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SMART
TIME
DEFENDING
ITS MODEL
NEW INVESTOR
EURAZEO TAKES 10 PERCENT STAKE IN DESIGUAL, VALUING
THE SPANISH FIRM AT MORE THAN $3.7 BILLION. PAGE 2
WWD
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 ■ $3.00 ■ WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY
Good
Bones
If Tamae Hirokawa has it her way,
there will be a skeleton or two in
women’s closets this fall. For her
Somarta collection, the designer
was inspired by all things
natural, from crystal shards to
human bone structure. Here, her
sweater knit in a skeleton motif.
For more from Tokyo,
see pages 4 to 6.
FALL 2014
TOKYO
COLLECTIONS
LI & FUNG CEO BRUCE
ROCKOWITZ SAID THERE
IS PLENTY OF ROOM FOR
GROWTH AT THE GIANT
SOURCING COMPANY.
PAGE 8
GOOGLE UNVEILS ANDROID
WEAR OPERATING SYSTEM
FOR WEARABLE DEVICES
LIKE SMARTWATCHES.
PAGE 2
TRAGEDY’S AFTERMATH
L’Wren Scott’s Death
Still Puzzles Industry
By LISA LOCKWOOD and
ROSEMARY FEITELBERG
THE FASHION INDUSTRY remained in shock
Tuesday over the death of L’Wren Scott, seeking
answers to why the designer apparently took her
own life.
The 49-year-old Scott had been suffering from
depression over the last few months, several sources told WWD, but even these people expressed surprise that the normally confident, ebullient designer
would end her life. Scott was found dead Monday in
her downtown New York apartment after apparently
hanging herself.
Scott’s longtime companion, Mick Jagger, posted a photograph of her on his Web site’s homepage
Tuesday with the following statement, “I am still
struggling to understand how my lover and best
friend could end her life in this tragic way. We spent
many wonderful years together and had made a great
life for ourselves. She had great presence and her talent was much admired, not least by me. I have been
touched by the tributes that people have paid to her,
and also the personal messages of support that I have
received. I will never forget her, Mick.”
The Rolling Stones postponed all of their performances in Australia and New Zealand scheduled for
this month and next, due to Scott’s death. A statement
on the band’s official Web site said the musicians
were “deeply sorry and disappointed” to postpone
the remainder of their “14 on Fire” tour in Australia
and New Zealand. The tour is an international one,
and is set to move to Europe over the summer.
Tommy Hilfiger, a good friend of Scott’s and
Jagger’s who frequently saw them on vacation in
Mustique, said: “L’Wren was a very talented woman
with great taste. Dee and I have been friends [with
her] for quite some time now, and she was a generous
and loving person. We will miss her deeply.”
SEE PAGE 12
J. Crew IPO More Likely
As Talks With Fast Stall
By EVAN CLARK
PHOTO BY GIOVANNI GIANNONI
IT LOOKS LIKE J. Crew Group Inc.’s future might
lead to Wall Street rather than Tokyo.
The private equity-owned fashion firm had been
in very preliminary talks to be acquired by Fast
Retailing Co. Ltd., but as WWD reported Friday, the
Japanese giant balked at the $5 billion price tag
being bandied around in the press. Numerous reports on Tuesday said the discussions had broken
down entirely.
That appears to make a return to the public markets more likely for J. Crew, which is said to have
been working on an initial public offering with
Goldman Sachs. Such a move would also keep the
pressure on chairman and chief executive officer
Millard “Mickey” Drexler, who is very well regarded
in investment circles and would have to grapple with
high expectations for the offering.
J. Crew already files its financial results with the
Securities and Exchange Commission because of its
publicly held debt and could relatively easily put together the paperwork for an IPO. And now, the market’s been primed for a valuation that would be favorable for the company’s owners.
TPG and Leonard Green & Partners teamed with
Drexler to take the company private for $3 billion in
2011. The investors have paid themselves some hefty
dividends, including nearly $200 million in December
2012 and another $484 million following a bond offering in November.
SEE PAGE 12
2 WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
WWD.COM
By RACHEL STRUGATZ and EVAN CLARK
GOOGLE IS STAKING its claim in the still-nascent,
but promising category of wearable technology —
and it’s tapped Fossil as a partner.
The Web giant unveiled a project called Android
Wear aimed at boosting the company’s presence in
wearable gadgets. The effort begins with watches and
further burnishes Google’s fashion cred. (The company introduced its buzzy Google Glass with the help
of Diane von Furstenberg in 2012).
“Most of us are rarely without our smartphones
in hand,” wrote Sundar Pichai, Google’s senior
vice president of Android, Chrome and apps, on
the company’s blog Tuesday. “These powerful supercomputers keep us connected to the world and
the people we love. But we’re only at the beginning;
we’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s possible with mobile technology.”
The existing Android operating system already
works with hardware like smartphones, tablets
and smartwatches — but Android Wear is a targeted technology designed specifically for wearable use, starting with watches, across vendors.
Similarly, the Open Automotive Alliance was introduced earlier this year to bring Android to
the automobile sector in a highly targeted way.
Google is already working with electronics firms
Samsung, Asus, HTC, LG and Motorola; chip makers Broadcom, Imagination, Intel, Mediatek and
Qualcomm, as well as fashion companies such as
Fossil Group.
Watches powered by Android Wear are expected to be introduced later this year, and prices
haven’t been released. Google’s basic Android operating system already has been used in wearable
technology in the form of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear
smartwatches. But Samsung last month revealed
plans to switch from Android for the second generation of some of its smartwatches, releasing to
software developers on Monday its own operating
system called Tizen.
A YouTube video promoting Android Wear
shows people tackling everyday problems with
their watch — hailing a cab, opening a garage door,
checking how long their commute will take, counting calories burned or replying to messages. The
watches in the video also have touch screens.
The smartwatch, powered by the Google software, would deliver “info and suggestions you
need, right when you need them,” Pichai said.
For Fossil, which has a more than $3 billion global
business, the partnership with Google could prove to be
a canny move if the category takes off, as some envision.
“Although still very much in the formative research and development stage, we are committed
to playing an active role in the push toward wearable technology and helping to shape the fusion of
fashion and technology,” said Greg McKelvey, chief
marketing and strategy officer at Fossil Group.
The fashion and retail sectors increasingly appear
to want to be at the forefront of this emerging category.
“A big, mainstream brand like Fossil makes sense,”
said futurist Erica Orange, vice president at Weiner,
Edrich, Brown Inc., of the partnership. “It gets [the
smartwatch] outside of the tech bubble and makes it
Main Street USA. Watches are such low-hanging fruit.
It’s such a no-brainer. I think the big hurdle will then
be in the clothing space, but I think [technology] will
be embedded in accessories sooner.”
Orange said wearable technology was still in its
infancy as a category, but could grow quickly once
it finds its place.
“We’ll hit a tipping point, where it’s not going to
be seen as techie and fringy and it will just be the
way things are,” she said.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America’s
chief executive officer Steven Kolb described the
PARIS — First puffer jackets and now patchwork
coats and dresses, too.
Paris-based investment firm Eurazeo SA is
emerging as a bigger and more active player on the
fashion scene, disclosing on Tuesday that it would
invest 285 million euros, or $396.4 million at current exchange, in Spanish fashion chain Desigual
in exchange for 10 percent of its share capital.
The transaction gives the Barcelona-based company an enterprise value of 2.7 billion euros, or $3.72
billion, and follows Eurazeo’s first big foray into the
sector with its 2011 purchase of a 45 percent stake in
Italian firm Moncler, which went public last December.
Eurazeo said its latest transaction would help
Desigual speed up its rollout of stores in Europe,
the U.S., Latin America and Japan.
“We’re going to help them expand internationally,”
Frans Tieleman, managing director of Eurazeo, told
WWD. “They stand for fun, for love, for color. They have
a really unique positioning and at an affordable level.”
He noted that France has already become as important as Desigual’s home market of Spain, and
Italy, Germany and the Benelux countries possess
similar potential.
The brand, known for its wildly colorful and patterned apparel and irreverent image, is strongest in
women’s wear and accessories, Tieleman noted, citing footwear, children’s wear and household goods
among key growth avenues.
Eurazeo said it would support founder Thomas
IN TODAY’S WWD
Adam Green at the
party to celebrate
Arden Wohl’s latest
collection for Cri de
Coeur. For more, see
page 10 and WWD.com.
The fashion industry continues to be mystified and stunned
by the apparent suicide of L’Wren Scott. PAGE 1
J. Crew Group Inc.’s future might lead it to Wall Street rather
than Tokyo. PAGE 1
Motorola’s Moto 360 smartwatch.
wearable market as “game-changing.” The CFDA
teamed up with Intel Corp. in January on a wearable device, a smart bracelet designed by Opening
Ceremony to be sold at Barneys New York. Along
the same vein, the group launched an experience
with Google in October that allowed users to purchase from a Google+ Hangouts on Air app featuring designers from von Furstenberg to Rachel Zoe
to Rebecca Minkoff.
However, wearable technology still has a way to
go before mass consumer adoption occurs.
Research from Harris Interactive showed that
as of December, just 3 percent of males and 3 percent of females polled already owned a wearable
device. Lower prices will likely attract more consumers, and 22 percent of males and 13 percent of
females maintained they will purchase a device
when it becomes more affordable. Another 9 percent will be moved to transact once the “bugs” have
been worked out.
According to data from Cisco Systems, which
looked at total wearable devices worldwide by region for 2013 and 2018, with the number in North
America expected to increase from 9.1 million to
59.8 million. Worldwide, this number is expected to
jump from 21.8 to 176.9 million.
Eurazeo Takes Stake in Desigual
By MILES SOCHA
THE BRIEFING BOX
PHOTO BY STEVE EICHNER
Google Tapping Into Wearable Tech
Meyer and his teams. Proceeds from the capital increase are earmarked for building a state-of-the-art
distribution hub to support its global advance.
Desigual entered the U.S. in 2009 and now shows
its seasonal collections on the runway during New
York Fashion Week.
Eurazeo trumpeted that Desigual has seen its
revenues increase tenfold since 2007.
Revenues at Desigual rose 18 percent last year
to reach 828 million euros, or $1.1 billion at average
exchange, with an earnings before interest, taxes,
depreciation and amortization margin of 29 percent.
As of Dec. 31, Desigual operated 405 stores in 19
countries. It also distributes its collections via 2,500
corners in department stores and some 11,000 multibrand doors, according to Eurazeo.
“Eurazeo sees the potential of the brand as a
global force,” Borja Castresana, Desigual’s chief
marketing officer, said in an interview. “The partnership brings new experience, new geographies
and geographical knowledge; it means more consolidated product lines and a dialogue between the two
companies to establish our position.”
Eurazeo’s portfolio spans some 5 billion euros,
or $6.88 billion at current exchange, in assets and
the firm has investments in hotel operator Accor,
real estate player Foncia, rental firm Europcar and
energy specialist Rexel.
According to market sources, Eurazeo has also
had its eye on Carven, a fast-growing French fashion
house helmed by buzzy designer Guillaume Henry.
— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
BARBARA BARKER, MADRID
The five days of Lakmé Fashion Week emphasized femininity
in the summer and resort collections on show. PAGE 7
L’Oréal has named Lubomira Rochet chief digital officer and
member of the company’s executive committee. PAGE 7
Fabergé, the London-based high-end jeweler with roots in
Russia, has closed its boutique in Kiev, Ukraine. PAGE 7
Li & Fung’s Bruce Rockowitz brushed aside outside concerns
that the firm’s role as a “middleman” is not sustainable. PAGE 8
“Vanitas: Fashion and Art,” curated by Harold Koda, opened
at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach last week. PAGE 9
Mexico will strive to add more European and foreign buyers to
its semiannual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. PAGE 9
Lebanese socialite, jet-setter and couture patron Mouna Ayoub
is auctioning off the contents of her yacht Phocéa. PAGE 10
Giambattista Valli will launch a three-and-a-half week pop-up
shop at Dover Street Market’s New York location. PAGE 11
Fine-jewelry designer Monique Péan will be the recipient of a
full-page ad in Vogue’s September issue. PAGE 11
ON WWD.COM
EYE: Arden Wohl celebrated her latest collection of
vegan shoes for Cri de Coeur in New York on Monday
night. For more, see WWD.com.
CORRECTION
Lands’ End’s net income in 2013 rose 58 percent to $79 million
from $50 million in 2012. Those figures were incorrect in a
story on page 5, Tuesday.
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4 WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
Somarta
Beautiful People
Factotum
Patchy
Cake Eater
Factotum
Tokyo Collections
Fall 2014
ASSYMETRIC TWEEDS, PAJAMAS, FURS AND HIS-AND-HER LOOKS MADE STATEMENTS ON THE RUNWAYS.
Somarta: Tamae Hirokawa
opened her show with a small
army of mannequins dressed
in her Skin by Somarta knit
bodysuits. They served as a
backdrop for the rest of her
collection, which Hirokawa
said was inspired by photos of
natural phenomena.
The influence played out
in certain pieces, namely
a dramatic ivory sweater
knit in a 3-D skeletal knit
motif and a form-fitting
dress worked in a print of
crystal shards and jewels.
The inspiration wasn’t as
literal elsewhere. Dresses
with kimono closures looked
sophisticated, while a range
of tweed coats with angular
lapels was also appealing.
Atsushi Nakashima: The elaborate
light projection of shifting
geometric shapes that opened
Atsushi Nakashima’s show
foreshadowed the collection.
The designer’s initial exits
featured separates in bright
solids like coats in cobalt and
emerald; then he transitioned
into kaleidoscopic prints
incorporating all manner
of triangles and trapezoids.
Several pieces, including
sweats and shiny parkas, had a
sporty vibe.
The latter part of the show
took a futuristic turn with
sculptural garments — perhaps
a nod to his past work under
Jean Paul Gaultier. These
looks had a sci-fi air to them,
i.e., a black dress featuring
a pink and blue grid of
triangles adorning the front
and an ankle-length Neoprene
dress with peak shoulders
reminiscent of a villainess in
“Flash Gordon.”
Factotum: Inspired by Hans
Christian Andersen, Koji Udo
opened his Factotum show in
literary fashion with a large
bookcase that swung open
and served as the entrance
for the models. His women
and men emerged wearing
pajama looks, with the
dressedundressed
ha ha
s
s
WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 5
WWD.COM
ha ha
photos by Giovanni Giannoni anD yukie Miyazaki
Atsushi
Nakashima
For more reVIeWS
AND ImAGeS, See
sleepwear theme
WWD.com/ interesting women’s
runway.
pieces, while the few
reapprearing in
men’s exits included
the denim finale.
a double-breasted
The rest of the show
coat worn over red plaid
had an arty, scholarly vibe
trousers with a matching scarf
with nubby sweaters, varsity
and a checked overcoat with
jackets, corduroy blazers and
striped shirt and pants.
toggle coats. Accessories like
berets, backpacks and vintage
cameras added an exchange
dressedundressed: Takeshi
student flair.
Kitazawa and Emiko
Sato didn’t stray far from
Dressedundressed’s signature
Beautiful People: Hidenori
androgynous look. The women’s
Kumakiri of Beautiful People
and men’s looks were worked
turned out a Sixties-inspired
in similar cuts and fabrics,
collection of luxe classics
including quilted tops, boxy
including toggle coats, blazers,
sweatshirts, tailored jackets
slim ankle pants, turtlenecks
and cocoon coats, all done in
and long-sleeve shift dresses.
mostly gray, black and white.
Sumptuous fur jackets
The only color came in the
and hearty knits made for
form of a red-and-black tweed,
used on a zippered jacket for
her and a sharp suit for him.
Patchy Cake Eater: Shigeki
Morino said he drew from
various pop-culture elements
of the late Seventies and
Eighties, including J-pop
singer and actor Kenji Sawada
as well as pro wrestling, action
movies and, the designer
said, “things that men from
that era liked.” Much of his
collection featured dapper
suits worked in everything
from pinstripes to pastels and
most of them shown with slim,
ankle-length pants. There were
also bright paisley shirts with
ruffles, sailor striped shirts
and boxy tops with matching
Bermuda shorts. For the finale,
the models donned wrestler
masks while Morino posed
with a golden pistol for added
masculine effect.
ha ha: In a bid to create
“universal fashion,” Takafumi
Tsuruta said he aimed to
design a Ha Ha collection
that everyone could wear.
To that end, he delivered
men’s, women’s and children’s
looks and even a wedding
dress designed for a woman
confined to a wheelchair. “I
did a lot of research, and there
are very few stylish wedding
dresses for wheelchairs,”
he said. “The back is made
of jersey without any
adornments so that you can
sit in it comfortably but the
front is very pretty.”
Tsuruta also used a print
that at first glance looked
like placed polka dots
but was actually a visual
representation of braille
dots. Oversize plaids and
houndstooth checks contrasted
with solid shades of red, blue,
yellow and green on Mod shift
dresses, schoolgirl skirts and
long prairie dresses. There
was also a great selection
of coats from a voluminous
orange hooded number to a
chic style color-blocked in
camel and black with a large
bow at the chest.
6 WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
Live From Tokyo
®
THEY ARE WEARING
AS TOKYO FASHION WEEK HITS THE HALFWAY POINT, THE CITY’S VIBRANT STREET STYLE
IS IN FULL FORCE. MANY LOOKS ARE AS IMAGINATIVE AND QUIRKY AS EVER, BUT
THIS SEASON, TAILORED, MINIMAL AND CHIC ARE MAKING A STRONG APPEARANCE, TOO.
PHOTOS BY ONNIE KOSKI
FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE
WWD.com/
fashion-news.
WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 7
WWD.COM
Collections Shimmer on Lakmé Runways
By MAYU SAINI
MUMBAI, India — The five days
of Lakmé Fashion Week emphasized femininity in the summer
and resort collections on show.
This was not necessarily with
the heavy embellishments that
often characterize Indian design — although there was some
of that, too — but rather with
net, swirling gowns, unexpected
windows of skin through the use
of transparent fabrics and a lot
of demure coverage.
There were the metallics,
too, like the burnished gold
of Gaurav Gupta’s collection.
Gupta worked with U.K.-based
Indian accessory designer
Mawi, who showcased her line
in India for the first time with
the chunky jewelry adding to
the Egyptian theme of the show,
which was called “Memphire.”
Togas and saris, jumpsuits and
gowns in metallic jersey were
complemented by gold ribbed
collars, pendants and chunky
jeweled collars.
This was the first time Mawi
has shown in India. “I think
the market in India is changing along with the people’s lifestyles and there seems to be a
far greater desire for international themes. People’s percep-
tion about jewelry is part of the
change as well,” she said.
Rajesh Pratap Singh also focused on metallics in his show,
the last one of Lakmé Fashion
Week, which closed Sunday.
Accentuated by mirrors on the
runway, the clean silhouettes
that Singh is known for shim-
mered. Fabrics created for the
show included weaves of silver
and stainless steel, and silk
and linen, all based around the
them “Illusion.”
That was also the name of
the new makeup line launched
during the shows by Lakmé, the
homegrown beauty brand from
Quirk
Box
Aartivijay
Gupta
Hindustan Unilever, and one of
the organizers of the event along
with IMG Reliance Pvt. Ltd.
“This is the trend of the
season and our new launch. It
is young and edgy,” Purnima
BEAUTY BEAT
NYX Cosmetics Seeks Buyer
By MOLLY PRIOR
NYX COSMETICS, the indie mass-market brand known for its makeup artistry
positioning, is looking for a buyer.
The U.S. employees of the Los
Angeles-based firm, founded in
1999 by Toni Ko, were notified on
Monday at a company event that
NYX was exploring strategic alternatives, particularly as it plots
its global expansion, according to
industry sources. The company
is said to have tapped investment
bank Piper Jaffray for the purpose. Currently, about 25 percent of
NYX’s sales are international.
NYX has captured the attention
of industry observers — and potential strategic and financial players
— for its meteoric growth in mass
color cosmetics, an area dominated
by large brands owned by the likes
of L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble Co.
NYX has recorded an average
annual growth rate of almost 50 percent for the last five years, according
to the company, which declined to
comment on talk of a potential sale.
Its wholesale sales are said to
surpass $100 million, according to
industry sources. The brand is sold
Items
from NYX
Cosmetics.
across mass retailers such as Ulta,
CVS Pharmacy and Target.
The company’s prowess on social media, including YouTube and
Instagram, has further piqued competitors’ interest.
When it comes to YouTube conversion footprints — or total views
of videos mentioning a brand —
NYX ranked third among beauty
brands with 318 million video mentions, behind only Urban Decay with
347 million and Maybelline with 371
million, according to Pixability, a
data software company that helps
major brands with YouTube.
L’Oréal Taps Rochet for Digital Post
PARIS — L’Oréal said it has named
Lubomira Rochet chief digital officer and member of the company’s
executive committee.
In her newly created role, she reports to Jean-Paul Agon, the French
beauty giant’s chairman and chief
executive officer.
“Digital expertise will shape the
iconic brands and companies of
the 21st century,” said Agon. “The
mission of this new organization,
which will be directed by Lubomira
Rochet, in relation with the group’s
digital teams, is to accelerate
L’Oréal’s digital transformation
regarding consumer experience,
service-based innovation, customer
service and technology platforms.”
The
36-year- old
FrenchBulgarian national most recently
was managing director of Valtech
France. Prior to that, she worked at
Microsoft, managing its relationship
with start-ups and the innovation
ecosystem, and Capgemini as director of strategy and development for
its Sogeti unit. — JENNIFER WEIL
Lamba, head of innovations at
Lakmé, said.
Indian companies remained
a focus of the five days of shows,
which included a textile day on
Friday during which traditional
weaves, appliqués and embroidery techniques from different parts of India appeared on
the runway in collections by
the likes of Anita Dongre and
Krishna Mehta.
However, the focus on textiles was not limited to one
day alone — the opening
show of Lakmé Fashion Week
was by Sreejith Jeevan, who
has studied textiles at the
National Institute of Design
in Ahmedabad and École
Nationale Supérieure des Arts
Décoratifs in Paris. He presented a collection of clean,
simple cuts with fabrics focused
on words he used often, such as
“cool” and “breathable.”
Even as designers emphasized Indian textiles and
heritage, more Western styles
continued to proliferate on
the runways as in Narendra
Kumar’s collection of structured
tops and pencil pants. Inspired
by the work of artist Franz
Kline, the line held a different
kind of femininity — with sharp
tailoring, pleats and detailing
that combined with the prints
Digvijay
Singh
to add elegance. He also showcased a collection for men.
Designers said they continued to be as busy with buyers coming by — including a
larger number than ever from
e-commerce sites and, as before, from the Middle East. The
number of fashion retailers
from across India continues to
grow, they said.
“I’ve been real busy,” said
Aartivijay Gupta, whose prints told
a story of miniature Indian paintings. “I think each designer is seeing a different bunch of buyers.”
American Apparel Misses SEC Deadline
The Los Angeles-based retailer said it had
“devoted considerable resources” to develop
a plan of compliance for the NYSE MKT and
AMERICAN APPAREL INC. has missed the was “pursuing financing alternatives as a
filing deadline for its annual report with the means to increase the company’s available
Securities and Exchange Commission as it cash to fund debt service requirements and
struggles to fund its operations and pay inter- operational needs.”
Public companies with sales of less than
est on its debt.
The company notified the SEC Tuesday $700 million but more than $75 million have
that it had missed the Monday deadline — 75 days from the end of the fiscal year to file
75 days after the end of its fiscal year on a 10-K and are required to notify the SEC if
they are unable to do so.
Dec. 31 — for its annual
American Apparel’s 2013
report, or Form 10-K, besales were $634 million. It
cause it was focusing on
expects a net loss for the
putting together a plan to
year of $122.1 million, with
regain compliance with
interest and other expensthe listing standards of
es, on a net basis, rising to
the NYSE MKT exchange.
AMERICAN APPAREL INC.
$91.8 million from $34.3
The exchange notified
SALES IN 2013.
million in 2012.
American Apparel that it
Details involving a
needed to file a plan to
regain compliance by Friday and make prog- waiver or new financing arrangements are
necessary both for the plan to regain compliress toward meeting the plan by April 15.
The section of the NYSE MKT code cited ance with NYSE MKT guidelines and the anby the exchange covers companies with im- nual report.
As of Feb. 28, the company had $4.9 milpaired operations that could be unable to
lion in cash and $2.7 million of availability
meet financial obligations as they mature.
American Apparel is currently seeking under the Capital One facility. Both figures
a waiver from Capital One Business Credit are substantially lower than the $8.7 million
Corp. as it failed to adhere to certain cove- and $6.3 million, respectively, reported for
Dec. 31.
nants of its credit facility with the bank.
By ARNOLD J. KARR
$634M
Fabergé Closes Unit Over Ukraine Fears
By SAMANTHA CONTI
LONDON — Fabergé, the London-based
high-end jeweler with roots in Russia, has
closed its Kiev boutique due to “heightening security fears in Ukraine,” a company
spokeswoman said Tuesday. The store is not
expected to reopen before June.
“We have been told that all other competing brands have adopted the same
strategy,” the spokeswoman said, adding,
“Fabergé’s thoughts and support go to our
partners to help them handle the situation as best as possible. The team will be
spending some time with our Ukrainian
partner in Basel [Switzerland], to talk
through potential plans.”
The store, which is run with a local
Ukrainian partner, had reopened on March
4, after having been closed temporarily on
Feb. 21 for security reasons. The company
still plans to run ad campaigns in April issues of the Ukrainian editions of Vogue,
Harper’s Bazaar and Forbes, and will continue with outdoor advertising.
As reported, Stephen Webster’s Kiev boutique was temporarily closed in February
and early March due to the crisis in Crimea.
According to Anastasia Webster, Webster’s
Russian-born wife and the international
public relations director of his company, the
store has since reopened and 18 pieces of
jewelry have been sold so far this month.
8
WWD wednesday, march 19, 2014
Li & Fung Defends ‘Middleman’ Model
li & Fung ltd. grew to be a powerhouse by squeezing cost out of the supply
chain — and although analysts fear the
company is now feeling the squeeze itself, Bruce rockowitz begs to differ.
rockowitz, who is president and chief
executive officer of li & Fung, brushed
aside outside concerns that the company’s
role as a “middleman” is not sustainable,
that it’s too reliant on momentum-losing
private label brands and that it is facing
rising labor costs, particularly in China.
instead, the ceo was optimistic about the
future, noting that the troubled lF usA unit
swung back to profitability in fiscal 2013 and
that sales in the u.s. are picking up.
“things have been written about private
brands diminishing,” rockowitz told WWd
in an interview earlier this year before the
company entered a blackout period ahead
of releasing its full-year 2013 numbers on
thursday. “We don’t see that trend. We don’t
see what people are actually talking about.”
the ceo said some market observers
have taken a few isolated examples of
department stores scaling back their private label business and made sweeping
generalizations.
“Our percentage of private brands to
the department store level is only a small
part of our business and we don’t see that
trend anyway,” he said.
As the firm prepares to present its new
three-year plan this month, analysts are
looking for scaled-down expectations,
fewer acquisitions and a stronger focus
on organic growth. that reticence stems
not only from li & Fung’s recent track
record, but also stiff headwinds from a
’’
By AmAndA KAiser and
ellen sheng
changing industry. in August, the company
reported profits in the first half of the year
dropped 69 percent to $96 million, while
sales came in flat at $9.13 billion amid a
“challenging” retail environment in the
u.s. the firm counts Kohl’s Corp. and
Wal-mart stores inc. as its two biggest clients, but also works with American eagle
Outfitters inc., Aéropostale inc., PVh’s
Corp.’s tommy hilfiger and Kate spade.
“they’ve been more cautious in the last
six months on guidance,” said mariana Kou,
’’
[In] 2008 the world fell apart,
it really takes six to seven years
to recover [from] that size of
calamity and we’re coming out
of it now. I’m looking forward
to the next three years.
— Bruce rockowitz, Li & Fung Ltd.
analyst at ClsA in hong Kong, of li & Fung.
“they have a bad track record in missing a
couple of [previous targets] already.”
rockowitz did not disclose any financial
forecasts but he did allow that the company’s turnaround of its u.s. unit is “totally
on track” and the division will swing from
a loss in fiscal 2012 to a profit in fiscal 2013.
“We’re now past the difficult part,”
rockowitz said.
speaking more broadly, he characterized 2013 as a “very volatile year” for
the u.s. and noted sales there turned
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out “pretty well” over the final five or six
weeks of last year, although there was a
lot of discounting. elsewhere, europe
“looks better than the numbers,” with the
u.K. doing better than expected, he said.
“[in] 2008 the world fell apart, it really
takes six to seven years to recover [from]
that size of calamity and we’re coming out
of it now,” he said. “i’m looking forward to
the next three years.”
li & Fung shares rose 0.8 percent
tuesday to 10.14 hong Kong dollars, or
$1.31, but the stock dropped 25 percent last
year, reflecting the company’s challenging
outlook. in december, moody’s downgraded the company’s credit rating to “Baa1”
from “A3,” citing risk from its distribution
business and uncertainty in the global
macroeconomic environment.
For years, li & Fung has built its reputation as a low-cost sourcing specialist.
the firm’s trading unit boasts a network
of 15,000 suppliers in China, Bangladesh,
Cambodia and elsewhere. Analysts contend the difficulty with this model is that
costs in China, where the company does
much of its sourcing, are rising at a time
when the u.s. economy and u.s. consumer spending remain sluggish. Wages
are also rising in Cambodia, where labor
protests have turned deadly. And the apparel industry in Bangladesh is still dealing with the aftermath of the tragedies at
rana Plaza and tazreen Fashions that
killed more than 1,200 people and resulted in the formation of two international
groups of retailers and brands aimed at
toughening safety standards in factories
there and improving working conditions.
“We suggest investors focus on the
sustainability of li & Fung’s ‘middleman’
model in an increasingly transparent and
connected world,” said spencer leung,
analyst at uBs. leung has a “sell’ rating
on the company’s shares and noted some
retailers, buyers and suppliers feel li &
Fung’s biggest competitive advantage in
the past — its flexible network of factories
— has turned into its biggest weakness.
Factories generally make about 1 to
3 percent net margin while wages in
China are rising at about 10 percent a
year and labor usually makes up 20 percent of the cost of goods. For the past
two decades, middlemen such as li &
Fung have been squeezing suppliers,
which make close to no profit. But as
margins shrink to nothing, suppliers are
increasingly walking away. Fast-fashion
retailers such as Zara, h&m and uniqlo
are also emphasizing speed over margins and dealing directly with factories.
rockowitz was quick to debunk the
theory that li & Fung’s business model
has come under strain.
While the executive acknowledged
that costs are rising in China, he said it’s
also important to note that Chinese factories’ expertise and efficiency outpace
that of other countries, particularly in
areas such as leather goods, shoes and
toys. Currently li & Fung does about
half of its overall manufacturing in
China and half in other countries like
Bangladesh and Cambodia, rockowitz
said. But he specified that it’s a different
story for apparel, where li & Fung does
only 25 percent of its sourcing in China.
“[the Chinese are] more efficient than
all the other countries and so the cost of
labor is higher but they need fewer people
and the accuracy is higher, the quality is better, the compliance is better,” he said.
rockowitz similarly dismissed the
suggestion that the “middleman” model
is not sustainable.
“honestly that story comes out every
five years or so…what happens is one or
two people open their own [sourcing] office
and it creates a trend in people’s minds,”
he said. “there’s no overall trend in the
market per se. We have not lost any customers…any large customers, any sizable customers to that trend in the last few years.”
if anything, rockowitz argued, the market is moving in the other direction with
retailers and brands realizing the importance of having a partner when it comes to
manufacturing in volatile developing countries. Worker safety issues have taken center stage in the fashion industry since the
rana Plaza disaster last April.
“i think the [Bangladesh] tragedy really showed a lot of brands and retailers that they do need a partner like li
& Fung to oversee not just the quality of
production and not just the pricing, but
also to oversee the integrity of the factories and that the treatment of workers is
in line with what it should be,” he said.
in January li & Fung said it created
a new business unit to zero in on factory and worker safety. dubbed Vendor
support services, the unit will be led by
group chairman dr. William K. Fung.
“As the leading sourcing company in
the world, we feel our responsibility is
to play an even bigger role in bringing
about and speeding up systematic positive change in the industry,” Fung said.
li & Fung’s outlook has also been impacted by its relationship with Wal-mart,
the world’s largest retailer. in a move
that some saw as highlighting the challenges in li & Fung’s trading business,
the company revised its deal with Walmart in 2012 and signed a new five-year
agreement with the retailer.
“it’s well known that the Wal-mart
deal hasn’t performed as well as originally expected,” said ClsA’s Kou, noting
that li & Fung is now mostly dealing with
sam’s Club, rather than all of Wal-mart.
the partnership seems to be fairly steady
but with “not as much growth as before,”
she said. ClsA estimates li & Fung’s revenue will grow 9 percent in 2014.
rockowitz downplayed the significance
of the altered agreement with Wal-mart,
characterizing the changes as “minor.”
under the previous deal, li & Fung channeled its Wal-mart sourcing exclusively
through one of its subsidiaries, direct
sourcing group, but now it can leverage
other parts of its business to serve Walmart, the ceo said.
the market is also eyeing li & Fung’s acquisition strategy going forward. the company has snapped up a number of assets
over the past several years, including new
York-based handbag importer Van Zeeland
inc. and Beyoncé and tina Knowles’ fashion business Beyond Productions.
rockowitz said li & Fung will still make
acquisitions as opportunities present themselves but that the firm is emphasizing organic growth over the next few years.
“the focus will be to utilize what we
have, grow what we have, do more with
existing customers and do a better job
with existing customers and, of course,
get new customers,” he said.
nicholas studholm-Wilson, an analyst
at sun hung Kai Financial, has a slightly
more optimistic take on the company than
some of his peers. though he acknowledged that the sluggish consumer outlook
in the u.s. is difficult, he said li & Fung
could improve its growth profile by targeting emerging markets as a distributor of
brands. li & Fung is also diversifying, the
analyst said, and now has about 35 percent
of its business in non-apparel hard goods.
the company is likely to focus on
strengthening its distribution and trading businesses, said studholm-Wilson,
who has a “buy” rating on li & Fung.
“the problem is if consumption doesn’t
get better, then they have to rethink their
strategy,” he said.
— With contributions
From VicKi m. YounG
WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014 9
WWD.COM
Harold Koda Brings Eye to Miami Beach
stract, almost gory, blossom.
“It looks like blood from a
graphic crime scene in ‘Law &
Order’ filmed around that same
time,” he said, though not intending to focus solely on death.
“I’d like it to be more open to interpretation.”
Several Chanel suits made
to look luxuriously tattered
through tulle-covered holes
across from Greta Alfaro’s video
of buzzards picking at a feast
got a lot of comparisons to “The
Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock.
Barbara Cirkva, fashion division
president for Chanel, agreed,
adding fuzzy molded fruit in
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s video reminded her of angora.
Koda dives into deeper, unsettling commentary, too. One
By REBECCA KLEINMAN
Naeem Khan and
Harold Koda
Damien Hirst’s
“Cathedral Print
(St. Peter’s).”
Mat Collishaw’s
“Insecticide.”
FOR MORE IMAGES, SEE
WWD.com.
can’t help but face the brevity of the individual life span
versus evolution’s grander picture through the pronounced
vestigial tail of Shaun Leane
for Alexander McQueen’s
Spine Corset. The work is surrounded by Pinar Yolacan’s
“Because we put the show together in less than a year, many
pieces that I wanted weren’t
available,” he said of the show’s
small scope in size. “Rather
than my usual nine-course
Edwardian meal, it’s more like a
ladies’ lunch with Bac-Os Bits.”
Mexico Fashion Week Seeks Global Audience
additions retailing for up to $750.
While ProMéxico and the
government must boost support
for young brands, Covalin, 41,
said brands and designers must
strive harder to differentiate
and professionalize themselves.
“Designers need to become more
responsible and better businesspeople,” she said. “More than a
designer, I have become a businesswoman, doing everything
from accounting to legal work.”
Covalin also recruits talented
designers for internships and
eventually full-time work, adding that other firms should follow
suit to help develop the fashion
industry. According to Calles,
more designer-manufacturer
alliances and a much more unified and efficient supply chain is
pivotal at a time when many raw
materials required for innovative apparel design are scarce.
Mexico must also crucially
move away from “Malinchismo,”
a term referring to foreign favoritism and originating from Spanish
conquistador Hernán Cortés’
Mexican bride La Malinche who
helped him colonize Mexico.
“Mexico is 100 percent
Malinchista,” Calles said.
“Mexicans prefer to buy foreign
apparel, even cheap Chinese
clothing that may fall apart in
their hands.
“They don’t want ‘Made in
Mexico.’ This is our biggest
challenge.”
MEXICO CITY — Mexico will
strive to add more European
and foreign buyers to its semiannual Mercedes-Benz Fashion
Week as part of efforts to build a
stronger global fashion identity.
The event’s director, Beatriz
Calles, said the fall edition, to
be held at Mexico City’s Campo
Marte April 1 to 4, will host
four French buyers, the first
time the event will have drawn
such a significant European
component.
Export promotion agency
ProMéxico is bringing the
French team as part of a campaign to find international buyers keen on Mexican fashion,
which Calles helped devise.
In the past, ProMéxico had requested the fair submit a list
of sought-after buyers in each
country, a process that didn’t
work well. Calles then asked
ProMéxico to be more proactive
and instruct its global offices to
provide good prospects.
“The first office to raise its
hand was Paris and I can’t tell
you how delighted we were,”
Calles said. “Paris is the capital of fashion and everything
happens in France. We hope
’’
By IVAN CASTANO
to learn a lot from them about
what Mexico can offer them.”
Calles said MBFWMX will
strive to offer buyers a wide selection of top designer brands in
different segments. Organizers
hope to gradually bring other
European customers, notably
from Germany, the U.K. and
Scandinavia. Japan, where designer Alejandra Quesada has
already made a big splash, is
also a future target, Calles said.
Most foreign buyers come
from the U.S., followed by Latin
America. Calles would not give
a sales and visitor forecast for
the upcoming MBFWMX, but
said it will be similar to past
editions and involve roughly
33,000 people, 22 runway shows
and 30 designers.
She would not give future
growth forecasts for the event,
for which American Express is
a leading sponsor. She stressed
that the main goal will be to
increase foreign buyers’ attendance while raising local sales.
“In five years, I would like
Mexican fashion to be much
more international as more
countries and consumers get to
know our designers and products,” Calles said.
Promoting Mexico, best known
as a textiles and basic apparel
manufacturer to the U.S., as more
of a global fashion purveyor will
obviously be a huge challenge.
That said, prolific designers such
as Julia y Renata, Alejandro
Carlin, Alejandra Sanabria and
Macario Jiménez have made
progress in positioning the country as a maker of more fashionable women’s apparel.
“They are offering a view lens
à-porter, respectively.
Luxury accessories label
Pineda Covalin is another success story, one that closely embodies brands’ efforts to reach
the international arena. Pineda
Covalin is set to open its first U.S.
stand-alone store in New York’s
SoHo neighborhood this month,
bringing its global store count to
seven after recently arriving in
In five years, I would like Mexican
fashion to be much more international
as more countries and consumers get
to know our designers and products.
’’
— BEATRIZ CALLES, MERCEDES-BENZ
FASHION WEEK MEXICO
of what Latin women wear at different times of the day and their
lives,” Calles said, adding that
their clothes have become known
for exuding a sense of sensuality.
Mexican designers have become a lot more specialized and
efficient in serving different
market segments, with Carlin
and Sanabria making a name in
women’s party dresses and prêt-
Panama City and establishing its
first Miami shop in 2008.
With 120 doors, the brand
markets leather handbags and
handcrafted jewelry inspired
by Mexican culture and mythical symbols, in addition to upscale unisex apparel. Under
a joint venture, it also sells
leather purses embellished with
Swarovski crystals, with recent
“INSECTICIDE” PHOTO COURTESY OF TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK
AS THE UNOFFICIAL “sixth
borough” of New York City,
Miami Beach makes sense for
Harold Koda’s first exhibit outside of The Costume Institute
at The Metropolitan Museum
of Art and the Fashion Institute
of Technology. The Costume
Institute’s curator in charge
loaned his expertise and some
of his enviable vaults’ treasures for “Vanitas: Fashion and
Art,” which opened at the Bass
Museum of Art last week and
runs through July 20. Besides
locale, the collaboration marks
another departure in his career:
It’s his first foray into curating
contemporary art.
“I also picked the art except
two videos, which their curators
selected,” said Koda, delighted
that one titled “Still Life” by
Jason Salavon ended up being
his favorite work in the show. “I
love how its types of skulls and
candles slowly change.”
The subjects fit perfectly
within his theme inspired by
vanitas, Dutch still lifes depicting organic matter’s ephemeralness, aka beautiful, poetic death.
Ranging from Monarch butterflies to deconstructed knitwear
by Yohji Yamamoto that turned
the definition of designer fashion
on its head in the early Nineties,
according to Koda, many subjects, such as poppies, have occupied his imagination for decades. His enchantment with
the flower’s delicacy, happy hue
and infamy as an opiate started
with a Vogue holiday spread
photographed by Irving Penn in
the late Sixties. Its pages are displayed alongside Philip Treacy’s
enormous poppy hat and Isaac
Mizrahi’s belted tea dress in
white piqué printed with an ab-
photographs of mature women
wearing ruched garments sewn
from chicken skin, a metaphor
for gender inequality with the
fairer sex being assigned an expiration date like meat at the
grocery store.
Literally more vanity than
vanitas, though a fleeting notion just the same, an Elsa
Schiaparelli suit jacket’s symmetrical, Rococo hand mirrors
embroidered in gold foil and
silk and filled with mirror mosaics by Lesage leap out from
their black velvet background.
To hammer home the point, the
mannequin holds a cracked, antique hand mirror. The piece is
phenomenal, despite Koda, like
his subjects, not having time on
his side to source his hit list.
10 WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
IF OBJECTS could talk, these
would have juicy stories to tell.
Mouna Ayoub, the Lebanese
socialite, jet-setter and couture
patron, is auctioning off the
contents of her yacht Phocéa,
which she owned between 1997
and 2009. All and all, 1,000
objects are going under the
hammer at Paris’ Drouot
Richelieu in late April.
Why now? “Because
I gave up hope of getting
her back,” an exasperated
Ayoub told WWD.
Ayoub, a former
waitress who married Nasser
Al-Rashid, a billionaire adviser
to the late King Fahd of Saudi
Arabia, is the world’s most
well-known customer of haute
couture, owner of a total of
1,598 pieces, “plus or minus
two, I have to redo the math
after a new inventory.”
She had been trying to
buy back the yacht she had
customized to match her tony
lifestyle from its present owner,
who is of Asian provenance
but whose name Ayoub did not
disclose. But after six months
of painful negotiations, the deal
came off the table.
“I had told him to take good
care of her, but he is not doing
anything with her,” Ayoub
lamented. She then reminisced
about the good times she spent
on what used to be — until 2004
— the largest sailing
yacht in the world.
Her charters —
priced at 290,000
euros, or $403,605 at
current exchange, a
week — were legendary.
The sailing ship carried
supermodels and royalty,
including the Prince Albert II
of Monaco, high patron of the
World Music Awards.
“Every singer who performed
at the awards came to a cocktail
on the Phocéa the night before.
Alicia Keys once came with so
much security we hardly had
room for them,” she said.
More than one movie script
was memorized on its deck.
“I’m sorry I can’t reveal more.
I signed a confidentiality
eye
agreement,” Ayoub purred.
The lots she’s auctioning off
include tableware and lifestyle
objects, most custom-made by
the world’s chicest houses —
Hermès, Tiffany, Cartier — for
the Phocéa, dubbed “bateau
couture” (or “couture ship”).
There’s even a Christmas tree
Tom Ford designed for Yves
Saint Laurent in 2001.
The toughest to let go
will be her “messages in a
bottle,” 46 flacons especially
made by Bulgari, 1,000 of
which were sent to various
royals and celebrities as
invitations to spend time
on the yacht. “The design
I did with Mr. Bulgari took
a lot of time, because once the
message went in, it stayed there,
and you had to be able to read it
from every angle,” Ayoub said.
One of the couture lots,
“Bateau-Lavoir,” an ensemble
featuring a sailor-striped top
and black culottes by Jean
Paul Gaultier, one of Ayoub’s
favorite designers, comes
with a particularly colorful
Mouna
Ayoub
PHOTO BY LOIC VENANCE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Mouna’s Moving Sale
capsized, pitching Ayoub and
two of her children into the sea
but not before she grabbed the
Gaultier. “I said, ‘Oh my God, I
have to dress in couture in case
there are photographers!’” she
recalled. “Now, look where my
head was.”
She made sure to point out
it’s the only couture look she
has ever worn twice.
“Once in the water, once
“Bateau-Lavoir” by outside of the water,” she said.
backstory of
its own.
In 2002,
the yacht hit
a rock off the
Corsican coast
and eventually
Jean Paul Gaultier.
— PAULINA SZMYDKE
She’s So Excited
Sean
PHOTOS BY STEVE EICHNER
Dalton a few blocks away.”
ON MONDAY EVENING, when all the
Without so much as an introduction,
makeshift leprechauns and Erin go
bragh’s had tucked into bed with a postEleanor Friedberger, best-known as the
St. Patrick’s Day parade hangover, the
lead vocalist of the band the Fiery
downtown Manhattan crowd was just
Furnaces, struck the first chord on her
getting started.
Fender and launched into the first of
Trading in green beer and fourthe night’s two musical performances.
leaf clovers for coconut water and
Ariel Pink followed. Recognizing
organic tequila, Zani Gugelmann, Jessica
Friedberger’s deep croon, Wohl quickly
beelined to the front of the room and
Stam, Tennessee Thomas, Dustin Yellin and
claimed a seat next to Cory Kennedy
MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden converged
at Hecho en Dumbo, which is actually
atop a stage-adjacent banquet. “I’m so
on the Bowery in Manhattan. The cause
excited that she’s performing,” Wohl
was Arden Wohl’s latest collection of
gushed. “She’s amazing.”
vegan shoes for Cri de Coeur, which the
— LAUREN MCCARTHY
scenesters took in while noshing on a
buffet of vegan tacos and guacamole.
Jessica Stam
“This is so great. For people to come
out for vegan fashion is amazing,”
Wohl said. “A lot of girls look beautiful
and are wearing the shoes tonight.”
She flitted around the crowded room
in a Zac Posen cocktail frock and a
pair of translucent and bow-adorned
heels from the collection, greeting just
about everyone who walked by. “I’m so
excited,” she said, pausing every now
and then to catch her breath. “Do you
know my friend Rachel? She’s amazing.”
Everyone was amazing; everyone got
an air kiss. On cue, Nicky Hilton, herself
in a pair of buckled mary janes by Wohl,
sidled up to the guest of honor.
“Talk to Nicky, she’s amazing,”
FOR MORE PHOTOS, SEE
Wohl exclaimed before moving
on to her next round of hellos.
WWD.com/eye.
“I’ve known Arden since high
school,” Hilton explained. “I
went to the all-girls school [Convent
of the] Sacred Heart and she went to
Charlotte Kemp Muhl
and Sean Lennon
Charlotte
ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO, the freespirit model Charlotte Kemp Muhl was
at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts
Festival in Indio, Calif. She was dressed,
as the festival’s unofficial dress code
requires, in HotPants and cowboy boots.
There, she met Sean Lennon, son of John,
and who knows if it was the HotPants
or the cowboy boots, but Lennon was
smitten. She was 17 at the time.
“We didn’t even unofficially date for
a year,” Lennon recalled recently.
“We courted each other through
letters. It was actually super-oldfashioned,” she said.
“It was much better when we
weren’t in the same room. Especially
when I was sending you pictures of
another guy’s body,” he said.
“Yeah, he was sending me pictures of
another guy’s torso, and I was falling in
love with him,” Kemp Muhl teased back.
The pair bantered like an old
couple because they are, in their
personal and professional lives. In
2008, they formed a folk music project,
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, that
has received some acclaim. Last week,
they were in Austin, Tex. to perform
five shows at the South by Southwest
festival, which ended Sunday.
“Basically she was the coolestlooking person I’d ever seen, and
within seven seconds of talking to her,
it was obvious that she was smarter
than me, but I had the advantage that
I was 100 years older, so I’ve been
exploiting that ever since,” Lennon,
now 38 to Kemp’s 26, said of their
fateful meeting in the desert.
They decided to form a band
because, under Lennon’s tutelage,
Kemp Muhl was inhaling “the classics
of rock ’n’ roll.
“I was just listening to it nonstop,
and we were both like, ‘This is the
kind of music we have to write now,’”
she said. They have released an EP
and an album, “Acoustic Sessions,”
and they go electric in their latest,
“Midnight Sun,” which heads to stores
at the end of April.
This was not their first time at South
by Southwest — Lennon came in 1997,
and they performed as a duo with their
last album four years ago.
“We love Texas. That’s where I got
this [fringe] jacket,” she said. “Oh my
God, we found this antique shop with
crazy Masonic robes, like Freemason
and stuff. We got so much amazing stuff.”
Next, they intend to tour some more
and put out more records. And, for
Kemp Muhl, more modeling, which
pays for her less lucrative music career.
“I feel like Robin Hood or
something. I’m trying to steal money
from the fashion industry and put it in
the music industry,” she said.
— JENNY SUNDEL
PHOTO BY LEXIE MORELAND
Arden Wohl
WWD wednesday, march 19, 2014 11
WWD.COM
Fashion scoops
MeMo pad
GOING ONCE, GOING TWICE: Dover
page ad in Vogue’s September issue. Kate
Spade New York will produce creative
and purchase the media for the ad, which
is the culmination of a three-month-long
initiative that the CFDA/Vogue Fashion
Fund and Kate Spade New York have
teamed up on to help designers take
their brands to the next level. This is the
program’s second year; Joseph Altuzarra
won the contest last year. Péan competed
against Suno, Creatures of the Wind,
Public School and Eddie Borgo.
After participating in the brand-building
seminars about setting brand goals,
diversifying marketing options and creating
a p.r. and social media strategy, each
designer was asked to present a concept for
an ad in Vogue as their final product.
Péan is a New York-based fine jewelry
designer known for her avant-garde style.
She launched her business in 2006. In
2009, she was one of the recipients of
the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award
and won the Ecco Domani Fashion
Foundation Award for Accessories that
same year. She also was awarded the firstever CVFF and Tiffany & Co. development
grant in July 2011. — LISA LOCKWOOD
Street Market just can’t get enough of
Giambattista Valli. After the successful
launch last month of Valli’s shop-in-shop
at the retailer’s London headquarters,
the designer will launch a three-and-ahalf week pop-up shop at the New York
location from March 28 to April 22.
Located on the ground floor of the
Comme des Garçons-owned concept
store, the pop-up — which will have
pink walls like his Paris and Milan
boutiques, as well as fixtures designed
by Valli — will offer exclusive
clothing, accessories and fragrances.
Some items — like a demi-couture silk
dress and an exclusive handbag style
— will be customizable. The shop will
also sell the designer’s iconic “prettyugly” sandal, for $995, as well as two
Giambattista Valli by Cire Trudon
candle scents, Positano and Rose
Poivrée. — KRISTI GARCED
RETURN TRIP: Clémence Poésy, who
from 2008 to 2010 served as the face
of Chloé Eau de Parfum alongside
Chloë Sevigny and Anja Rubik, will
return to the brand as the face of a
new Chloé scent, which will launch
in September. “We chose Clémence
as she is a natural fit for the brand.
To us, she defines what effortless
French seduction stands for,” said
Françoise Mariez, senior vice president
of International European Marketing
Licenses for Coty Prestige, which
holds the Chloé fragrance license.
Mariez didn’t disclose much about the
scent except to say that it will reveal
“a more sophisticated and seductive
side” of the brand.
“Working with Clémence on the
ad campaign has been such a joy.
[Clémence] captures in her spirit both
the effortless, free nature of Chloé but
also the playful charm that is so true
to the maison and what is so modern
now,” said Clare Waight Keller, Chloé’s
creative director.
Poésy’s acting credits include “127
Hours,” “Gossip Girl” and the “Harry
Potter” movies. — JULIE NAUGHTON
Kate Hudson
in one of the
LBDs for
Ann Taylor.
Hudson said, “so there’s something for
every occasion and everyone.”
— MARC KARIMZADEH
JOINING JOURNELLE: Specialty lingerie
retailers Journelle has poached Rania
Abu-Eid, a longtime designer at Victoria’s
Secret, to be senior designer in the
retailer’s design department. The new
hire will be pivotal to Journelle’s plans
to launch its first private label collection
for holiday 2014, WWD has learned.
Journelle operates Manhattan boutiques
in SoHo, Union Square and on the Upper
East Side. “I was ready to embrace a new
challenge....The opportunity to step into
a growing boutique brand and craft its
identity through product design from the
very beginning doesn’t often come your
way, especially in the lingerie industry,”
commented Abu-Eid.
In January 2013, Triumph
International, the $2.1 billion
innerwear powerhouse that owns
several brands including Triumph,
Sloggi and Valisere, acquired a majority
stake in Journelle. The announcement
of the private label line fits with plans
to open additional stores and reach a
broader market. Journelle relaunched
its Web site in October, after a multicity
pop-up tour marketing the brand’s
signature experience and promoting
the new site’s arrival. — KARYN MONGET
BOCHIC DOES BAGS: Bochic is branching
out from fine jewelry and entering
the handbag market with a new line
of evening clutches. The move marks
the brand’s first expansion outside of
jewelry. The New York-based company
will introduce the initial collection in
September with three styles inspired
by Fifties film noir: Alicia, Gilda
ARMANI ON FILM: Giorgio Armani marked
and Madeleine. Each style includes
the official start of the “Films of City
intricate gold handles made in Rome,
Frames” movie project, whose launch
with the base done in some
was revealed last month,
variation of crocodile, python,
with a video message
For more
serpentine and sting ray.
available starting today at
scoops, see
Referring back to the
framesoflife.com. Linked
brand’s origins, each style
WWD.com. with the brand’s Frames
features a jewelry detail,
of Life eyewear campaign,
using enamel and precious
the project, developed in
stones to create ringlike clasps and
collaboration with Rai Cinema,
additional embellishments. Each
will see a number of cinema students
style is handmade in Florence, with
involved in the creation of short
price points starting at $2,500. The
movies capturing everyday life’s urban
collection will be sold worldwide
moments with Armani’s new Frames of
through a series of trunk shows and
Life eyeglasses as protagonists. Italian
similar events, as well as on the
director Paolo Sorrentino, who earlier
Bochic site. — LAUREN MCCARTHY
this month won an Academy Award for
the film “The Great Beauty,” will be
mentoring the students.
KATE’S TAKE: Kate Hudson’s partnership
Six film schools are participating
with Ann Taylor continues — this
in the project — New York’s Tisch,
time via her designs on the little
School of the Arts; USC’s School
black dress. The actress collaborated
of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles;
with Ann Taylor creative director Lisa
Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di
Axelson on a capsule of LBDs, which
Cinematografia; London’s NFTS,
hit stores April 10. The five styles are
National Film and Television School;
named after their sartorial spirit,
Paris’ Esra, École Supérieure de
including The Romantic, a softer,
Réalisation, and the Hong Kong
short silhouette, and Camera Ready,
Academy for Performing Arts.
named for its sculpted fit and cutout
Directed by Piero Messina, a short
details. Best Actress, meanwhile, is
an off-shoulder, floor-length column
movie presenting the “Films of
number, ready for the red carpet. “We
City Frames” project is available at
designed them to fit how we all live,”
framesoflife.com. — ALESSANDRA TURRA
PÉAN’S VICTORY: Fine jewelry designer
Monique Péan will be the recipient of a full-
BILLBOARD TARGETS FASHION: Janice Min is
zeroing in on fashion as she looks to remake
the struggling music trade publication
Billboard. The Guggenheim Media
Entertainment Group copresident and chief
creative officer has hired Tasha Green, men’s
style editor for WSJ Weekend and WSJ.
Magazine, as Billboard’s fashion editor.
Green will join Billboard on March 31.
“I am looking to bring people in who
are great journalists first and foremost
and people who can help bring Billboard
to a larger audience,” Min told WWD.
Min, who helped transform The
Hollywood Reporter, is broadening
Billboard’s coverage in order to
attract more eyes and — perhaps more
importantly — more ads. Green’s addition
follows a slew of new hires including
design director Rob Hewitt, art director
Frank Augugliaro, designer Carrie Lam, photo
editor Samantha Xu, culture editor Degen
Pener, lifestyle and business reporter
Eileen Daspin and writers Frank DiGiacomo
and Carson Griffith.
Min said she plans on adding more staff
as the “evolution” of the weekly continues
to “unfold.” — ALEXANDRA STEIGRAD
MCINERNEY’S WINE & DINE GIG: Town &
Country magazine has added a well-known
contributor to its ranks: Jay McInerney.
He will pen a monthly column
primarily on wine, a subject he has
covered for The Wall Street Journal since
2010. His first Town & Country column will
appear in the magazine’s June/July issue,
which will hit newsstands on May 20.
McInerney told WWD that he decided
to leave the Journal because he’d have
“more freedom” at Town & Country, where
he can write longer features on wine and
also touch on travel, food and culture.
“I think I’m going to have a little more
freedom to focus more on the food or
travel piece of it,” he said, adding that his
Town & Country contract is open-ended
right now. “I’ll sit down with Jay [Fielden,
the title’s editor in chief] in the next
few days over dinner. I think our story
conferences will be a lot more fun than
the average conference room meetings.”
While McInerney won’t be writing
about wine for any other publication, he
will continue to write for other titles on
a variety of subjects, in addition to finetuning his next novel, which is slated to
be published in fall 2015.
Although he doesn’t yet have specifics
on his first assignment, McInerney said
he hopes to write about the Burgundy
region in France and the California
winemakers who are reinventing U.S.produced Burgundy wines.
Fielden said McInerney’s appointment
is the first of several he hopes to make,
adding that now that the magazine has
shown improvement, he’s had more
“leeway” to make hires.
In 2013, the Hearst-owned title saw its
total paid and verified circulation rise 1.1
percent to 461,075 over 2012, as newsstand
sales increased 3.7 percent to 37,554,
according to the Alliance for Audited Media.
“When I inherited the book a few
years ago, it had moldered a bit,”
Fielden admitted. “Now we’re building
a sparkling team. I have a few spots that
need to be filled. I’m looking to bring in
new staff and contributors.”
Recently, the magazine has brought
on Nicoletta Santoro as creative director
at large and contributors such as
photographer Bruce Weber and journalist
Michael Wolff. — A.S.
For more career opportunities log on to WWDCareers.com.
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12 WWD WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2014
WWD.COM
Industry Reels From Designer’s Death
women held a dinner party at The Plaza
hotel on Oct. 10.
“She was the sweetest, the most fun,”
Thomas said, adding, “She had a great
sense of humor and was always witty
with the press.” Thomas also pointed
out how giving and generous Scott was.
Prior to The Plaza party, Thomas recalls
Scott telling her, “I want to give you a
dress.” After a shopping trip to Barneys
New York, Scott then sent a tailor over
to make final adjustments. Thomas said
she never recalled Scott being depressed
or anxious. “She never told me she had a
problem in her business,” Thomas noted,
adding “she was extremely busy at the
end of the year.”
’’
She will be missed.
There will be a
definite void.
’’
— IKRAM GOLDMAN, IKRAM
There was one thing that did puzzle
Thomas, however: When Caudalie was
about to launch its first London spa in
early February, Thomas sent Scott an email invitation. “I did not hear back from
her. She always answered my e-mail,”
Thomas recalled, speculating that Scott
had canceled her London show around
that time. “It was very sad.”
A source said Scott’s company is unlikely to continue to operate and that it
would not ship the designer’s fall collection. While filings for Scott’s company
at Companies House in London showed
her firm lost 4.24 million euros, or $7.04
million at current exchange, in 2012,
this was only for the U.K. portion of her
business and is not indicative of its total
financial condition. In addition, sources
L’Wren Scott
stressed that Scott’s firm did not owe
any creditors.
Retailers such as Ikram in Chicago,
Forty Five Ten in Dallas and Gito in
Englewood, N.J., all said they were
pleased with sales of Scott’s collection.
Barneys New York’s chief executive officer Mark Lee described Scott Tuesday
as “a beloved and accomplished designer of ours for many years….She was an
important partner with a kind and gracious spirit.”
“I carried the line and I was doing
quite well with it,” said Gito Alvarez,
PHOTO BY THOMAS IANNACCONE
{Continued from page one}
Beyond the gruesomeness of her
death, many industry insiders were bereft by the loss of such a irrepressible
personality. In a business that relies on
criticism to make it run, there was an
uncharacteristic shortage of words to
describe the situation. As one Hollywood
power player said, “It’s so incredibly
tragic. It’s beyond sad — forget that.”
An examination of Scott’s body was
scheduled for Tuesday afternoon by the
New York City medical examiner. The
New York City Police Department’s initial investigation indicated the death
was an apparent suicide as there was no
signs of criminality or forced entry.
While Scott’s inner circle of friends
chose not to comment, many fashion executives and stylists on both coasts and
abroad questioned how her life unraveled. One acquaintance said his antenna
shot up around the holidays after Scott’s
Instagram account fell silent following a
flurry of exotic photos around Christmas.
“But then I thought she must have been
busy with her collection,” the source
said. “We all live such hectic lives. But
she really seemed to have it all.”
Sources mentioned how Scott alluded to brushes with depression, and
several said those feelings had intensified over the last few months, beginning
in the New Year and then through early
February, when Scott abruptly canceled
her planned presentation during London
Fashion Week, citing production problems. But for the most part, fashion insiders recalled the 6-foot-3 former model
being ever-welcoming, quick to share in
a laugh and well aware that she could be
intentionally be over-the-top.
“It was so sad, So unexpected: I was
very shocked,” said Mathilde Thomas,
cofounder of Caudalie, who worked with
Scott last year when the designer created a special-edition version of the spa
and skin-care brand’s popular Beauty
Elixir. To celebrate the launch, the two
who owns two stores in Englewood, N.J.
and Millburn, N.J. (Only the Englewood
store carried it.) It was Gito’s second
season with the collection, after experiencing 100 percent sell-throughs for fall.
“Now for spring we have two dresses left
and we are 97 percent sold out,” he said
Tuesday. He said the customer ranged
anywhere from 30 to 55 years old.
Alvarez said when Scott canceled the
fall show, he kept asking his sales representative whether they could see a capsule. “It was doing very well. We didn’t
want to lose the momentum,” he said. He
said Scott didn’t show the fall collection
and canceled all their appointments. “I
was told she wasn’t happy with her samples and they weren’t going to present.”
Brian Bolke, owner of Forty Five Ten,
said he just received Scott’s spring shipment and could not comment on how it
might sell. Based on past seasons, however, he said, “The interesting thing is
it’s not a markdown business. It’s very
classic and carries over season to season.
There’s a real following for it. A lot of her
bestselling pieces were the long pencil
skirts, embellished cardigans and sleeveless, low-neck blouses. All the classics
would sell 100 percent. It became a little
bit of a uniform for them [his customers].”
He said she did a one-off pre-spring 2013
collection of pencil skirts, cardigans and
blouses “which sold to the piece.”
But there were fits and starts. Retailer
Jeffrey had carried it for fall, but didn’t
buy it for spring, said a spokeswoman.
Ikram Goldman, owner of Ikram, said
that she’s carried Scott’s line from the
beginning. “It sells beautifully,” she
said. She also carried her handbags,
hats and scarves.
“She will be missed. There will be a
definite void,” said Goldman.
Plans for services have not been determined.
— WITH CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM SAMANTHA CONTI,
DAVID MOIN AND PETE BORN
J. Crew IPO More Likely Turnstyle to Bring Retail Underground
As Fast Negotiations Falter
By SHARON EDELSON
{Continued from page one}
The $5 billion price tag that was
being talked about in a potential
deal with Fast Retailing valued the
retailer at about 13.5 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It was seen
as a hefty price and one that only a
strategic player like Fast Retailing,
which could cut costs by combining operations, could afford. Fast
Retailing could also use J. Crew’s
expertise to expand Uniqlo in the
U.S. while helping J. Crew step out
internationally.
J. Crew’s earnings growth has
been slowing, complicating a potential sale. Adjusted EBITDA rose 27.4
percent to $359.6 million in 2012, but
rose about 2.9 percent to around $370
million last year.
Financial sources said word of the
talks with Fast Retailing might have
been leaked by J. Crew’s owners in
an effort to move the deal along. If so,
the tactic appears to have misfired
since Fast Retailing was said to be
unhappy that the discussions were
made public.
But, although talks were reported to have broken down, Fast
Retailing is not seen as entirely out
of the picture.
The company’s chairman, president and ceo, Tadashi Yanai, is
known as an admirer of Drexler with
a history of perusing U.S. retail-
ers, having said to have kicked the
tires at Gap Inc., American Eagle
Outfitters Inc. and Aéropostale Inc.
over the years.
If J. Crew were to file paperwork
for an IPO, that would put pressure
— essentially the virtues of a deadline — on Fast Retailing and any
other would-be suitor to make their
move. It also would expose J. Crew’s
investors to the vagaries of the public
markets and a longer exit from their
2.9%
J. CREW’S EBITDA GROWTH IN 2013.
investment, since such investors
would typically only sell a portion of
their equity in the process.
This is a well-worn dance in the
world of high finance.
Neiman Marcus’ owners, TPG
and Warburg Pincus, were said to
have been looking to exit their investment for some time, filed paperwork for a public offering and
then turned around and sold to Ares
Management and the Canada Pension
Plan Investment Board for $6 billion,
or 9.5 times EBITDA, in October.
NEW YORK — Today, retail in subway stations here consists mainly of newsstands.
But imagine picking up some cosmetics,
a new top and a gourmet takeout dinner
before boarding the Metropolitan Transit
Authority’s 1 train.
That’s what Turnstyle has in mind.
The project, planned for the subway
station concourse at 59th Street-Columbus
Circle, envisions a 30,000-square-foot
underground shopping mall populated
by beauty, fashion, accessories and food
shops. There’s space for 30 shops, which
will be divided into three categories: grab
’n’ go, retail stores and marketplace.
The concourse will be accessed by six entrances, including the Time Warner Center,
the northeast corner of West 58th Street and
Eighth Avenue, the northeast and northwest corners of West 57th Street and Eighth
Avenue, the Hearst Tower and the southeast corner of West 57th Street and Eighth
Avenue. The site is
also in close proximA rendering
ity to Nordstrom’s imof Turnstyle.
pending New York flagship, which is slated to
open in 2018.
The underground
mall will be unveiled
some time in 2015.
Tenants have yet to
be named.
Turnstyle is being
spearheaded
by
Susan Fine, who,
more than 20 years
ago, conceived of and
executed the redevelopment of Grand
Central Terminal as director of real estate for the MTA.
The Turnstyle project is targeted at
West Side residents and tourists; 90,000
commuters pass through the 59th StreetColumbus Circle concourse each day and
21 million people with an average annual
income of $100,000 walk through the station each year, according to Turnstyle.
Fine reportedly hopes to do nothing less
than change the nature of underground retailing and replicate the concept in other places.
Besides stores, Turnstyle will have a
series of kiosks made of modular elements
designed to be installed in other locations.
Turnstyle is poised to attract tourists from the Shops at Columbus Circle,
where Thomas Pink, Stuart Weitzman and
L.K. Bennett coexist with H&M, Sephora
and C. Wonder, and school kids riding the
subway home. The project sought varied
retailers to appeal to all of its constituents. The shops plan to have a mix of local
brands and some national chains.