
Bohr and Ryan Hardy
didn’t expand their lower
Manhattan breadth to
fulfill the wide-reaching
demand from their clientele. Instead, the desire
came from wanting to
serve within.
“Mostly because we
have a great young
team,” says Hardy, who
is the executive chef (the
chef of Pasquale Jones
will be Tim Caspare), of
the timing for restaurant
two. “And in order to
keep talent you want to
create new challenges
for them. When you have
a lot of young talent you
have the opportunity to
provide challenges for
them to grow into.”
Reynolds echoes that
statement. “We’re at
almost year three here
at Charlie Bird and the
opportunity came up to
do something in a neighborhood that’s close
by and within walking
distance and we have
been lucky to have a lot
of great people that we
work with and it’s good
to give those people the
opportunity to grow and
do different things.”
Charlie Bird is known
for its wine selection
and that will carry over
to Pasquale Jones. “We
don’t have a specific approach — meaning that
it’s not an Italian focused
list or a natural wine list,”
Reynolds says. “We kind
of give ourselves the
freedom to do whatever
Cauliflower with
blood orange, mint
and calabrian chili.
Tim Caspare
and Ryan Hardy
The interior of
Pasquale Jones.
Fashion Scoops
Jones photographs by George Chinsee; Jenner by Andrea Hanks; King/Bosworth by Andrea Hanks
Counter Top
Anne-Valérie Hash’s contract as
creative director of Comptoir des
Cotonniers isn’t being renewed, WWD
has learned. The brand, controlled by
Japanese retail giant Fast Retailing
Co. Ltd., confirmed Hash’s contract is
to end on May 31. “The company and
Anne-Valérie Hash jointly decided
not to renew her contract beyond
this date,” a spokeswoman for Fast
Retailing said.
It’s understood her successor has
yet to be named. “The current design
team is to ensure the collection,” the
spokeswoman noted.
Hash’s first collection for Comptoir
des Cotonniers was for the fall 2015
season (she’s also behind the spring
and fall 2016 collections.) Under her
creative leadership, Charlotte Gainsbourg and her 13-year-old daughter
Alice were tapped to appear in
Comptoir des Cotonniers’ campaigns,
as the French chain marked its 20th
anniversary and highlighted its legacy
of dressing mothers and daughters.
The actress and her daughter wore
the first two collections designed by
Hash in campaigns photographed
by Alasdair McLellan. They are also
the faces of the brand’s first capsule
collection with premium denim brand
J Brand — another label of the Fast
Retailing portfolio that includes Uniqlo — due to hit stores on Feb. 24. Hash
worked alongside J Brand’s head of
design Mary Bruno on the project.
Hash shuttered her 13-year-old
signature label in 2014 amid challenging economic times for independent
fashion companies. A graduate of the
École de la Chambre Syndicale de la
Couture Parisienne, Hash received
France’s ANDAM Prize in 2003.
— LAURE GUILBAULT
This and That
It was barely 11 a.m. on Tuesday
morning and Kylie Jenner was
wearing a glitter-gold minidress,
thigh-high platforms, gigantic sunglasses and
pink-tinged hair. Understated.
She was sitting front row at the
Vera Wang show, her second fashion
week appearance since Saturday’s
Alexander Wang show. Fellow Wang
Gang member Zoë Kravitz was further down the row; Hannah Davis was
also nearby.
“This is my first and only show,”
Davis said, glowing on a neighboring
bench. “I was just backstage and
this collection — I want everything in
the collection and I’m not just saying
that!”
Davis saved the one fashion week
show she attended for her favorite
designer. “I love that there’s always
that feminine aspect to her collection,
but it’s very rough and tough and very
tomboy,” she said. “I just love that
contrast, between boyish and really
feminine. That’s sort of how I dress a
lot of times.”
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
model, who revealed her engagement
to Derek Jeter in November, continued that Wang’s designs echo her
own personal style. “My day-to-day
is very much like T-shirts, jeans, Rag
& Bone
jackets,” she said. “I love accessories, coats and shoes. But when I
get dressed up I like that balance
between girly and boyish. Like having
a really amazing dress but pairing
it with combat boots or something
really unexpected.”
Kylie Jenner
spaghetti with anchovy
and bergamot orange,
sunchoke tortelloni with
fonduta and brussels
sprouts, and rigatoni
done with sausage, nettles and oven-smoked
ricotta.
The Pasquale Jones
pizza will be a “long ferment on the pizza which
creates a very light,
easy-to-digest pizza
dough,” a technique the
kitchen arrived at after
trying many different
methods. Their signature
will be the littleneck clam
pizza, which already “we
seem to sell on every
table.”
As fans of Charlie Bird
know, music is hugely
important to the team.
“At Charlie Bird, we
really took inspiration
from what we call the
golden era of hip-hop,”
Hardy says. “Robert
and I were both born in
1974, so when we were
teenagers it was really
important music. We
were listening to things
that, at the time, were
dressed head to toe in the designer’s
clothes and accessories. She said
stylist Tabitha Simmons is one of her
best friends, “and she turned me onto
Tory.” Elson, who lives in Nashville,
said she just made a record “Double
Roses,” which will be coming out later
this year.
Bosworth, who was making the
fashion rounds this week, said she
has a new movie coming out, “Before
I Wake,” which is a psychological
thriller with Jacob Tremblay, the
nine-year-old boy who stars in “The
Room. “He’s the utmost
professional. He’s been here before,”
she said. Bosworth said that after
Tory Burch’s show she was flying
back to Los Angeles, where she and
her husband are building a home. “It’s
almost finished,” she said. “I will check
in with my husband so I’m not the
phantom wife.”
Meantime, Daniella Vitale, chief operating officer and senior executive
vice president at Barneys New York
Inc., said the retailer would be launching Tory Burch Sport exclusively at its
stores this spring. While the retailer
doesn’t carry the Tory Burch apparel or accessories collections, the
majority of the Barneys flagships will
have Tory Sport, which has been sold
exclusively at Burch’s retail store at
257 Elizabeth Street and online so far.
Tory’s Crowd
Jaime King and
Kate Bosworth
avant garde, that now
are very classic New
York music.”
If Pasquale Jones is
getting to the root of
Italian cuisine, then so
is its music selection.
“The name alone had
a little flair, a little buzz
to it,” Hardy says of the
second restaurant. “And
funk really came out of
it — we took a step back
and the roots of Italian
food are pizza and simply roasted food, and
funk really was the root
of hip-hop.”
The goal, like with the
first go-around, is to do
something difficult to
capture. “A lot of people
asked us what kind of
restaurant Charlie Bird
is, and the coined line
we have is ‘a delicious
one,’” Hardy says. “Why
does everything have to
fall into a neat little box?
Restaurants are a creative expression.”
Pasquale Jones
86 Kenmare Street
New York, NY 10012
— LEIGH NORDSTROM
Another Tory Sport store is expected
to open next month in the Flatiron
District. Burch had several Tory Sport
pieces on the runway that were available for immediate purchase.
— LISA LOCKWOOD
Street Style
Forget Uber or Lyft — this New
York Fashion Week Neiman Marcus
fashion director Ken Downing has a
more exclusive ride. He’s being driven
around in Tesla Motor’s much-hyped
Model X car, which is making its debut
in public streets. He has invited several fashion industry friends to ride
along with him — the car has seven
seats, after all — and is filming their
conversations for a series of videos.
“Tesla Talks” will feature designers
Wes Gordon, Prabal Gurung, Rachel
Zoe, and Max Osterweis and Erin
Beatty of Suno.
“I’m stopped by everyone inside
and outside the Tesla X wanting to
know where I got it, and how to get
one,” Downing remarked. It’s hard to
shy away from attention in an SUV
with falcon wing doors. Unfortunately,
much like the majority of the clothes
being shown, Model X won’t be available for purchase until later this year.
— KRISTEN TAUER
Besties
— LEIGH NORDSTROM
Kate Bosworth, Karen Elson, Jaime
King, Langley Fox Hemingway, Liya
Kebede, Waris Ahluwalia and Liu Wen
were among the front row guests at
Tory Burch’s show Tuesday morning
at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.
“I’m a good friend of Tory’s. She’s
awesome,” said Elson, who was
we want, but we try to
make a wine list that isn’t
too big or too cluttered,”
which resulted in 150 or
so selections.
When it comes to
the food, most dishes
are done in their wood
ovens. “Yes, we love
cooking pizza and
cooking pizza is part of
what we do at Pasquale
Jones. But there are so
many other things that a
wood oven can do that I
don’t think are inherent
to everyday type of
cooking,” Hardy says.
The menu starts with
salads and vegetables,
“little simple bright
crispy things that get
your palette jumping,”
says Hardy. “And then
we move into pizza and
pasta — dive in fully to
the carbs!”
The selection is intentionally small and
seasonally rotating. “We
really love dried pasta a
lot, we love to extoll the
virtues of dried pasta,”
Hardy says. Currently
the menu features
It was no surprise to see Kirsten
Dunst sitting front row at the Rodarte
show on Tuesday morning. The
actress pretty much defines the
concept of brand loyalist. “They tell
such a unique story, there’s no one
like them. Every time it’s a surprise,”
she said of their aesthetic.
The actress has been a longtime
friend and muse to the Mulleavy
sisters, and soon she’ll add “collaborator” to that list. “We made a movie
together this year,” she said, referring
to “Woodshock,” the upcoming film
the designers wrote and directed,
which also stars Joe Cole and Richard Linklater’s daughter, Lorelei.
“They’re two of my best friends,”
Dunst said of the Mulleavys. “So
it couldn’t have been better, to be
honest.”
— LEIGH NORDSTROM